Two former Montreal Canadiens defensemen have found new homes after being placed on waivers.
This is because Justin Barron has been claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Blues, while William Trudeau has been claimed off waivers by the Nashville Predators.
Barron was placed on waivers earlier this week by Nashville. Now, the former Canadiens blueliner will be joining the Blues organization and will be aiming to impress.
Trudeau, on the other hand, was placed on waivers by the New York Rangers. The Canadiens traded Trudeau to the Rangers during the off-season for forward Brett Berard. Yet, Trudeau will now be joining the Predators instead.
Barron appeared in 52 games last season for the Predators, where he recorded nine assists and a minus-1 rating. He spent four seasons with the Canadiens from 2021-22 to 2024-25, where he posted 13 goals, 31 points, and a minus-11 rating in 109 games.
As for Trudeau, he is still looking to make his NHL debut. The 2021 fourth-round pick spent four seasons with the Laval Rocket but never earned a call-up to the Canadiens' roster before being traded this summer.
In 260 AHL games with Laval over four seasons, Trudeau recorded 28 goals, 62 assists, 90 points, 236 penalty minutes, and a plus-19 rating.
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced their opening-night roster for the 2026-27 season on Monday.
They will carry 22 players on the roster: 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders. Here's the full roster:
Forwards
Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin
Egor Chinakhov
Connor Dewar
David Gustafsson
Filip Hallander
Ville Koivunen
Hendrix Lapierre
Tommy Novak
Rutger McGroarty
Rickard Rakell
Nick Robertson
Elmer Soderblom
Defensemen
Erik Karlsson
Kris Letang
Sam Girard
Declan Carlile
Kaedan Korczak
Trevor van Riemsdyk
Ilya Solovyov
Goaltenders
Arturs Silovs
Sergei Murashov
In addition, Justin Brazeau, Ben Kindel, Blake Lizotte, and Bryan Rust have been placed on injured reserve. Defenseman Ryan Graves is also on injured reserve and will be out indefinitely.
Forwards Tristan Broz, Melvin Fernstrom, and Oliver Okuliar, along with goaltender Gabriel D'Aigle, have been designated as injured non-roster.
Forward Andrei Kuzmenko has been designated as non-roster.
The Penguins will open the 2026-27 NHL season on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Puck drop from Philadelphia will be at 7 p.m. ET on TNT and truTV.
The Penguins' home opener will be against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Josh Samanski was sent down to the AHL this morning, while Owen Michaels is still here in the NHL. So, did Michaels take Samanski's spot?
Samanski, like much of us, probably thought Matt Savoie's injury gave him a decent chance of sticking around. After all, the Edmonton Oilers were down several forwards when camp started, and Samanski was on the roster last season.
There wasn't anything particularly wrong with his camp either. He never really gave Edmonton a reason to be disappointed with what he was doing. His camp was just okay.
Just ok isn't always enough when roster spots disappear quickly, and another player keeps giving the coaching staff reasons to leave his name off the cut list. Michaels has done exactly that throughout camp, and Babcock has been pretty open about the fact that nobody expected him to still be here.
“Well, he's played well,” Babcock said. “He really can skate, and if you look back at his career, he wasn't a big scorer, so he didn't hang his hat on that. So he had to be a two-way, very effective player. He won a national championship, so he knows how to win, and he's in all the good clips.”
Babcock has talked quite a bit about Michael's film over the past few days. Saying things like he keeps ending up where he's supposed to be, he can skate and, his game doesn't depend on outscoring what he isn't doing, like being a reliable defensive forward.
“So it wasn't like we had this plan that he was going here, he wasn't supposed to be here, but that's the great thing about plans — you get to change them,” Babcock said.
The plan has certainly changed for Michaels. He came to Edmonton without much expectation of being around for opening night and is still practising with Edmonton after Samanski was sent to Bakersfield.
“Get down there and get to work,” Babcock said of Samanski. “So, the simple thing is you've got to figure out who you're going to be in the National Hockey League, and then when you go down to the AHL, they put you in a totally different role.
“You have to become an elite face-off guy, elite penalty killer, a great two-way defensive center to play here because that's going to be your job,” Babcock said. “In the American League, they want him to be on the power play, play on the first line, do all that. So sometimes it gets in the way, but as a player, you got to learn that.”
That's what Edmonton sees for Samanski. He needs to win draws, kill penalties and become somebody the Oilers can trust down the middle. He needs to be defensively reliable.
Babcock also made it clear that Samanski is at the point where those details need to become part of his game.
“He's old enough now to understand that's what he's got to do to get back,” Babcock said.
It is worth noting that Babcock is very much one to reward a player today for what they did yesterday. It's why Kasperi Kapanan took Isaac Howards place on the second line against Calgary the other night, and it could be why the Oilers choose to keep Micheals around for another day while sending Samanski down.
Savoie's injury seemed to create an opening for somebody when camp started, and Samanski had every reason to believe he could be one of the players who benefited from it. Meanwhile, Michaels may have thought the same thing.
Now Samanski is heading back to Bakersfield with a list of things Edmonton wants him working on, and Michaels is still here after Babcock admitted he wasn't supposed to make it this far.
