"I know, and the fans know what I'm capable of. It's up to me to prove I can do it consistently," said Benoit Pouliot to a crowd of reporters at the Brossard Bell Sports Complex, yesterday afternoon. Pouliot spent much of his summer regenerating and conditioning himself to arrive at his first training camp with the Montreal Canadiens.

A late season drop-off from the torrid pace he set in coming over from the Minnesota Wild, Pouliot suffered the hard knocks of not being in the best possible shape, and his confidence took a hit as he struggled through post-season action.

This season marks the opportunity of his career, as he's likely pencilled in to fill a top line position with the Canadiens. His performance, or lack thereof will ultimately determine his ability to retain his role as a top-6 forward.

Jacques Martin admitted yesterday that Lars Eller has the versatility to play the wing as well as the centre position, and that's an indication that both Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot will have to produce.

Eller is likely to see more pre-season action than either of the Canadiens established top line wingers, as Jacques Martin looks to fully evaluate his newest offensive talent.
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In evaluating the bottom of Montreal's lineup, it would be a disaster if the Canadiens had anything less than a top 10 finish in penalty killing this season.

Tomas Plekanec, Travis Moen, Tom Pyatt, Maxim Lapierre, Jeff Halpern, Dustin Boyd, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik, Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek and Carey Price could make up one of the best penalty killing teams in the league.
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With things relatively set for the Montreal Canadiens, the greatest competition remains over who will be the first called up to the big club if someone goes down to injury. Candidates include David Desharnais, Aaron Palushaj, Max Pacioretty, Ryan White and Ben Maxwell. Of those candidates Desharnais, Palushaj and Maxwell have taken the lead here at training camp.

Naturally, pre-season action will have a greater influence in determining where these players fall in Canadiens order.

More notes from camp on their way, follow @ericengels on twitter for quick updates.

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