Montreal Canadiens Opening-Night Roster And Lines

The Montreal Canadiens announced both Emil Heineman and Mattias Norlinder were assigned to the AHL on Monday morning. The move will allow them to be salary-cap compliant by the time the team has to submit its opening-night 23-man roster by 5 p.m. ET, which is the deadline set by the NHL.

Neither Heineman nor Norlinder necessitates waivers, which means we now know the team that will face the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Wednesday.

It also explains why both players were the last cuts. Expect them to be among the first players called up by the Canadiens once injuries inevitably occur.

The decision to send them down comes on the heels of a rather surprising move that saw Joel Armia and Gustav Lindstrom placed on waivers Sunday, with the goal of re-assigning them to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

There’s still a possibility changes will occur. The Canadiens could end up claiming someone at 2 p.m. ET, and seeing as the Canadiens are starting the season with three goaltenders in the lineup, there’s also the possibility yet another trade is in the works.

Forwards Who Made The Cut

Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak (injured), Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Sean Monahan, Alex Newhook, Tanner Pearson, Michael Pezzetta, Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Jesse Ylonen

Defencemen

Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic, Mike Matheson, David Savard, Chris Wideman (injured), Arber Xhekaj

Goaltenders

Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault, Cayden Primeau

Montreal Canadiens Lines At Practice

The following lines were used by head coach Martin St-Louis at practice Monday morning:

Caufield – Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Newhook – Dach – Slafkovsky

Pearson – Monahan – Gallagher

Harvey-Pinard – Evans – Ylonen

extra: Pezetta

Matheson – Savard

Guhle – Kovacevic

Harris – Xhekaj

extra: Barron

Montembeault

Allen

Primeau

The Montreal Canadiens will be in Toronto on Wednesday to face the Maple Leafs in their season-opening game of the 2023-24 NHL schedule. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.