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In the background, Joshua Roy was surpassed by Michael Pezzetta
Brad Penner-Imagn Images

In the background, Joshua Roy was surpassed by Michael Pezzetta

Originally posted on Dose.ca  |  Last updated Mar 31, 2025 2:39 PM ET

Yesterday, Joshua Roy did not play. Michael Pezzetta took the place of Arber Xhekaj.

This has been talked about a lot because Roy had already skipped his turn during Friday night’s game and because the fact of taking out Xhekaj and rolling with six defensemen was a more notable change.

But yesterday, Pezzetta surpassed Roy for Martin St-Louis. And if it’s due to an injury, the habs are hiding it from us.

Will it be just for one game? I don’t know. Was it simply because the coach wanted his depth forward to get some playing time? Maybe.

However, this year, there have been few moments where Pezzetta played in place of someone. Often, the Ontarian played because the Canadiens had no other choice.

Obviously, Roy must understand the message. After all, nobody was comfortable seeing Pezz play (even if his playing time was minimal), but he still played when there was another option at forward. This means something.

Roy is lucky to have less attention on him since the topic of the day is Xhekaj. My colleague Maxime Truman wrote an excellent summary of the Sheriff’s situation this morning… even if I think it’s too late in the season to try him at forward. #NePasLeMélanger

Right now, we feel the inaction of Kent Hughes at the trade deadline more than ever, since the Canadiens are missing a forward to do things right.

But if the prices weren’t good, it was possibly just as good not to make a move. The habs are not aiming for the Cup in 2025, after all.

With Roy clearly not being the solution (and not helping the Rocket right now), we have to wonder if help won’t come from outside for the Canadiens in the future.

We’re all expecting Oliver Kapanen to head to Laval once his season is over (maybe it’ll be today) in Europe, but Anthony Marcotte tweeted – and said on the radio this morning – that he wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Kapanen in Montreal.

This isn’t crazy. It wasn’t the plan at the trade deadline… but plans can change.

Let’s remember that Kapanen started the season in the NHL, but he wasn’t keeping up. Could his great season in Sweden change things? We’ll see.


Overtime

– News from CF Montreal.

– Ryan Leonard in uniform tomorrow night for the Capitals? Gabriel Perreault signed with the Rangers?

– To follow.

– To read.

– Oh yeah?

– Ivan Demidov on the first line.

This article first appeared on Dose.ca and was syndicated with permission.

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