Projected Lineups for the Canadiens vs Blue Jackets - 12/23/24 - The Hockey Writers - Projected Lineups

The Montreal Canadiens take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

CANADIENS (14-16-3) at BLUE JACKETS (13-15-6)

7 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, TSN2, RDS

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook — Kirby Dach — Patrik Laine
Josh Anderson — Christian Dvorak — Brendan Gallagher
Emil Heineman — Jake Evans — Joel Armia

Lane Hutson — Mike Matheson
Kaiden Guhle — Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj — David Savard

Sam Montembeault
Cayden Primeau

Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble

Injured: None

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Blue Jackets projected lineup

Dmitri Voronkov — Sean Monahan — Kirill Marchenko
James van Riemsdyk — Adam Fantilli — Zach Aston-Reese
Kent Johnson — Cole Sillinger — Mathieu Olivier
Mikael Pyyhtia — Sean Kuraly — Kevin Labanc

Zach Werenski — Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk — Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen — Jack Johnson

Jet Greaves
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Damon Severson, Jordan Harris

Injured: Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Justin Danforth (lower body), Elvis Merzlikins (undisclosed)

Status report

Greaves, on emergency recall from Cleveland of the American Hockey League, will start; Merzlikins did not take part in the Blue Jackets morning skate Monday and coach Dean Evason said the goalie was “banged up in some way.” … Evason said there are several game-time decisions concerning the defense but Mateychuk, the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, is expected to make his NHL debut. … Werenski is likely to play after leaving briefly in the third period of a 5-4 overtime loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturay because of a knee injury. … Fabbro is expected to return after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

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