In spite of Laine’s injury creating a vacancy in the lineup, the Montreal Canadiens announced on Monday morning that they have sent seven players to the AHL, joining the Laval Rocket.
The official news release can be seen here:
Logan Mailloux, Joshua Roy, Adam Engström, Jakub Dobes, Lucas Condotta, Brandon Gignac, and William Trudeau were loaned to the Laval Rocket of the AHL, the Canadiens announced on Monday. The Toronto Maple Leafs will be the team the Habs play in Montreal to open the regular season on Wednesday.
There were numerous ramifications for the team from this choice. Before selecting the team for opening night, Martin St-Louis, the other members of the coaching staff, and the management had a lot to think about.
First of all, this suggests that Emil Heineman will probably
Alex Barré-Boulet and Oliver Kapanen are dressed for the Leafs game. This generated quite a dispute as management selected for these three players instead of Joshua Roy, the promising prospect who starred previous season before getting injured. Roy scored nine points in his first twenty-three games in the league, but all Habs supporters can agree that he was far more involved than his stat line indicates. Regretfully, Roy had a difficult training camp and was unable to convince the team that he was worthy of a starting position in the opening game.
On the other hand, Kapanen already had a shoe in, as if the team decided to cut him, he would’ve been sent back to Europe (something that could still happen ultimately this season).
Kapanen, cousin of former Leafs Kasperi, led the Habs players in the preseason with four points, and showed a lot of promise on the ice. Barré-Boulet and Heineman, on the other hand, pulled off a surprise at the training camp. Despite the fact that both players are quite energetic, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them relegated to the AHL at some point this season.
It’s also evident that the Habs made the decision to retain the majority of their players that qualified for waivers in order to prevent losing them. This might all change, though, on Monday afternoon when the NHL makes available the players whose teams have placed on waivers.
