The Montreal Canadiens enter next season with new players and young prospects hungry for the NHL. Like every other team in the league, they will aim to win the Stanley Cup and put the best players on the ice. Realistically the Canadiens are far from being a team that could win the Cup, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try. In 2022-23, the team was decimated by injuries for the third season in a row and finished in the bottom five of the league. An argument can be made that if healthy, they could have been closer to a playoff spot, but we will never know.
With a healthy team this season and some new players added, the Canadiens could put themselves in a position to fight for a playoff spot. Time will tell, but anything can happen if head coach Martin St. Louis can get the lines to gel and the right chemistry throughout the lineup; here is a very early look at what the lineups could be to start Montreal’s 2023-24 NHL season.
Forward Lines
The forward lines will be interesting because the Canadiens have several players that could play wing or center. Kirby Dach and newly acquired Alex Newhook are both centers that play the wing; the Habs also have Nick Suzuki, Sean Monahan, Christian Dvorak and Jake Evans, who are natural centers. With only four center spots, two of these players will need to play on the wing. Last season when everyone was healthy, Suzuki and Dach, along with Cole Caufield, formed one of the most potent lines in the NHL; all three players were on a point-per-game (P/G) pace. When injuries started piling up, Dach received more time at center and was successful in that role, but he still needs to work on faceoffs (FO). Newhook did get over 500 FOs last season in a third-line part with the Colorado Avalanche; the Canadiens want him to play more minutes, suggesting a top-six role.
With Suzuki, Dach, Newhook and Monahan all potentially being top-six players, logic would dictate that Dach and Newhook play mostly at wing. It will not be surprising to see Dach again with Caufield and Suzuki while Newhook is on the wing with Monahan to start the season. With the first line set and the second line two-thirds finished, who completes the second line? Josh Anderson probably has the inside track. His size and speed will allow the second line to take advantage of some slower defencemen and create odd-man rushes. The third and fourth lines are pretty easy to predict, with Dvorak — who will be out for the first few weeks of the season — centering Juraj Slafkovsky and Brendan Gallagher, then the fourth line having Evans center Hoffman and Joel Armia. Michael Pezzetta will be the 13th forward, and yes, I know what you’re all thinking: someone is missing, but I’ll get to him later. The forward lines should look like this:
Caufield – Suzuki – Dach
Newhook – Monahan – Anderson
Slafkovsky – Dvorak – Gallagher
Hoffman – Evans – Armia
Pezzetta
Defensive Pairings
The defence can be a little more challenging to predict, not because of placement but because there are so many NHL-ready defensemen. Due to the massive injuries last season, Montreal had to dress five rookie players for their defensive core most nights. Kaiden Ghule, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, Justin Barron, and Johnathan Kovacevic were those players, and they all earned the right to be on the team this season. The Habs also have veterans David Savard, Chris Wideman, and Mike Matheson, who will be eyeing a spot on the roster. An NHL roster only has 23 openings, and with 13 forwards and two goaltenders, that leaves eight places for defence, so all their defencemen can make the roster, but who sits?
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The pairings should be similar to last season: Savard and Ghule on the top line, Matheson and possibly Barron on the second with Xhekaj and Harris on the third pairing. With the lack of right-handed defencemen, you may see Wideman get more starts, but both Xhekaj and Harris played well on their “wrong” side. Kovacevic was probably the most consistent defender all season; he made few mistakes and played a solid game in the lineup. With 77 games, he had more than any other defenceman. The issue with him, however, is he doesn’t bring anything extra like the other four rookies; Ghule, Harris, and Barron all play solid two-way games, while Xhekaj adds toughness and a lot of offensive upside. Ultimately, Wideman and Kovacevic will be the odd two out and will rotate in sparingly. The defensive pairings should look like this:
Ghule – Savard
Matheson – Barron
Xhekaj – Harris
Kovecevic – Wideman
Goaltending
This will be short and sweet. Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault will be the goaltenders for Montreal — pretty obvious. No one else is ready to take either of their jobs away unless, by some miracle, Cayden Primeau has an outstanding camp and doesn’t allow a goal at any time, which won’t happen. The question is, who will start? Allen is a solid veteran but has troubles when he plays too much, and Montembeault is the upstart goaltender that came into his own last season. Montembeault will probably get the most starts again, but the season will likely be pretty evenly split; both goalies should get around 35 games, and with Montembeault playing for another contract, he could have an even better year than last season.
Injuries, Movements and Laval Players
At some point, there will be injuries, which means players will move around the lineups, callups will happen, and players from the Laval Rocket will fill in spots. One player I didn’t mention on the forward lines is Rafael Harvey-Pinard; he had a great run when he was called up to the NHL and probably deserves a spot. With so little room, it might be hard for him to get that spot, not because anyone else is playing better but because he is waiver exempt and can easily pass between Laval of the American Hockey League (AHL) and Montreal. This alone could have him in Laval to start the season. There is a silver lining for him, though, and that’s if he can outplay Slafkovsky, who is also waiver exempt. If that’s the case, then he will be in Slafkovsky’s spot on the third line.
Another player that the Habs may need to fit in is Jesse Ylonen. He is yet to be re-signed, but if and when he is, he will not be waiver exempt. Unless the Canadiens make a move before the season, he could be lost to waivers if they can’t find a spot for him.
The Canadiens could also go with 14 forwards, allowing either Ylonen or Harvey-Pinard to be on the team. If this is the case, then one of Barron, Ghule, Harris or Xhekaj will start in Laval, the odds being Barron or Xhekaj land with the Rocket. Montreal will also want to have Dach play center, so it’s also feasible that he plays on the second line with Monahan to get center time, with either Newhook or Anderson playing on the top bar. This, of course, is all just a prediction. Anything can happen between now and October, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a move or two before the season, so management can fit everyone they want on the team.
Until then, enjoy the summer and add your line predictions in the comments; when October comes, we can see how close we all were.