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That's it From Brossard

July 25, 2020, 3:50 PM ET [143 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Habs skated for one last time in Brossard today as the start of phase 4 looms. Once again, they spent some time on the special teams and had a 15 minutes scrimmage. Right now, the lines and pairings look as follows:

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - Suzuki - Armia
Lehkonen - Kotkaniemi - Byron
Weal - Domi - Weise

Chiarot - Weber
Kulak - Petry
Ouellet - Mete

After practice, both the captain and the coach spoke to the media. There isn't much to report when it comes to what Weber had to say, but it's different for Julien. The Habs pilot was properly grilled about the composition of his lines and more particularly about the fact that Domi is centering the 4th line. He received quite a few questions on the topic and almost looked annoyed at one point saying: if you want to get hung up on the colour of the jerseys guys are wearing and call them the 4th line it's up to you but it's not how it is. Well coach, we don't care which colours the players are wearing but when your third scorer in the regular season is flanked by Dale Weise and Jordan Weal, of course we're going to call that the fourth line. It's almost as if the coach thought the press and the fans had not memory whatsoever. Dale Weise came back to Montreal in 4 player "blockbuster trade" that saw David Schlemko and Byron Froese head to Philly in return for Weise and Folin. Upon returning, Weise played 9 games in the NHL and 3 in the AHL in 2018-2019 and 27 AHL games and 23 NHL ones this season thanks to all the injuries sustained by Habs regulars. As for Weal, he featured in only 49 of the 71 games the Habs played this year and that wasn't because he was injured.

Meanwhile, Domi played in 71 games and put up 44 points on the board. It definitely wasn't a great season for him compared to his previous one but he is still an offensive threat. It's fair to say that Nick Suzuki has managed to take the 2nd centre role from him but that shouldn't mean that he ends up on the 4th line. Julien said that he aimed to spread the talent amongst his lines and that's why Domi is playing where he is playing. He also added that he doesn't think Domi is disappointed with his wingers...well, allow me to doubt that Claude. Another journalist asked him if one of his lines would end up having fourth line minutes and he replied that he always coached the same way, when a line isn't doing well, it will play less and the hot ones will play more. We all know Julien though his fourth line will play less.

Some will ask, well, what do you want him to do with Domi? He doesn't want to play on the wing! I think that given the choice between centering a 4th line with 4th line wingers and playing on the wing on a top 6 or to 9 line, Domi would be more likely to choose the second option. The timing isn't great for Domi either since he needs to sign a new contract in the off season and he was more than likely hoping to really show what he could do during the qualifying round...will he be able to do so now though? It must be somewhat demotivating for Domi to find himself in this situation when he decided to come back into the fold during the pandemic even with his health concerns.

I guess we'll only know for sure how much Julien will use each line when we finally see a proper game starting Tuesday in the exhibition against the Leafs but I truly hope that Domi is given the opportunity to shine. On the positive side of things though, I'm glad to see that Kulak is already back on the second pairing with Petry. Whether we like it or not, this is a better option than a Mete-Petry pairing and Julien clearly knows it to have Kulak on the second pairing so soon after he returns. In the net, it will be interesting to see who gets the nod to back-up Price. Right now, it's clearly between Lindgren and Primeau. While Lindgren had the job at the end of the season, Julien only used him once he knew any hope of making the playoffs (in the pre-covid world) was gone. That's hardly a ringing endorsement. Meanwhile, Primeau looks like the future of the Habs in net and I think I'd rather see him make the most of the experience. Of course, unless there is an injury to Price, the back-up won't see any action, but still, being picked would no doubt be a confidence booster.
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