A question for each Canadiens forward with the season just a few weeks away

[content-ads] Juraj Slafkovsky: can he start his season strong? For the past two years, it’s been harder at the start of the season for the Slovak. But now, with his new contract, we have to wonder if he’ll start performing in September. Zachary Bolduc: can he play center? We could wonder if he’ll be able to perform as well as he did after the Four Nations Confrontation in St. Louis, but the question of center is always present… Kirby Dach: can he trust his knee? No need to tell you that this is one of the biggest issues of the camp in Montreal. We know he’s skating better and better… but we also know that it’s worth what it’s worth, for now.

[content-ads]Patrik Laine: can he go for consistency at five-on-five? We know he can score on the powerplay, but by his own admission, it’s not always easy at even strength. With a healthy knee, will he be any better? Alex Newhook: can he find an identity for himself? Second-line center… third-line winger… how well can the speedy forward find his own chair for next season? Joe Veleno: can he play up to his talent? We know he’s happy to be playing at home. We know he’s bursting with talent. But can he show that talent on the ice? To be useful in specific phases of the game if he can’t score on a particular sequence?

[content-ads]Jake Evans: can he be consistent offensively? At the start of the 2024-2025 season, when he was looking for a contract, he was scoring like never before. And at the end of the season, it was harder. Brendan Gallagher: can he repeat his 2024-2025 performances? We didn’t think the little warrior would be so useful to the Habs in 2024-2025, but he showed he still had gas in the tank. We’ll have to take another look at Gally in 2025-2026. Josh Anderson: can the Habs pretend they’re playing playoff games as early as October? Of course, we say this knowing that we can’t really sustain such a pace for 82 games. But in the playoffs, we were reminded just how useful he can be.

Samuel Blais, Alex Belzile, Oliver Kapanen, Joshua Roy, Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj, Jared Davidson et al: can they make the club?

I expect the first 12 names in the text, if healthy (nothing certain for Dach, then), to have a better chance than the others of making the club. But there will still be a 13th forward and room for those pushing for a chair upstairs.blais, Belzile and Kapanen are among those to watch out for. [spacer title=’Overtime’]- There’s a full house at CF Montreal practice for Ivan Jaime.

– That’s the right mentality.

– No surprises here.

– To be continued.