Even before the Montreal Canadiens played host to the New York Rangers on Oct. 22, it had become evident that the club would start learning a lot about its depth. In the aftermath of the jaw-dropping 7-2 defeat, fans, pundits, and – most importantly – head coach Martin St. Louis is in the process of discovering what this team is made of when the times get tough. It involves line juggling, calling players up, and finding a new spin on team development that is still in mid-operation. Let’s discuss.
Slafkosky, Guhle, and Company Missing in Action
Problem number one – for a team that already entered the season with muted expectations – are that the injuries are starting to pile up. Although no one wants to see any players suffer such setbacks, the reality is some of the bodies the Canadiens are missing are quite important.
It starts with Juraj Slafkovsky. In a bitterly ironic twist, we wrote last Friday about his usefulness as both a skilled top-line forward and a tough customer. As that article went up, there was footage of a morning skate in which the 20-year-old had visible discomfort in his shoulder. He still played on Saturday against the New York Islanders – he even delivered a big hit – but as of Tuesday has been sidelined for at least a week with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
Related: Canadiens’ Justin Barron Injured on Jacob Trouba Hit
Defenceman Kaiden Guhle was already listed as questionable over the weekend and hasn’t played since Oct. 17 versus the Los Angeles Kings. Justin Barron didn’t finish the Rangers game after getting clocked by Jacob Trouba in the third period. Neither Rafael Harvey-Pinard nor 2023 first-round selection David Reinbacher have stepped onto the ice this season as they are on injured reserve. Unless one has been living under a rock, Patrik Laine’s services with the Habs won’t commence for another couple of months.
As of Wednesday, Oct. 23 morning, official word has come out that Mike Matheson, Christian Dvorak, and Joel Armia will not partake in the day’s practice. It might mean nothing. It might mean something. Time will tell shortly.
It’s not that Montreal is especially unlucky. All NHL franchises wrestle with injuries. Imagine what the San Jose Sharks feel given that the Macklin Celebrini era keeps getting pushed back.
But even considering the modest hopes that went into 2024-25, these don’t do the club any favours. The team is young, its best players are particularly young, and St. Louis, albeit a winner as a player, has yet to win anything as a coach.
So what does all this mean?
St. Louis Juggles Lines, Young Guns Called Up
We started to see how the team is navigating these rocky waters late last week when defenceman Logan Mailloux was called up from the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Laval Rocket. He was teased at the very end of 2023-24, but this was a more serious opportunity. Lo and behold, he netted his first NHL goal on Saturday versus the Islanders.
Fellow blueliner Jayden Struble, who played a solid number of matches last season (56), has been a fixture since the Islanders game as well. Young forwards Emil Heineman (22 years old) and Oliver Kapanen (21 years old) have been thrown into the lion’s den since the Oct. 12 contest against the Ottawa Senators.
Conversely, despite being healthy, Arber Xhekaj has not since the last two contests.
St. Louis is in a situation that requires immense patience. Even so, contexts such as this demand adjustments. That was on display versus the Rangers as well. Kirby Dach, typically on the second line, was promoted to the first alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The second line trio became Josh Anderson/Jake Evans/Brendan Gallagher. Heineman, despite looking decent in a couple of games this season, was relegated to the fourth line with Christian Dvorak and Michael Pezzetta.
Although it’s easy to write what follows because hindsight is 20/20, a massive decision was having Lane Hutson and Mailloux pair up. Even before puck drop, that was a critical coach’s move. Despite visiting one of the league’s best teams and not having played well for a week, St. Louis still paired up the two least-experienced defenders. Then the second Rangers’ goal happened when neither player properly chased a dumped puck that could have been icing but wasn’t, which led to a horrendously sloppy Rangers score. Always play the whistle.
The Hockey Writers don’t coach the Canadiens, so we’ll defer to St. Louis since he probably knows what he’s doing. That said, it doesn’t feel as though a game versus the Rangers is the time to pair Mailloux and Hutson. In any event, it’s in the past now. One assumes they’ll have both learned from the experience. For the record Mailloux finished minus-3 and Hutson minus-4 (and had his pocket picked on the third Rangers goal).
Where Do the Canadiens Go From Here?
From a certain point of view, Montreal not playing until Saturday against the St. Louis Blues is good news. In some circumstances, a team might want to hit the ice quickly after a defeat to wash away the bad taste. This isn’t one of those times.
At the time of writing, the Blues are 4-3-0 with a minus-1 goal differential. What’s more, they tussle with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Realistically, Saturday is a winnable game. That’s not a guarantee, just an assessment that Montreal has it in them to give St. Louis the blues, pardon the pun.
The coming days will be critical for reasons beyond just keeping up with the pace courtesy of morning skates and drills. Head coach St. Louis has some big line decisions, some of which are contingent on how Barron and Guhle feel, as well as how the bench boss himself feels about Xhekaj. Is a Hutson/Mailloux pairing more sensible for a game versus the Blues? Probably.
Should the second line involve Evans, Anderson, and Gallagher? That’s tougher. The Blues don’t possess nearly the attacking prowess the Rangers do. Then again, that was the worst line by far for expected goals against (1.448) and shot attempts against (22). It’s incredible they were not on the ice for any of the Rangers’ seven goals.
With every passing week, the pertinence of arguments about how early the campaign is and how young the team is lessons. This is especially true when the last three home games have ended in defeats by three, three, and five goals. The contests aren’t close, period. Is St. Louis’ job in jeopardy? No, not at all. But some improvement would be nice. That’s what makes three full days until Saturday night feel both like an incredibly short and painfully long wait.
