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Canadiens Wrap

Habs Wrap: Forward Lines, Defensive Pairings, Trades, Prospects

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Montreal Canadiens news

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

Top prospect Ivan Demidov scored a nice goal in SKA Saint Petersburg’s scrimmage on Saturday. Most could easily see it was a nice goal via a great shot, but some folks on Twitter who purchased the ‘my little hockey analyst’ kit think otherwise. Either way, we’re not going to spend too much time discussing an intrasquad goal, because, well, it’s an instrasquad goal.

Great kids are often the result of good parenting, and that definitely seems to be the case for the Xhekaj family. Arber and Florian surprised their father with a brand-new car.

The Montreal Canadiens are just a month away from the start of training camp, and they still have the assets and cap space to make some moves. With roughly $5.5M in actual cap space, notwithstanding putting Price’s $10.5M contract on LTIR, the Canadiens are in a good spot to remain flexible and make some last minute moves from teams looking to shed salary or open up roster spots. [Top Canadiens Trade Assets Going Into Training Camp]

Lane Hutson is one of the most exciting players the Montreal Canadiens have had in their prospect pool in the last few decades. We must avoid setting the bar too high as he begins his professional hockey career in earnest, but the numbers he produced in the NCAA eclipsed the production from three recent Norris Trophy winners, which is quite encouraging to say the least. [Canadiens Prospect Rankings: Lane Hutson The Phenom]

Tuesday

The Montreal Canadiens took a major swing by trading for Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine. It was a surprising move to a certain extent, but there’s no doubt the Habs could stand to add more offensive firepower. [LAINE SURPRISE! Canadiens Trade for Former 40-Goal Scorer]

Much has been made about Laine’s recent dip in production, but as per usual, the issue has been exaggerated. The fact of the matter is that the team used an organizational excess, left-handed defencemen, to address a weakness that has plagued the team for decades.  [Habs Analysis: Patrik Laine Trade Uses Strength To Solve Weakness]

Jordan Harris, the player sent to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Laine, bid farewell to his former team on Monday night. While it’s exciting that the Canadiens have acquired a player with offensive know how, there’s no doubt Harris was a very smart and talented young man. He has untapped potential, which could be unlocked by giving him more ice time. In professional sports there’s a trend where fans turn on players who were traded, but that won’t be the case for Harris, as he was loved by Canadiens for the aforementioned reasons, in addition to his impressive leadership off the ice.

Laine met with the media to discuss his opportunity to play for the most successful team in NHL history. We all know about his past, which means we should give him a relatively long runway to find his rhythm in Montreal. That being said, it’s hard to project a situation in which the 26-year-old is not motivated to return to his former goal-scoring ways.

The Nashville Predators want to trade goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, and though the Habs could have used goalie reinforcements in past years, it’s no longer a pressing issue for the organization. [The Canadiens And The Yaroslav Askarov Trade Situation]

Forward Juraj Slafkovsky will not participate in Slovakia’s bid to earn an Olympic berth. Some, including Slovakian hockey leaders, may see this as a greedy decision by the Canadiens, but it speaks to the importance Slafkovsky has to the organization, the lineup, and their hopes to turn the corner in the rebuild.

Habs prospects David Reinbacher and Vinzenz Rohrer, on the other hand, will be present in Austria’s lineup.

With all due respect to Ryan Reaves, it’s hard to suggest he’s the toughest player in the NHL when he plays so little and makes such a small impact on the Leafs’ lineup. Other players who win more fights are given more minutes while actually producing reasonably good underlying numbers, including Arber Xhekaj. That being said, I’d argue former Hab Nicolas Deslauriers deserves to be a little higher on the list.

Wednesday

Despite the narrative surrounding Patrik Laine in recent years, he can still produce a respectable number of points. His presence in the lineup gives head coach Martin St-Louis more options, especially on the powerplay, an area of concern for the team since they decided not to offer Andre Markov a contract extension. [Patrik Laine Trade Could Improve Specific Area For The Canadiens]

Check out this great montage from Gregory Hamel. Given what Laine has gone through in his young career, it’s rather easy to cheer for him to bounce back in a big way with the Habs.

