Habs Wrap: Demidov Highlights, Laine Injury, Training Camp Cuts

MONTREAL — There’s always Montreal Canadiens content to absorb, but there are only so many hours in a day. On Sundays, we recap the most exciting and relevant NHL news stories that you may have missed throughout the week so that you can stay in the Canadiens loop.

Monday

The Montreal Canadiens appear to have few lineup spots available, but the makeup of their roster is still open and could make for an interesting conclusion to training camp. [Canadiens Roster Composition Complicated By Outside Factors]

The Habs broke down the 59 players attending training camp into three groups. The first group features the top line of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield, in addition to the Xhekaj brothers, whereas the second group includes many of the team’s top defensive prospects, including Lane Hutson, Adam Engstrom, and Logan Mailloux. The third team is clearly the players set to be among the first cuts, including a prospect who is yet to find his rhythm since graduating to professional hockey.  [Canadiens Groups At Training Camp Give Insight To First Cuts]

Prospect Tyler Thorpe enjoyed a strong training camp with the Habs. He stood out on a line with Luke Tuch and Florian Xhekaj, two older players with significantly more experience. The agile giant scored 23 goals and 21 assists in 51 games for the Vancouver Giants last year, leading to the Habs picking him in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. He’s off to a strong start to his third WHL season, earning three points in two games, including a game-winning goal in overtime.

C’EST LA VIE!@CanadiensMTL prospect Tyler Thorpe nets the WHOA-vertime winner for the @WHLGiants! pic.twitter.com/OM6o52Pxc9

— The WHL (@TheWHL) September 21, 2024

Tuesday

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]

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]

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

Wednesday

Top prospect Ivan Demidov received an encouraging accolade in the KHL. The fifth-overall pick from 2024 was named The Rookie Of The Week following his four-point game for SKA Saint-Petersburg. [Canadiens Prospect Highlights: Ivan Demidov Four-Point Night]

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]

The Habs were yet to allow a goal against in preseason action. Some of it was due to the excellent play from all four goaltenders involved in the games, but a lot of the credit has to be given to the top defensive prospects, and yes, that obviously includes phenom Lane Hutson. All things considered, Reinbacher and Mailloux played very well on Tuesday night, while Owen Beck made the best of his opportunities in the 3-0 win. It should be noted Michael Pezzetta also had a strong outing, including scoring two of the three goals from the Canadiens. [Canadiens Instant Recap: Reinbacher, Mailloux, And Beck Excel]

Thursday

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.  [Montreal Canadiens Depth Chart: Trades Improve Defensive Prospect Odds]

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]

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. 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.

Friday

Defenceman Kaiden Guhle hit the ice for the first time since his appendix was removed. As of now, the 22-year-old is considered day-to-day, and should be ready to play once the regular season begins.

#Habs defenceman Kaiden Guhle on ice this morning in Brossard after having his appendix removed last week #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/K2Z0qeHpJ7

— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) September 26, 2024

The Canadiens failed to push their preseason winning streak to three games after suffering a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Truth be told, the scoreline is flattering considering how poorly the team played. There were a few standouts, mind you, including goaltender Jakub Dobes, not to mention defencemen Jayden Struble and Lane Hutson. As for the forwards, the oft-maligned Christian Dvorak led the charge amidst calls from fans that he should no longer be part of the starting lineup. [Canadiens Instant Recap: Dobes, Struble, And Hutson Shine]

The Habs practiced their powerplay units on Friday, never a bad idea for a team that scores roughly three powerplay goals per season. That’s an exaggeration, of course. I’m fairly certain they only scored two last year.

Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Mike Matheson formed the first man-advantage unit, while Alex Newhook, Joshua Roy, Patrik Laine, Brendan Gallagher, and Lane Hutson featured on the second. Fans will undoubtedly want to see Hutson used on the first group, and there’s a high likelihood he forces his way there in the near future due to his surreal skill set, but the fact that he’s already anchoring the second group is encouraging given that he’s yet to play a single regular-season game.

It’s also important to remember that despite all the criticism he faced, Matheson had the most productive season from a Canadiens defenceman on the powerplay since Andrei Markov retired. He’s a rush defenceman, which means he’s not perfectly suited to anchor a powerplay, but the rumours of his man-advantage incompetence have been greatly exaggerated. Not to mention, having Matheson in place until the coaching staff believes Hutson is ready for a promotion is a luxury many teams could not afford.

Voici les deux vagues d’avantage numérique à l’entraînement du CH ce midi :

PP1
Suzuki – Slafkovsky – Caufield – Dach – Matheson

PP2
Newhook – Roy – Laine – Gallagher – Hutson pic.twitter.com/GZsyK5WfTN

— RDS (@RDSca) September 27, 2024

Saturday

It usually takes a while for young players to adapt to a new league, especially if they make the jump from Junior to professional hockey. That being said, top prospect Ivan Demidov has already started to produce at an impressive rate, among the best in league history for a U20 player.  [Canadiens Prospect Report: Ivan Demidov Finds Scoring Rhythm]

Unfortunately, newcomer Patrik Laine took heavy contact in a knee-on-knee incident with Toronto Maple Leafs minor leaguer Cedric Pare. The injury seemed quite serious, as Laine could not put any weight on his leg. Arber Xhekaj retaliated once the referees opted not to penalize the knee from Pare, which led to the rough-and-tumble defenceman’s ejection from the game. [GOTTA SEE IT: Patrik Laine Injured, Arber Xhekaj Retaliates]

It was a chaotic game which featured very little even-strength play, as the referees lost control of the situation very early in the first period. To make matterse worse, on top of losing Laine, the Habs also lost David Reinbacher just 13 seconds into his first shift. [Instant Recap: Referees Lose Control Of Game,  Montreal Canadiens Lose Patrik Laine]

The Habs proceeded to make their first round of cuts following Saturday’s game, cutting the number players attending training camp from 59 to 32. Prospects Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, and Florian Xhekaj were among the players assigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. [Habs Announce First Round Of Cuts At Training Camp]