Noah Dobson: Here’s his chance of playing tonight

And in reality, it's very good news for the Habs to see that Dobson is already at this stage. It suggests that in a potential Game 7 on Sunday, the chances of seeing him in uniform would be pretty good.

Because after all, those chances clearly already exist for tonight… unlike Victor Hedman's, whose return tonight has already been ruled out by Jon Cooper.

The question is which defenseman would be benched to make room for Dobson. One might think Jayden Struble would be the logical candidate in such a scenario.

Arber Xhekaj is playing great hockey and doesn't deserve to be benched… and even though Struble is holding his own as well, he might be the easiest to bench right now.

Of course, don't expect any confirmation regarding Dobson until the lineup is officially released. And in fact, it wouldn't be surprising to see Dobson and the team's six regular defensemen on the ice during warm-ups to keep the suspense going until the very last second.

But clearly, there's a good chance we'll see Dobson in uniform tonight. And if he isn't too hampered by his injury, he'll be a significant addition to Martin St-Louis' lineup.

In a nutshell

– Dylan Holloway hits the jackpot in St. Louis.

– Departures in New Jersey.

– He deserves more blame for the Red Sox's failures.