Canadiens Practice Notes: Edmundson, Gurianov, New Lines

The Montreal Canadiens got some good news at practice today as both Joel Edmundson and Denis Gurianov practiced with the team in San Jose.

After spending over a month out of action with an injury, veteran Joel Edmundson has returned to practice for the Canadiens.

The 29-year-old defence was even seen wearing a red contact jersey, indicating that he could very well be returning to play in the next day or so.

It’s been a worrying topic for the Canadiens, who had a few interested teams circling around them for Edmundson’s availability prior to his injury.

However, both Edmundson and the returning Kaiden Guhle were lined up on the second pairing for the Canadiens at practice, a sign that they could both be returning tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks.

Getting into some games before Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline and stringing along some strong performances could go a long way in convincing teams to make a move.

Edmundson 1er sur la glace pic.twitter.com/uDbAR3t8Wm

— Marc-André Perreault (@MA_PerreaultTVA) February 27, 2023

Warm Welcome

Newcomer Denis Gurianov, who will be wearing the No. 25 for the Montreal Canadiens, joined the team earlier this afternoon from Dallas.

The 25-year-old Gurianov was having some difficulty getting his mojo going this season with the Stars, putting up two goals and seven assists for nine points in 43 games.

The Canadiens seemingly want to get the power forward going, as they’ve immediately placed him on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Mike Hoffman at practice today.

Gurianov was the 12th overall selection in the 2015 NHL Draft for the Dallas Stars. He was best known for his impeccable performance for the Stars in the bubble in Edmonton, where he put up nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 27 playoff games.

The winger has the size (6’3, 205lbs) and speed to play an important role for the Canadiens down the stretch and provides them with a left-shooting threat that they could plug into their top six until the end of the season.

Bienvenue, Denis 🤝

He's here!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/tYftg6FXfF

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 27, 2023

Mashing Up Of Lines

Head coach Martin St-Louis scrambled the lines for the Canadiens today, deconstructing the Habs’ very successful top line in an effort to spread the talent across the lineup.

It’s made for some interesting combinations in the Canadiens’ top six, most notably the addition of Gurianov and Mike Hoffman next to Suzuki on the top line.

The second line of Rafaël Harvey Pinard, Jonathan Drouin and Josh Anderson truly looks like the Canadiens are attempting to try spread some of the talent down the lineup to put Drouin in a better light leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline.

The rest of the bottom six was left relatively untouched.

Then the Canadiens’ defensive brigade welcomed back both Edmundson and Guhle to their six-man unit, which unfortunately bumped Justin Barron out of the lineup as the 7th defenceman.

Here are the lines below:

Hoffman-Suzuki-Gurianov
Harvey-Pinard-Drouin-Anderson
Pitlick-Dvorak-Ylönen
Pezzetta-Tierney-Belzile

Matheson-Savard
Edmundson-Guhle
Harris-Kovacevic
Barron