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In Hainsight: St-Louis Reveals A Small Part of his Hand |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
After a day off yesterday, the Canadiens were back to work on the ice in Brossard this morning in readiness for the game against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Thankfully, it seems that Juraj Slafkovsky wasn’t injured in Monday’s tilt as he’ll be back in the line-up tonight. The lines and pairings featured at morning skates were as follows:
Caufield-Suzuki-Monahan
Harvey-Pinard-Dach-Slafkovsky
Andersson-Mesar-Heineman
Bourque-Gignac-Davidson
Matheson-Savard
Trudeau-Kovacevic
Norlinder-Keeper
In net, Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau should share the game, meaning Primeau will be playing in a second consecutive games. In his pregame media availability, Martin St-Louis was asked how he would describe Juraj Slafkovsky’s progression so far and he once again said that it was too early to talk about progression since the sophomore hadn’t played in nine months and only had one game under his belt this training camp. As for Slafkovsky himself, he was asked once again what a good season for him would be not necessarily in terms of numbers: “Every time I get asked this…for me playing a lot in Montreal would be a good season for me”. In other words, the big forward wants to stay with the big club and in a meaningful role.
Kirby Dach will be playing his first game tonight and Sportsnet’s Eric Engels asked Martin St-Louis what he was looking for in a linemate for him. After thinking for a moment, the coach said a goal scorer alongside Dach helps because he’s a pass first guy, he’s a guy that can transport the puck which means that the guy playing with him will get scoring chances. He then explained plenty of things that go into creating chemistry, like for instance being on the same intellectual level on the ice, Dach needs to be with somebody that’s ready to shoot the puck. The pilot then mentioned that he knows Dach on the first line along with Suzuki and Caufield works, but they’d still like to see Dach in the middle, if he lands with the duo, it will happen organically if it does.
On Monahan, he mentions that he’s very aware of what’s going on, he understands the rules of the game, what the game is asking for him to do, he’s got great decision making. He added that he’s always ready to shoot, making him and Dach a potential duo. Putting Monahan with Suzuki and Cole tonight comes from the fact he wants the duo to have a bit of predictability. On Harvey-Pinard, St-Louis mentioned that no matter where he puts him, the winger always brings his A game, whether he’s on the fourth or on the first line, he’s always constant in his effort.
What to make from these comments? I think Monahan is destined to play with Dach, as the shooting guy, just like he was for Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary. I know some would like to see Caufield with Dach, but I don’t get the impression the coach is ready to break that the Suzuki-Caufield combination. Seeing Harvey-Pinard and Slafkovsky on Dach’s wing tonight is about seeing what they can do in his company, who would be able to step up and play in the top six. I’m glad, they are getting such an opportunity. Clearly, St-Louis is ready to give them opportunities to “steal a chair” as the bench boss would say.
Closing his media availability, St-Louis said he doesn’t have enough information yet to tell his veterans what his plan is for them as he doesn’t have enough information to do that yet, it should happen in seven to 10 days. In other words, the coach says that nothing is set in stone yet, but come opening night, we’ll see if my hunch from his comments was right…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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