Two months ago, Habs fans were looking forward to the NHL Draft as the Canadiens were widely expected to have a top 10 pick for the second time in three years. However, with the pandemic due to COVID-19, a team that had a 0.1% chance of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs now has a solid chance of raising Lord Stanley in the coming months. This comes as 24 teams will be back to full play once deemed safe to do so. Part of a return to play plan, the hope is this will be done when the NHL completes its first three phases.
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, the NHL will allow teams to carry 28 skaters and an unlimited amount of goalies during the 24 team tournament. However, it remains unclear as to how many players will be allowed to get dressed. Here are my four additions to the Montreal Canadiens roster as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in a best of five play-in round. This list is made up of players who weren’t on Montreal’s roster when the season was suddenly halted.
Ryan Poehling
Poehling, 21, is currently in his first full season with the Montreal Canadiens after he made a name for himself two years ago, putting up three goals and a shootout winner in the final game of the 2018-19 season. That scoring touch sadly didn’t transfer over to this season as he spent 36 games in Laval, putting up five goals and eight assists for 13 points. He added another goal and assist in 27 games at the NHL level. However, Habs fans have to remember than Poehling has never been a scorer as he only recorded a double-digit goal total in his Sophomore year at St. Cloud.
There’s no question that it’s difficult for any player to get into a grove when you’ve split the season between the AHL and NHL. Montreal as a whole is getting younger and are looking at guys like Poehling to be a big part of their team in the next year or so. Now is another opportunity for Poehling to show that he deserves to be on the Habs roster next year, especially with the likelihood of Jesperi Kotkaniemi starting next season at Place Bell in Laval. However, even though there will be extra spots available, Poehling will still have some competition.
Cayden Primeau
Now, even if Cayden Primeau ends up being added to the Habs roster, I don’t expect him to see any playing time unless the hockey gods haunt Montreal once again and Carey Price goes down with an injury. It’s starting to seem like Primeau is ahead of Charlie Lindgren when you look at in-house options for the back-role next year in Montreal. Primeau was one of the bright spots for a Laval team that struggled this season as he went 17-11-3 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in 33 games. The three others who played for Laval won 13 games when in the net for the Rocket.
In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of teams move to a two goalie system. Montreal also has to look at another big factor here and that’s the crowded net they’ll have again next year in Laval. The Keith Kinkaid experiment went as bad as it could possibly go and forced a guy like Micheal McNiven to the ECHL last season. McNiven was 3-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage while in Laval.
That could have been a very scary tandem for opposing teams and could have easily led the Rocket to the Calder Cup Playoffs. I would love to see what that duo could do next year, but with the recent signing of Vasil Demchenko, that could make the Laval goaltending situation rather interesting to say the very least. Montreal hasn’t had much luck the past few years when it comes to signing backups in free agency. It may come a little earlier than expected, but expect the CP 2.0 project to begin next season with the Canadiens.
Noah Juulsen
Noah Juulsen has had a rough past two years to put it lightly. Juulsen has yet to hit the ice for the Canadiens since November, 2018 after he took two shots to his face in a game against the Washington Capitals. That injury would end his season and as he was getting prepared for training camp, he would go down with yet another injury. Juulsen would make his return to hockey on October 25th with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
However, in Laval, he would still have symptoms despite playing in 12 of 15 games between that October and November 30th. Another flare-up would sideline the defensemen until he would get back to playing in March, just prior to coronavirus concluding the season.
Even with the long pause, Montreal is still facing a big loss on the blue-line with Victor Mete done for the season after suffering a fractured foot in February. The Habs did, however, go out and get Marco Scandella to help out on the blue-line, but ended up trading him to St. Louis at the deadline. It comes as no surprise that knowing Juulsen’s history, Montreal is going to want to limit his minutes, but I think he’d be a very solid third pairing guy for the Habs and will obviously be competing for a top-six role for next season.
In a total of 44 NHL games, Juulsen has put up two goals and six assists for a total of eight points. These of course all being scored with the Montreal Canadiens. As a former first-round pick of the Habs in 2015, it will be huge if he’s able to stay healthy and be another solid piece of a young Habs blue-line.
Cale Fleury
The fourth addition is Cale Fleury. Fleury is another one of the Habs young blue-liners and played in 48 games last season with Montreal. This also happened to include being on the team’s active roster for Opening Night. Despite only putting up one goal in 41 games, he’s still young and the best thing you can do is continue to give a guy like Fleury a shot. In Laval, he put up two goals and three assists for five points in 14 games.
He would bring a lot to the Habs roster, including quickness on the blue-line and would be one of the better options for Montreal if they need to change things up on the blue-line mid-series. This wouldn’t be a surprise as the Habs were doing a lot of mixing and matching this season, this particularly with their defensemen. Unlike Noah Juulsen, Fleury could also find his name in the lineup as he brings more to the formation than a guy like Kulak, Christian Folin or Oullet.
Folin and Oullet both have contracts expiring at the end of the season and I don’t see either one of them spending much time in the NHL next season. Oullet is the only one that Montreal might be inclined to bring back, this solely due to the fact that he’s been the captain in Laval for the past two seasons.
Looking At The Bright Side
In a non-pandemic scenario, the Habs wouldn’t have a chance to give the youngsters that I’ve mentioned any playoff experience. Yes, It may not be a true Stanley Cup Playoff, but for guys who are just getting their feet wet, this is the perfect way to do it. It’s obvious that there’s no pressure on the Habs to move on as most fans would like to see them lose in the first round to have a fighting shot at a lottery pick. However, this will put some tough decisions on the Canadiens coaching staff when choosing their lineup. Regardless, this will be fun for the fans, no matter how the Habs end up fairing once hockey returns.