Habs Daily: Beck And Kapanen’s NHL Odds, Reinbacher, Hutson

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

Montreal Canadiens News

Adding young players such as Owen Beck or Oliver Kapanen to the forward lineup is exactly what a rebuilding team like the Canadiens should do, but the harsh reality is that meritocracies are hard to establish in professional sports. Unless Kent Hughes makes a trade or relegates a veteran to the AHL, the odds either will earn a job in the NHL out of camp are fairly low. [Montreal Canadiens Forward Depth Chart – A Trade Would Help]

David Reinbacher is one of the young defensive prospects hoping to earn a job with the Montreal Canadiens this season, however, given the internal competition, it won’t be an easy task to accomplish. With that in mind, head coach Martin St-Louis was quick to offer some wise advice to the 19-year-old defenceman. We tend to default to comparisons in hockey analysis, but the truth is very few of those comparisons are accurate, and even fewer as useful, as it adds a certain level of pressure to a player who is already facing a high-pressure situation.  [Canadiens Depth Chart: Trades Improve Defensive Prospect Odds]

“I would tell him (David Reinbacher) to focus on himself & not compare of himself to anybody. Comparison is a thief of joy. So for me, it’s about working on himself. I’m sure he wants to play in the NHL as fast as he can but there’s a process to get there & everybody gets there… pic.twitter.com/AR0BvzePnv

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) September 25, 2024

The Habs ran with a completely new lineup versus the New Jersey Devils, with one exception. Defenceman Logan Mailloux, one of the players attempting to earn an NHL job at camp, was given another opportunity to prove his worth. As for the other top defensive prospect in the lineup, David Reinbacher was paired with Mike Matheson. [Canadiens Preview And Lines: Mailloux And Reinbacher In Action]

Prospect Aatos Koivu played his seventh game of the season for TPS, and was once again held off the scoresheet. As it stands, he has two assists in those seven games. Before anyone panics, he’s playing a fourth-line role, and he’s doing it against much older professionals, as he’s currently playing in Liiga. In other words, 18-year-old could be playing for TPS’ U-20 team (U20 SM-sarja). A little patience is in order as he adjusts to the professional game.

The NHL Player Media Tour took place last week in Las Vegas, with team captain Nick Suzuki representing the Canadiens. The team released a short video regarding the event on Wednesday afternoon, and though it was a little late considering we’ve moved on to preseason action, it’s still fairly interesting. I will suggest they should do fewer cuts in these types of videos, as the endless edits remove any semblance of flow, but I also realize my complaints are the hockey equivalent of an old man yelling at clouds.

The best part of the video was born from Suzuki’s brief conversation with Macklin Celebrini, in which he reveals Lane Hutson had no issues calling the play during his first NHL game.

National Hockey Now Network

If the list of injured players on the New Jersey Devils thus far is an omen for 2024-25, we could be in for another wildly disappointing season. General manager Tom Fitzgerald did all he could to ensure the Devils’ depth will keep them afloat this summer. Yet, although we haven’t even played a regular season game, things are looking rough already. On Tuesday night in Montreal, defenceman Santeri Hatakka suffered an injury and missed the third period against the Habs.

[New Jersey Devils]

The deal might expire at midnight, but for one day at least, Drew O’Connor was back on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top line Wednesday during practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

The Philadelphia Flyers officially announced their first 14 cuts from the training camp roster on Wednesday morning, headlined by 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason and 2024 second-round pick Spencer Gill. [Philadelphia Flyers]