Now that Kent Hughes has done his work in building the Habs a legit defence for years to come, the question is; what will Martin St-Louis decide to do? Will Reinbacher make the team? Ideally, the following is what I would like to see from the Habs next year.

With the addition of Dobson, the Habs can deploy everyone on their strong side, which is the ideal set up. The following are the pairings I’d like to see, not necessarily the ones they will logically use.

1-Hutson-Reinbacher

I know this sounds completely crazy, having a second year D with a rookie, but in my mind, this will be their top pairing for years to come. I say if Reinbacher makes the team, throw him in. He’s an all around D and his style of play perfectly compliments Hutson’s game. He’s big, skates well, has a high hockey IQ and the two will be able to read off each other in the offensive zone, giving the Habs a big boost 5 on 5.

2-Guhle-Dobson

Two big boys who can skate, make good plays out of the zone and lay the body. These two will be a nightmare for offensive players as their mobility and hockey sense will hamper offensive zone entries and big frames will keep the front of the next cleared. I know logically having Dobson and Hutson together would make sense, but having them in separate pairings will enable them to be more offensively free.

3-Matheson-Carrier

These two played together for big parts of the season last year, so I don’t see any reason to break them up. They are a good shut down pair and Matheson also has offensive flair and very good skating. Carrier makes safe plays out of the zone and is overall a solid defender.

These pairings are in no particular order, as I find on any given night, one of these can get the most ice time, but I do find the Habs could simply roll their pairings and give them pretty much 20 mins each all the time for the most part. Now obviously if Reinbacher makes the team, this creates a logjam at D with two good players not getting any ice time in Struble and Xhekaj. I’m not quite sure what the solution would be here, but having some depth is never a bad thing!

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