FINALLY!!! Hockey is back. Of course, it hasn’t been long since the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in the “Bubble”, but with the pandemic that hit the world in early March and put everything out of whack, it feels like forever. Now, it’s officially back and ready to roll, and so are the Montreal Canadiens.
Looking back at their play in the “Bubble”, they really took teams by surprise, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in a best of five play in series in five games, moved on to the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. Considering the slump the Canadiens were in before the season ended, it’s good to see they ended on a good note, even though they lost. Youngsters Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a huge step forward last season in their development, and General Manager Marc Bergevin and Head Coach Claude Julien will count on these two young centres to be the driving force of this newly evolved Canadiens offence.
In the offseason, Marc Bergevin took advantage of the available cap space and put it to use. He wanted to add size, speed, toughness and Stanley Cup experience. Most experts will say that the Canadiens had the best offseason of any team in the NHL. The jury is still out on that, but on paper, they look vastly improved. Trading Max Domi to Columbus for Josh Anderson, then signing him to a seven year, 5.5 million AAV(Average Annual Value) contract, signing Tyler Toffoli to a four year deal worth 4.25 AAV from Vancouver, trading for Joel Edmundson from Carolina, inking him to a four year deal at 3.5 AAV from Carolina, and, perhaps the most important move, bringing in Jake Allen from St.Louis to backup goaltender Carey Price. With these two goalies, Montreal has arguably the best one-two punch in net in the league, and with the season only being 56 games, and the newly minted divisions, Montreal will need both Price and Allen to really help this fast energetic team face some stiff competition in the Northeast Division with all Canadian teams.
In front of them are a behemoth of defensemen. Captain Shea Weber, Ben Chiariot, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson are all over 6’3 and between 210-245lbs. Good luck for players who have to stay in front of Carey Price and Jake Allen. Marc Bergevin not only wanted to continue to be fast, but wanted to add size and be meaner, and he succeeded. Along those defensemen will be rookie sensation Alexander Romanov. Coming from the KHL, Romanov played on a very good SKA St. Petersburg team, although not very known for his offence, he skates well, plays hard, and makes a good first pass out of the defensive zone, so there is a lot to like with him. However, he’s a young player who just moved to North America still learning to play on smaller ice, so give him time to adjust properly. One thing is for sure, he has enormous potential.
With all being said, let’s have a look at the predicted starting lineup for the Montreal Canadiens tonight against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs:
Tomas Tatar-Philip Danault-Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin- Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson
Tyler Toffoli-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Joel Armia
Arturri Lehkonen-Jake Evans-Paul Byron
Ben Chiariot-Shea Weber
Joel Edmundson-Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak-Alexander Romanov
Carey Price
Jake Allen
With a taxi squad required, Montreal will have new signees Corey Perry and Michael Frolik along with youngsters Ryan Poehling, Cale Fleury and Charlie Lindgren as options in case of injury or a positive testing of Covid-19.
The Canadiens will play Toronto and Ottawa ten times throughout the season, while they’ll play Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton nine times. It’s going to be an interesting season, one with many potential surprises and upsets. It’s going to be a weird season for sure, but so happy Hockey is back!
JV Sports Blog 