How much better the Canadiens are than last March: that’s beside the point

Up front, the Habs had some decisions to make. Kapanen’s good camp undoubtedly forced the Habs to send Samuel Blais to the waivers, even if he had the words “13th forward” written on his forehead for a long time. Joe Veleno, too, forced the Habs to keep him. Blais had a good camp, but the Habs couldn’t keep him just to please him. That’s not the way things work in the National Hockey League, even if Blais looked like he could replace Michael Pezzetta in the stands.

Speaking of good old Pezz, I found a lineup from March 8, just after the trade deadline. Tonight

I know, I know: he was there so as not to break up the Habs’ bottom-6 combinations, and he played for about five minutes. But on the trip out West, he was still in uniform for three games. He played 11 games in the playoff race, between the deadline and the end of the season. Maybe the Habs’ season will go off the rails in 2025-2026. But right now, it’s clear that the club has positioned itself to avoid having a guy like that in its lineup. The Rocket will have a few players who can be recalled if needed (including Florian Xhekaj, who I would have kept in the NHL following his camp) and who are better than Pezzetta. If we look at the club’s last two trios, we see that only three of those six guys remain. Emil Heineman, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia are gone, and guys like Owen Beck and Michael Pezzetta didn’t have a case for a top-6. Instead, the Canadiens have guys like Ivan Demidov, Kirby Dach (who’s back healthy), Patrik Laine (who sat out the night of March 8), Zachary Bolduc and Oliver Kapanen. Is this better? For Demidov alone, the answer is yes.

Defensively, too, it’s different. Kaiden Guhle is back in uniform, Alexandre Carrier is no longer on the first pair, Noah Dobson replaces David Savard, Jayden Struble is no longer on the top-4, etc. In fact, Struble is even fighting to play, plain and simple.I know this is a random 2024-2025 lineup, but this is how the Habs played following the deadline last March. Maybe in a year’s time, we’ll be saying the same thing… and it’ll mean that the club will continue to take steps in the right direction, towards the Stanley Cup. That’s the goal.

’en

– He was incredible.

– Martin St-Louis loved his club’s camp. [98.5 FM] – 57 scouts to spy on Gavin McKenna