Yardbarker
x
Montreal Canadiens Make Final Cuts
David Kirouac-Imagn Images

On Sunday afternoon, the Montreal Canadiens announced their final cuts amd finalized opening night roster before Monday’s 5:00 pm ET deadline. The Habs announced that Florian Xhekaj, Owen Beck and Adam Engstrom have been assigned to the Laval Rocket. Meanwhile, Kaapo Kahkonen and Sammy Blais have been placed on waivers with the intent of sending them down to the Rocket. This means that both Oliver Kapanen and Joe Veleno have earned the two forward spots that were up for grabs at training camp.

With today’s cuts, the Canadiens have opted to go with a 22-man roster as of today rather than the maximum 23 player limit. This means that the Canadiens either have the flexibility to add a player or call-up someone like Florian Xhekaj or Adam Engstrom when they feel they should get NHL time at any point of the season. If no other moves are made before 5:00 pm tomorrow, it is probably the latter which would make sense given both Xhekaj and Engstrom left good impressions throughout camp but there just isn’t a spot in the lineup available to them just yet. Rather than leave one of them in the press box, it is best for both 21-year olds’ development to give them more playing time in the AHL.

Florian Xhekaj could especially get a chance to play in the NHL at some point even if there are no injuries as if the team feels they need a toughness boost for a few games, the younger Xhekaj would be the perfect fit to be a presence on a 4th line for a night. He spent much of camp proving to be just as tough as his brother Arber, and was a great forechecker throughout the games he played.

He’s definitely not ready to be a full-time NHL just yet, as he still needs to develop a lot of his game in order to become a similar player to Adam Lowry, that Laval Rocket Head Coach Pascal Vincent believes he can be. However, a few games in the NHL during the season could be good for his development as he can learn firsthand what he needs to do to become a full-time NHLer. I still believe that he will get a good amount of NHL games at some point during the regular season, especially if he has a great start to his AHL campaign.

As for Engstrom, he’s arguably ready to play an NHL role as a bottom pairing puck mover but more AHL time could help him continue to improve his defensive game and maybe prove that he could one day be a top 4 defenseman at the NHL level. The real reason that he’s being sent down is less about what he needs to improve on and moreso because the Habs defensive core was already set up before camp even started, meaning the only chance Engstrom had of making the team out of camp was if there were a long-term injury on the blueline. He will eventually get his first NHL game this year as injuries always happen, but it is just a matter of when it will be.

Owen Beck also had a good training camp, but he was beat out by Oliver Kapanen for the final in lineup spot on the team, thanks in due part to Kapanen’s chemistry with Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov. Not to mention, Kapanen also looked good when he played with Zachary Bolduc in a preseason game.

With that being said, Kapanen did play better than Beck at camp but it’s also that the Finnish forward just fits better as a glue guy alongside top players on the Canadiens. It will only be a matter of time before Beck gets his turn in the NHL, but he will need to just refine his game in Laval to start things up.

Finally, Blais and Kahkonen didn’t have terrible camps but they were always going to be used as organizational depth in case of injury at the NHL level at their respective positions, or else be used as veteran presences for the young guys in the AHL.

For Kahkonen that is especially true, as he will be able to support Jacob Fowler to be one of the best goaltender duos in the AHL for the 2025-26 AHL season. Honestly, Blais could have stayed up as 14th forward with the Canadiens but maybe the organization sees him being more useful in an AHL leadership role.

Are you surprised with any of today’s roster decisions for the Habs?

This article first appeared on The Sick Podcast and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

Yardbarker +

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!