Habs Daily: Defence Training Camp Battles, Fowler’s Trade Value

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

Montreal Canadiens News

Now that the Montreal Canadiens training camp has officially opened, we can take a look at the upcoming battle for the one or two spots that will be available on the blue line. Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher, and Adam Engstrom will be among the young defensive prospects who will attempt to earn a permanent NHL job in the upcoming weeks. A lot of the decisions will also depend on where the Habs will use Kaiden Guhle. If he’s played on his offside, things will become much more complicated for the prospects, but ideally, the Habs can find him a spot on the left side of the blue line.[Canadiens Defensive Situation Should Lead To Exciting Training Camp Battles]

The Habs were among the teams who briefly discussed a potential trade with the Nashville Predators centred on disgruntled goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, but given what we know about the situation, it was closer to Kent Hughes performing due diligence as a general manager than a serious discussion about acquiring another goaltender. The Predators did bring up one of the top Canadiens prospects in those negotiations, goalie Jacob Fowler, but that was a non-starter for the Habs. NHL goaltenders rarely carry much value on the trade market, and given that Fowler has already proven he’s one of the best goaltender prospects in the hockey landscape, there would be very little potential value added by paying a king’s ransom to acquire a goalie such as Askarov. [Trade Talk: The Canadiens, Jacob Fowler, and Yaroslav Askarov]

It was the Canadiens media day yesterday, which involves most players making their way to Brossard in small groups so that the team can record a short video to be used at a later date. This means the videos you see on the big screen during Canadiens games are indeed recorded in mid-September. It’s a fairly relaxed atmosphere, especially when things go slightly wrong.

📂 CANADIENS
└📁 Documents
└📁 Vidéos
└📁 Bloopers#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Vzt3eV81EV

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 18, 2024

The Canadiens invited 59 players to camp this year, much fewer than the 74 invites the Canadiens handed out during Martin St-Louis’ first training camp as the new head coach. I know there are various reasons why teams invite a lot of players to camp, but it’s rather refreshing to see the Canadiens shorten their list from the very get-go. It allows the team to focus on players who have a legitimate chance to make the NHL, and as a secondary bonus, it should lead to much more entertaining pre-season games.  [TVA Sports]

Speaking of players who have a legitimate chance to make the NHL, Owen Beck is one of the few forwards who did not play in the NHL last season but will still be given an opportunity to win a job at camp. If Rob Ramage’s media availability on Wednesday is any indication, the Canadiens also view Beck as the cream of the crop when it comes to forward prospects.

“We see (Owen Beck) as a leader (among Habs prospects) & he is. He just carries himself like an NHL player already. His fitness testing was NHL plus. This is a guy who went to the Memorial Cup & had a long season but he didn’t take his foot off the pedal with his training this… pic.twitter.com/MUUvbTne93

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) September 18, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

The prognostications and medical reports were not encouraging last April, but Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Nieto was a participant on Day 1 of training camp. Nieto skated in the early group before Groups 1 and 2 Wednesday morning, participating in individual drills with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins players Sam Houde and Jagger Joshua. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella and his newest protégé, Russian sensation Matvei Michkov, are the talk of the town heading into the 2024-25 NHL season. [Philadelphia Flyers]

When the Colorado Avalanche hit the ice for training camp on Thursday, they will likely be without some important forwards up front. Artturi Lehkonen will probably skate, but the Avalanche have confirmed he’ll be limited. Valeri Nichushkin won’t be there and isn’t eligible to return until November, and Gabriel Landeskog’s status is still very much up in the air. There are a lot of questions as to what the forward group will look like to start the season. [Colorado Avalanche]