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An "APoehling" Option

November 3, 2019, 9:11 PM ET [613 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Canadiens' third line centre, Jesperi Kotkaniemi has missed the team's last 2 games due to a groin injury and today it was announced that he is now on the injured reserve list. So far this year, Kotkaniemi has 3 points in 12 games and has looked a bit lost out there at times. The move is probably retroactive to the first game he missed on October 30th so it means that he should at least miss the next two games against Boston Tuesday and Philadelphia Thursday. His absence frees up a roster spot and that means it's time for one of the Laval guys to get a shot at the big time. Here are the top guys in Laval right now:



Yup, that's right, Alex Belzile is the top performer thus far for the Canadiens' farm team, followed by Charles Hudon and Lukas Vejdemo. Ryan Poehling is 4th in scoring with 5 points in 13 games but the fact is that he was sent down at the end of camp mainly because he had been injured and we were told from day one that he probably wouldn't be in the AHL for that long so his recall is hardly surprising. Of course, that must mean very little to both Belzile and Hudon but for the later at least, the best hope to have an NHL career remains to be traded out of Montreal. It has become abundantly clear that there is just no room for Hudon in the Habs' plans.

The Canadiens will be practising in Brossard tomorrow at 11:00 AM and it has already been announced that Poehling will be there. Now it remains to be seen who he will be lining-up with. The logical choice would be to slide him in as the 3rd line centre since that's KK's spot. A few possibilities come to mind when it comes to his line mates though. Could we possibly see Poehling and Suzuki on the same line? Would that be seen as too risky or would having the defensively responsible Lehkonen on the other wing comfort Claude Julien? Given how much Paul Byron has struggled of late and the fact that he isn't exactly the coach's favourite, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make way in the line-up especially considering that this week's opponents are rather physical teams. While Jordan Weal is only an inch taler than Byron, he does weight 180 pounds to Byron's 158 and brings a bit more toughness.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Julien doesn't want to see both rookies on the same line and that he decides to give Byron and Lehkonen to Poehling, sliding Suzuki back down to the 4th line alongside Thompson and Cousins given how well that line has worked prior to Kotkaniemi's injury. We'll know tomorrow morning at practice what Julien intends to do... Knowing the Habs' pilot however, chances are he's more likely to play it safe and split his rookies but can you tell me you wouldn't like to see them both play together? One thing is for sure though, all eyes will be on tomorrow's practice to see how Julien plans to shape up his line-up for Tuesday's tilt against the Bruins.

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