Canadiens’ Strategy To Get Roster Compliant, Flexibility For Moves

The Montreal Canadiens are set to announce their final, 23-man roster by 5 pm today; but still have the flexibility to make moves:

The Canadiens will now have some flexibility to play around with their roster before the 5 pm deadline. After having waived Corey Schueneman and Madison Bowey, the Canadiens cannot use waivers to trim their roster any further, but they can still send some younger players down before 5 pm.

Waiver-exempt players like Rafäel Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylönen, Juraj Slafkovsky, Justin Barron, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris and Otto Leskinen are still on the clock today before the roster is official. Because they don’t have to go through waivers, they can be assigned to Laval at any point before 5 pm today.

With injuries to players like Joel Edmundson and Joel Armia inhibiting them from starting the season, they can be placed on retroactive injured reserve, which removes them from the active roster.

Here’s how the Canadiens’ final roster could break down:

Forwards

Active: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Brendan Gallagher, Rem Pitlick, Christian Dvorak, Mike Hoffman, Jake Evans, Sean Monahan, Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Evgeni Dadonov, Micheal Pezzetta, Juraj Slafkovsky (13)

Injured Reserve: Paul Byron, Joel Armia, Emil Heineman

To Laval: Rafaël Harvery-Pinard, Jesse Ylönen

Defensemen

Active: Mike Matheson, David Savard, Chris Wideman, Jonathan Kovacevic, Kaiden Guhle, Otto Leskinen, Arber Xhekaj (8)

Injured Reserve: Joel Edmundson, Logan Mailloux

On Waivers: Corey Schueneman, Madison Bowey

To Laval: Justin Barron, Jordan Harris

Goalies

Active: Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault (2)

To Laval: Cayden Primeau

Montreal Canadiens Have Room To Add

The Canadiens would have a cap compliant, 23-man roster with the breakdown above, but would still have the room to add a defenseman or forward on waivers if they find one on the waiver wire.

Because they’re waiver-exempt, Xhekaj, Barron, Harris and even Juraj Slafkovsky can be sent to Laval at any point between now and 5 pm on October 10. This means that, if the Canadiens want to pounce on an interesting name on defence like Michael Del Zotto from Florida or Will Butcher from Dallas; who would be a big help to the offence, while ensuring the rookies play meaningful minuwaivertes in Laval, they have that luxury.

As for forward, Emil Bemstrom from Columbus stands out as a player who was quickly lost to the numbers game in Columbus on the wings; he possesses speed and shooting ability that Kent Hughes has shown a desire to add in the past. With the injury to Joël Armia, it could make sense to add a player like him. There are also some lesser names like Julien Gauthier from the New York Rangers, who knows Jeff Gorton well that could be a low-key option as well.

There’s still the opportunity to make a trade as well before the 5 pm deadline as there are a few teams that are currently over the salary cap at the moment and will need to make some moves to be cap compliant to start.

The Canadiens will have the options and could remain active in trying to pounce on an opportunity to tinker with their roster prior to the start of the NHL season.