How Should The Habs Approach Their Final Preseason Game

Last year, Head Coach Martin St. Louis and his staff opted to rest his top players in their final preseason matchup. Unfortunately, the fact that they avoided using their regular players in that game seemed to play a factor in a slow start to the 2024-25 season. This is why the Canadiens need to play as many of their star players as possible (unless they are nursing an injury). This would mean that if Ivan Demidov’s wrist is still a little sore from the slash, then he should likely take the final preseason game off.

There has yet to be an official announcement about Demidov’s wrist, but Elliott Friedman reported that he heard that the injury is not major, which likely means that there were no broken bones after the slash. This is great news to hear, as that likely means Demidov will be ready for opening night on October 8th. Nonetheless, there is no reason that he needs to play as he has gotten a good amount of preseason action and resting his wrist may be the right move for him, especially against the Ottawa Senators, which are games that often get chippy. 

The players who truly need to get reps in are the guys who haven’t played in a week. This means that the line of Juraj Slafkovsky-Nick Suzuki-Cole Caufield all need to get into the game on Saturday to make sure they are in game shape to get going for a long season as of next Wednesday. This line clearly has the chemistry, but having a good game on Saturday will allow them to start stronger than they did last year. This is especially something that Slafkovsky needs after starting slowly the last two years. It’s time for Slafkovsky to turn a page now that he is officially starting his new 8-year, 60.8 million contract this year. To get to that, I believe playing in the last preseason game could be vital to make sure he has his feet under him to be ready to go for the regular season. 

The same can be said for Suzuki as well, to a lesser extent, as he’s been known to have a slow start to his seasons, too, in recent years; therefore, an extra preseason will do him a lot of good as well. 

If St. Louis is serious about making sure his team has a good start in October, he must not be afraid of playing his stars, who still need to get their feet under them to start the season. The main purpose for veterans in the preseason is to make sure they are ready on opening night, which is why it is so important for them to play.

As well as the Habs’ top line, it will also be important for Kaiden Guhle and Noah Dobson to play if they have recovered from their minor groin injuries that were day-to-day as of last Thursday. For Dobson, it is probably more important that he can continue to get used to the Habs’ defensive systems some more before they play the Leafs next week.

In nets, it would likely be a good idea for Samuel Montembeault to play the full game against the Senators, so he is well ready for next week’s start.

All in all, last year’s decision to bring up prospects for the final game turned out to be a bad idea last year and they must think differently this time around.

How do you think the Habs should approach Saturday’s game against the Senators?