The Montreal Canadiens began training camp on Thursday with their first on-ice sessions that involved mainly conditioning work. The group of 74 players were split into four teams for scrimmages on Friday and Saturday.
Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens will play their annual ‘Red vs White’ game, with the first cuts of training camp likely to follow shortly after.
They’ll then open their eight-game pre-season schedule on Monday night when they welcome the New Jersey Devils to the Bell Centre in what could be a match-up between the first and second overall picks in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec.
With a new season comes optimism, but the Canadiens are in the midst of a rebuild/re-tool, whatever you’d like to call it. So external expectations aren’t too high and there’s a very good chance they’ll be selecting in the top-ten, if not top-five in next summer’s draft.
Despite that, it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be an enjoyable season. It will certainly be exciting to watch the team grow and see the development of the younger players, whether that be in Montreal or Laval.
There are a handful of players I’m keeping my eye on at training camp and in the upcoming pre-season games heading into the 2022-23 season.
First up is Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall pick in July’s draft in Montreal. Slafkovsky had a strong second-half to his season last year, earning MVP honours as a 17-year-old at the Olympics in Beijing after scoring seven goals in seven games, leading his nation (Slovakia) to their first-ever medal in ice hockey at the Winter Games, that being bronze.
Slafkovsky will more than likely start the season with the Canadiens and be on their opening night roster when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s a big body at 6’3″, 238 lbs and uses his size to his advantage, forcing turnovers and creating scoring chances deep in the offensive zone.
The second player I’m watching is Jonathan Drouin. The Canadiens fanbase seems split on whether or not they want him to stay or be traded, but in my opinion, it’s worth it to hold on to Drouin, at least until the trade deadline in March. The 27-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and holding onto him until the deadline gives the Canadiens to build up his trade value, if Drouin plays well.
After an injury-plagued 2021-22 season that limited him to 34 games, Drouin will look prove that he’s more than capable of being a top-six forward in the NHL. He will be given ample opportunity in the pre-season to show Martin St. Louis what he can do and that he can be a dangerous offensive threat for the Canadiens this season.
The third and final player I’m keeping an eye on is 20-year-old blueliner Kaiden Guhle. Guhle, Montreal’s first round pick in 2020, is looking to crack the roster right out of camp and his maturity, combined with his ability to skate considerably well, his size/physicality and offensive upside are all reasons why the Canadiens will name him to their opening night roster.
Guhle had an extremely strong season in the Western Hockey League last year, putting up 40 points in 42 games for the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings. His 16 points in the playoffs helped Edmonton win the WHL Championship and earn a berth in the Memorial Cup. Ultimately, the Oil Kings didn’t have that strong of a showing at the Memorial Cup, finishing fourth out of four teams with one overtime win and two regulation losses in three games.
As mentioned, the Canadiens will hold their ‘Red vs White’ game on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET, then host the Devils on Monday night at 7 p.m. ET. The full pre-season schedule can be found below and as always, thanks for reading!
Montreal’s 2022 pre-season schedule
- Montreal vs New Jersey – September 26th at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal @ Toronto – September 28th at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal vs Winnipeg – September 29th at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal @ Ottawa – October 1st at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal vs Toronto – October 3rd at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal vs Ottawa – October 4th at 7 p.m. ET.
- Montreal vs Ottawa – October 6th at 6:30 p.m. ET. (Gander, Newfoundland)
- Montreal @ Ottawa – October 8th at 7:30 p.m. ET. (Bouctouche, New Brunswick)