With 57 players to start training camp the coaches had split them into three groups with the regulars being split equally between group A and B and players who do not really have a chance to make the team in group C:
Voici les groupes pour la première séance d'entraînement sur glace.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 13, 2019
Here are the groups for the first on-ice sessions at training camp.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/0uqFwPTy9z
Within groups A and B, the coaches had devised some new lines which looked like this:
Group A - Forwards Lehkonen - Domi - Drouin Hudon - Suzuki - Weal Cousins - Thompson - Weise Pezzetta/Alain - Evans - Barber
Few things come to mind seeing this:
-The top 6 spot left empty with Shaw's departure will not be given straight away to Nick Suzuki to try and make his; -Drouin does start with a clean slate and get another chance to line-up with Max Domi; -Lehkonen lands a top 6 role...for now. While he struggled to score last season, Lehky is rather responsible in a defensive role and perhaps, he's the security blanket that Drouin needs; -Suzuki lines up with Hudon and Weal, two players who were in the NHL last season (even if Hudon didn't play much) that should give him a chance to shine.
Group B - Forwards
Tatar - Danault - Gallagher Byron - Kotkaniemi - Armia Verbeek/Vejdemo - McCarron - Belzile Varone - Poehling - Peca
My take on those lines: -If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Tuna, Danault and Gally had an awesome year, there's no point in breaking them up...for now anyways. When/If KK is ready for more, that could change; -No Finnish line to start camp. KK still has Armia to rely on but finds himself with a speed marchant who can score on the other wing, I like it. -Poehling doesn't necessarily have the best linemates right now, if he wants to stick around he will have to earn it.
As for the defensive pairings, they were as follows:
Group A - Defence
Mete - Weber Ouellet - Juulsen Kulak - Brook Sklenicka - Fleury
-No surprise with the first pairing, it might not be ideal but for now, that's the best option. Hopefully, Mete adds a bit of scoring to his game this year; -I see both Juulsen and Kulak making the team this season but there's nothing wrong with trying different combinaison, I expect we'll see plenty of those in the next few days; -It will be interesting to see if Fleury might be ready to graduate this year after playing a whole season in the AHL last year.
Group B - Defence
Chiarot - Petry Alzner/Lamarche - Folin Leskinen - Reilly
-From the day Chiarot signed with the Habs, it was said that he would get a shot at the second pairing, this is anything but surprising and I'm hoping his physical play may compliment Petry's game very well; -Leskinen has had a good rookie camp, maybe, just maybe he manages to force the team to give him a chance this season; -The slimmer and faster Alzner hopes to get back to the NHL this season. To be honest, I do not see it happening but I guess you can never say never.
Another training session will take place for both groups tomorrow before the traditional Red vs White scrimmage at the Bell Centre on Sunday. RDS will be broadcasting the game and allow us to have a first look at those combinations (assuming they last until then). After day, the Canadiens will welcome the New Jersey Devils in their first pre season game for the year on Monday night when one should expect to see kids-a-plenty in the line-up.