The Canadiens Announce a First Round of Roster Cuts

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The Canadiens Announce a First Round of Roster Cuts

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Sep 26, 2026 1:46 PM ET

As of this morning, the Canadiens still hadn't made a single cut since the start of training camp. That made sense, considering the team still has two games to play tonight and needed players to fill out the roster… but there were still too many of them.

There were still 57 players in town: a wave of cuts was expected shortly.

And now it's official: the Habs have just announced that 12 players have been cut and will report to the Laval Rocket: Vincent Arseneau, Jacob Dion, Aiden Dubinsky, Braden Hache, Francesco Lapenna, Aleksandr Legkov, Kevin Mandolese, Kale McCalum, Israel Mianscum, Josh Nadeau, and Xavier Simoneau have all been assigned to the farm team.

There are no real surprises here, as the players cut had no real chance of making the team. Most of them are players who spent time in Group C.

And since they won't be playing tonight, there was no point in keeping them any longer.

The following players have been assigned to the Laval Rocket:

V. Arseneau, J. Dion, A. Dubinsky, B. Hache, H. Jones, F. Lapenna, A. Legkov, K. Mandolese, K. McCallum, I. Mianscum, J. Nadeau & X. Simoneau.

— Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) September 26, 2026

We should expect the biggest wave of cuts to take place late tonight or tomorrow. By then, the team will have completed its preseason schedule and will be able to finalize its roster, which it must do by tomorrow night.

We'll then find out if players like David Reinbacher and Florian Xhekaj have been able to earn a spot on the main team.

The other big question will be whether Samuel Montembeault or Jacob Fowler starts the season in Montreal. It's safe to say that Monty is the favorite (mainly because Fowler can return to Laval without going through waivers), but we should have answers within the next 24 hours.

In the meantime, the team is trimming the roster and sending players to the Rocket's training camp.

Update

It's worth noting that all the players cut were on AHL contracts only. Only Laurent Dauphin and Dillan Bentley remain at camp without NHL contracts.

They will likely be cut by tomorrow, however.

All AHL-contracted players. Only Laurent Dauphin and Dillan Bentley remain from the AHL group. https://t.co/vEzjQp2CGX

— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) September 26, 2026