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The first full season of the Canadiens’ new brass starts today as the Habs will welcome the heavily favoured Leafs at the Bell Centre. For the first time in ages, the Montreal Canadiens are embracing a rebuilt, there is no more “Once you get to the playoffs you don’t know what can happen… mantra, now, it’s about building a perennial contender and to do that, you need both youth and patience.
There will be plenty of the former tonight as 4 rookies will be in the line-up, 3 of which will be taking their first official strides in the NHL. Juraj Slafkovsky, Arber Xhekaj and Kaiden Guhle will be getting their baptism of fire in style against Auston Matthews and co. As for the later, patience, we’ll see how much of it fans can have. This season is all about growth as Hughes and St-Louis have said and there will be growing pains for sure, hopefully, the Habs faithful will be able to cope with that.
As expected, Jonathan Drouin is a healthy scratch tonight, both the coach and GM say he is still part of the team’s plans and Hughes explained that he’s a bit behind on account of coming back from an injury but also being sick during training camp, but it’s hard to believe that’s all there is to it, time will tell, I guess.
No surprises, Drouin out as expected, Edmundson and Matheson injuries means insanely young blue line, the future starts now Habs fans, don’t forget that growing pains are normal. #gohabsgo #GHG pic.twitter.com/bAIZ3Gc1HF
— Karine Hains (@KarineHains) October 12, 2022
In his preseason availability, Hughes fielded questions from the media and revealed a few interesting news. First, on Mike Matheson, the vet acquired in the Jeff Petry trade is undergoing an MRI today and Hughes expects to know more about his health in the next 48 hours, that to me does not sound like a guy who’s status is day-to-day. Hughes also mentioned Paul Byron, stating that at one point this summer, things were going very well and they were expecting him to play, but once he go back on the ice, things went south quickly. As a result, he doesn’t expect Byron to be able to play in the short or mid-term.
He also talked about Filip Mesar stating that it would be better for the youngster to score 80 points in the OHL than to score 40 points in the AHL. There will be an upcoming discussion about his future soon, but it looks like the GM’s preferred course of action would be to send him in the OHL. As for his other young guys, Hughes made it crystal clear that he isn’t afraid of sending young players to Laval if their development requires it. Questioned on why Xhekaj, Harris and Guhle stayed up while Barron, Schueneman and Leskinen went down, he said that the coaching staff felt that was the line-up that would give them the best chance of winning.
Meanwhile, Carey Price, who will be at the Bell Centre tonight, is expected to speak to the media next week, but today, Arpon Basu published a really good article about him, the state of his knew and his desire to lead a pain free life. This is not surprising, but it’s the first time that Price is that open on the subject and it’s a great read which helps put things into perspective. In other news, Miguel Tourigny has signed a contract to play in Slovakia this season.
Tourigny is headed to Slovakia #gohabsgo #GHG https://t.co/xK5YVojiMT
— Karine Hains (@KarineHains) October 12, 2022
Puck drop is set for 19:00 tonight, don’t miss the start of a new era in Montreal!