There are significant changes happening with the Montreal Canadiens today. As the players return to the ice in Brossard after a rare day off, head coach Martin St-Louis has made some noteworthy modifications.
Kirby Dach has been moved to the first line, with Oliver Kapanen stepping in as the new center for the second line. This shift is partly due to Juraj Slafkovsky’s absence, but St-Louis has really shaken up the lineup.
Typically, when a player is unavailable, they are replaced by a temporary “placeholder.” However, today, Martin St-Louis has completely overhauled things.
This signals that substantial changes are being made to the line combinations, aiming to boost Kirby Dach’s performance. It’s important to mention that the second line has not met expectations so far this season.
Here are the revised line combinations:
While Joel Armia might temporarily fill in for Juraj Slafkovsky, the new top two lines look like this:
Dach – Suzuki – Caufield
Newhook – Kapanen – Armia (Slafkovsky?)
It’s a promising outlook!
“With Slafkovsky out for treatment, Kirby Dach practiced alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, while Oliver Kapanen centered Alex Newhook and Joel Armia.”
“The Evans line remains unchanged, with Michael Pezzetta skating with Emil Heineman and Christian Dvorak.”
– Eric Engels, Sportsnet
We’ll need to keep an eye out for Slafkovsky’s return, but look forward to seeing Kirby Dach play on the top line.
