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In Hainsight: Takeaways from Day Three on the Ice |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Today was the last day of intra-squad games in Laval and some players stood out, but not always for the right reasons. Cayden Primeau is playing for high stakes at training camp, he’s now waiver eligible meaning that unless he impresses enough to stay with the big club, he’ll need to go through waivers to go back to Laval. Unfortunately for Primeau, so far, he’s not impressed much. This morning, he played half a game during which he gave up four goals and they weren’t necessarily great goals. I’ve always advocated patience with Primeau since his development was hindered by the pandemic, but it’s been long enough now, perhaps Primeau is not an NHL goalie and it wouldn’t be that surprising, after all, he was a seventh-round draft pick and those rarely pan out.
Meanwhile, the Harvey-Pinard-Beck-Gallagher line looked like it was all over the ice, all game long. Their forecheck was intense and gave their opponents headaches, even when they didn’t manage to win the puck. Of course, the line has yet to face an all NHLer line-up, but it really needs to be put to the test in a preseason game as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Owen Beck, there isn’t much room for rookies in the line-up, but if the duo proves to be as effective facing other teams, Martin St-Louis might just need to find them a center, and Jake Evans might just be the right man for the job.
In the post scrimmage presser, Sean Monahan had kind words for Joshua Roy, calling him a very skillful player and adding he’s certain he’ll be a great player in the NHL. On the ice, the Monahan-Dach combination was as efficient as ever and there’s clearly a bit of chemistry starting to form there. Using Monahan on Dach’s win seems like a great idea to me, especially since Dach sometimes has issues in the face-off, Monahan is the ideal pair of training wheels for the young center. Monahan also confirmed he’s open to playing wing even though he’s a natural center, the man is a team player and he’ll gladly slot in wherever the coaches ask him to play.
In the afternoon session, Logan Mailloux and Filip Mesar both showed great offensive instincts, Mailloux launching numerous attacks with his transition game and joining the rush and Mesar knowing where to go to be in great scoring position, the young Slovak was rewarded by a goal for his efforts. On the other side of the puck though, Mailloux showed that his defensive game still needed work, it was so obvious when Nick Suzuki managed to pick his pocket as easily as he could steal candy from a baby (if he wasn’t such a good guy of course).
Alex Newhook and Josh Anderson were once again flying on the ice and there were some signs of improvements for Juraj Slafkovsky who’s slowly getting used to playing with his more experienced linemates. The big Slovak did look a little bit trigger shy, like he was hesitating to take shots on a few opportunities, nothing a little bit more confidence won’t fix.
On the blue line, a few people have alluded that perhaps Arber Xhekaj could start the season in Laval due to the congestion on the left side of the blue line in Montreal, but the gritty blueliner has no intention to ride the metro this season. He scored both of his side’s goals this afternoon, including the game-tying goal with seconds left in the game with a slapper from the blue line. His other goal came from closer to the net with a nifty wrist shot. If it was up to me, I can guarantee you that Wifi would be spending the whole season in Montreal.
As the afternoon’s game ended in a 2-2 draw, fans in attendance in Brossard were treated to a shootout and they saw both Josh Anderson and Juraj Slafkovsky score. Slafkovsky pulled out quite a maneuver and his goal was receive well by the fans who roared in celebration. At the other end of the ice, goaltender Jakub Dobes stood tall and came out on top of his duel with both Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. The captain tried to pull out the Datsukian move that gave him numerous goals last season, but the Czech goaltender was ready and caught the puck with his glove.
Tomorrow, the Canadiens will be playing their annual red vs white game at the Bell Center, a game that will be televised on RDS 2, with the pregame starting at 12:30. Don’t expect the full NHL line-up to be on the ice though, St-Louis and co. will no doubt want to use this opportunity to further evaluate some youngsters.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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