Habs Daily: Hutson And Kapanen Shine, Demidov’s Skating

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Monday.

Montreal Canadiens News

The Montreal Canadiens opened the preseason with a dominant 5-0 win over the Flyers. There was a lot to like from the Habs, including the instant chemistry between newcomer Patrik Laine, centre Kirby Dach, and speedster Alex Newhook. But the story of the game was the strong play from many of the team’s best prospects. Lane Hutson was fantastic, earning the first star in the process. Oliver Kapanen was also very good, arguably the best player on the ice for the Canadiens. [Highlights: Habs Youth Movement Dominant In 5-0 Win Over The Flyers]

The Habs will face the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. For all the latest information regarding the Devils, make sure to visit our sister site, New Jersey Hockey Now.

One of the issues raised by scouts prior to the Canadiens drafting Ivan Demidov fifth overall was his poor skating form. Now that we’ve had several opportunities to watch him in action in a professional hockey setting with SKA Saint Petersburg, it’s clear that his skating is not holding him back. Yes, it’s different from what we’re used to, but he consistently exploits open ice thanks to his underrated skating, and he has no issues creating separation between himself and the defender covering him on any given shift. More than anything, it seems like skating analysis needs to evolve if we’re considering players such as Demidov to be bad skaters.  [Canadiens Prospect Report: Ivan Demidov And Skating Analysis]

Speaking of SKA, NHL reject Tony DeAngelo recently signed a one-year contract with the Russian club.

Working on confirming the details, but I believe Tony DeAngelo will be signing a one-year deal with SKA for just under $1M million USD.

— Jesse Courville-Lynch | 🏒 (@JCourvilleLynch) September 22, 2024

Despite every member of the media pushing discussions with Hutson toward his impressive skill set, he almost always refuses to discuss personal achievements. Prior to Monday’s game, he brought up his lack of wins in a Canadiens jersey on several occasions, connoting that team success trumps individual accolades by a wide margin, and that’s the exact attitude the Habs need as they attempt to climb the NHL standings. Don’t forget, the Canadiens have been a losing team for several seasons now, and that’s a difficult stink to remove from a locker room. Hutson’s desire to win at all costs is exactly what the team needs at this point of the rebuild.

“I think it’s about time I finally got a win in this (Habs) jersey & hopefully more to come. The fans mean everything. We don’t just play for anyone, we play for you guys & that was awesome.”

– Lane Hutson post-game pic.twitter.com/EhADDctUmq

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) September 24, 2024

Hutson’s ability to generate controlled entries is also a blessing for a team like the Habs that relies on one player to do most of the work in the neutral zone. Okay, that’s not entirely fair toward Juraj Slafkovsky, as he improved his play in transition significantly last year, but on most nights it was the captain, Nick Suzuki, who did the heavy lifting.

Lane Hutson the one man zone-entry pic.twitter.com/A998fEtpYJ

— Cam Weitzman (@Cweitz99) September 24, 2024

On the lighter side of things, sniper Cole Caufield was ecstatic when he beat Suzuki at the faceoff dot, though we should probably note it took him nine tries to finally win one.

Cole remporte une mise au jeu contre Nick… et il en est bien fier.

Note: il avait perdu les huit précédentes.

Les gars s’amusent. pic.twitter.com/zgnLNFKS55

— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) September 23, 2024

The Habs had broken the 59 players at training camp into three groups, with the third representing prospects who were on the cusp of being cut. We originally suggested it was an encouraging sign that Filip Mesar was included in the first two groups, however, he was added to the third group on Monday. [Canadiens Groups At Camp Give Insight To Potential First Cuts]

Filip Mesar a déménagé ses pénates dans le 3e groupe au camp du Canadien avec les joueurs qui semblent tous destinés vers le Rocket de Laval. Il ne faut pas s’attendre à ce que beaucoup de joueurs du 3e groupe obtiennent des minutes en parties préparatoires.

— Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) September 23, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

Paul Cotter is already making his mark within the New Jersey Devils. Acquired this summer from the Vegas Golden Knights, Cotter immediately endeared himself to the Devils fan base via social media. Now, he’s at training camp and has made a positive impression on just about everyone. [New Jersey Devils]

Veteran Flyers forward Nick Deslauriers set the tone early with a devastating hit against Habs defenceman Adam Engstrom on the forecheck, but that show of force would be essentially the only Flyers highlight on Monday night. [Philadelphia Flyers]

Everyone is going to get an opportunity, and Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is watching. The Pittsburgh Penguins have brought the largest cache of forwards with NHL experience and potential to training camp in recent memory, if not ever. In total, there are at least 19 forwards vying for 13 spots, though the Penguins could opt to keep two extra forwards, bringing the total to 14. [Pittsburgh Penguins]