Former Hab Nate Thompson seem to be a fan of the move that brought Laine to the Canadiens.

Canadiens Defenceman Arber Xhekaj was a guest on the Spittin’ Chiclets Podcast, discussing his entry-level contract with the Habs, head coach Martin St-Louis, his fights, and a various other topics.

Thursday

Now that the Montreal Canadiens have traded for Patrik Laine, it’s time to take a look at the brand-new projected forward lineup. Regardless of where Laine ends up, his presence gives head coach Martin St-Louis many more options, an important asset when attempting to improve the team’s results. [Canadiens Depth Chart: Line Options Following Patrik Laine Trade]

Laine will also have an impact on the training camp battles. After extracting Laine and a 2026 second-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jordan Harris, the Canadiens are seemingly set to take the next step in their process. Over the last few years, training camp has always been pretty predictable, with veterans taking up key roster spots and few legitimate prospects ready to crack the lineup. [How The Patrik Laine Trade Impacts Canadiens Training Camp]

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki was No.16 on the NHL Network’s list of top 20 centres in the league, which is sure to frustrate those who have made a habit of trying to downplay his value despite tangible evidence of significant growth.

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Adam Fantilli had nothing but good things to say about Laine, despite the negative comments made by his general manager, Don Waddell.

TVA Sports spoke to defenceman Arber Xhekaj, one of the many Canadiens players who are excited about the addition of Laine to the lineup.

Friday

The Habs released their behind-the-scenes video from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. It’s a rather entertaining watch, especially since General Manager Kent Hughes reacted to the first few picks the same way as most Canadiens fans did. The video also confirms the team had multiple trade offers that would have seen them move down in the first round if Ivan Demidov or Michael Hage were not available when they took to the podium.

Arber Xhekaj is the type of athlete that is bound to pick up numerous sponsorships, though a promotion for a burger involving The Sheriff necessitated photoshop to ensure the product did not appear to be tiny. [Arber Xhekaj’s Hands Were Too Big For Burger Promotion]

Ivan Demidov scored two goals for SKA against Sochi in KHL preseason action. We’re not going to get too excited about every goal he scores as he prepares for the 2024-25 season, but it’s definitely encouraging that he seems to have rekindled the scoring touch that saw him put together a historic scoring run in the playoffs last year. [Canadiens Prospect Ivan Demidov’s Entertaining Highlights]


With newcomer Patrik Laine bolstering the forward ranks, the Habs have an opportunity to flip the script on their lack of success when it comes to finding talented Nordic players. Fortunately, Finnish players such as Saku Koivu and Artturi Lehkonen left their mark in Montreal with inspired play and a strong work ethic. [Montreal Canadiens Top 5: Best Finnish Players In Team History]

Top prospect David Reinbacher earned an assist in Austria’s Olympic qualifying warm-up game against Slovenia, which ended 2-1 in favour of the Austrians. Despite a tumultuous season in Switzerland, Reinbacher kicked off the top 5 of our Montreal Canadiens 2024 summer prospect rankings. [David Reinbacher’s Complicated Season]

Speaking of Reinbacher, he’s been busy at work preparing for the upcoming season. He hopes to earn a roster spot with the Canadiens straight out of camp, a lofty, if not reachable goal, as there appears to be an opening on the right side of the blue line. [Canadiens Defensive Situation – Evaluating Depth]

Saturday

Now that Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic have been traded to new teams, some of the Canadiens’ best defensive prospects have a clearer line of sight when it comes to earning a permanent job in the NHL. Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, and Logan Mailloux, among others, will be fighting for the new job openings. [Canadiens Depth Chart: Trades Improve Defensive Prospect Odds]

With Rutger McGroaty signing his entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, first-round pick Michael Hage will probably enjoy an uptick in ice time and overall responsibilities with the University of Michigan Wolverines.


Team captain Nick Suzuki and friends raised over $120,000 at the 2024 edition of his golf tournament in support of the Asista Foundation. [Canadiens]

The American Hockey League has mandated the use of neck guards for all its players, signalling the eventual adoption of the rule in the NHL once the next batch of hockey players graduate from the minors.

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