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The results are in, 39 of our reporters and editors voted on a wide-array of questions related to the upcoming NHL season, including whowill win the Stanley Cupand other major individual awards.
Some other fun questions like which coach will be fired first, who will experience buyer's remorse and which city will be awarded the next franchise — and more!
With the season fast approaching and the Minnesota Wild playing its first game on Thursday, it is time to see where the Wild slotted in predictions.
Minnesota ranked first in the Presidents Trophy ranking along with the defending Stanley Cup Champions Carolina Hurricanes.
Out of the 39 writers, the Wild and Hurricanes totaled 16 votes (8 each) for a tie of first place. They were followed by Colorado, Florida, Edmonton, Dallas and Tampa Bay.
The Wild finished third in the Central Divison behind Dallas and Colorado last season and finished seventh in the NHL with a 46-24-12 (104Pts) record. The Avalanche won the Presidents Trophy last year with a 55-16-11 (121Pts) record.
I'm guessing a full season of Quinn Hughes and the breakouts of Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Jesper Wallstedt played a big reason in everyones prediction.
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On Monday, the Winnipeg Jets claimed Washington Capitals depth goaltender Clay Stevenson on Monday, adding the 27-year-old Drayton Valley, Alberta native in what is likely a move to fill their backup role.
Speculation had suggested Winnipeg might look to bring back Eric Comrie, last season's backup, after he was placed on waivers. Instead, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff opted for new blood, landing the longtime Hershey Bears standout from the AHL.
Stevenson has established himself as a reliable goaltender at the minor-league level over the four seasons since turning pro. He opened his AHL career with a 3-0-0 record, a 1.96 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in his first three games. Across his AHL career, he is 63-31-11 with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 109 starts.
During the 2024-25 season, Stevenson's play earned him his NHL debut, where he faced off against the Pittsburgh Penguins and was solid in a 5-2 loss, stopping 33 of 38 shots. He was recalled again this past season and impressed once more, going 3-1-0 through four starts with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.
Stevenson now looks at his best chance yet to secure a regular NHL role. For Cheveldayoff, the claim is a low-cost, high-reward addition, and one that gives Winnipeg a fresh option behind its starter as the season approaches.
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Head coach Mike Sullivan’s arrival did little to help the reeling club, as they found themselves on the outside looking in at the playoff picture once again. The Rangers underperformed and battled injuries to key pieces throughout the season, finishing in the basement of the Eastern Conference with a 34-39-9 record.
GM Chris Drury continued his retool ahead of the deadline and carried it into the offseason, making some intriguing additions along the way. None was more notable than new top scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, who was inked to a seven-year contract extension shortly after being acquired from the Golden Knights.
Drury bulked up the depth to try to survive any injuries and revamped the d-core with hopes of getting things trending back in the right direction -- whether it will be enough remains to be seen.
What the Rangers have going for them…
They return an offensive core that showed some positives down the stretch in what was an otherwise very disappointing season from top-to-bottom. The trio of Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad, and Alexis Lafreniere showed a tremendous connection over the closing weeks and they will be back together to start the year.
You also have to hope that captain J.T. Miller will be able to put together a bounce back showing after he dealt with injuries throughout last season. Sliding in next to Dorofeyev should go a long way towards helping him, too.
On top of that, Drury made some low-risk forward additions to lengthen the lineup and bolster the wing depth.
Oliver Bjorkstrand was a consistent 20-goal scorer until his production dropped off last season with the Lightning, he’ll look to rebound alongside Miller and Dorofeyev on the second line. Eeli Tolvanen is an interesting add with Will Cuylle and Noah Laba as both look to take another step forward on the third line, as well.
Then you have the defense, which returns a steady top pair of a healthy Adam Fox and last year’s big free agent addition, Vladislav Gavrikov. They also brought in a new second unit with veteran Marcus Petterson and the puck-moving Sean Durzi, both of whom Drury hand picked in offseason trades.
Braden Schneider is bumped down to the third pairing, back on a one-year prove-it deal, and he’ll skate with this year’s first-round pick Alberts Smits, who proved that he is NHL-ready in camp.
Then you add in the rest of the up-and-coming young talent in the system up front and on the back end such as Scott Morrow, Drew Fortescue, Liam Greentree, and Cole Beaudoin among others. Depth, depth, depth is the big thing for this group -- they have the makings of a team ready to take some steps forward this season.
The Rangers will make the playoffs if…
Everything comes together as planned.
As both Drury and Sullivan mentioned during their pre-camp news conference, one of the biggest things that hurt them last season was losing Fox and Shesterkin for long periods to injury. The Blueshirts bulked up their depth so they could potentially withstand another absence, but they absolutely need a fully healthy season from both of their stars.
They also need to get off to a better start this season, especially on home ice.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) celebrates with left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) and center Mika Zibanejad (93) after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden / Vincent Carchietta - Imagn Images
New York struggled mightily at MSG last season, losing 15 of their first 25 games at the arena, putting them in a deep hole they were unable to recover from. Playing better hockey in front of the NYC faithful is an absolute must, especially with 10 of their first 17 games this year being on home ice.
Dorofeyev carrying over his goal-scoring ways would go a long way towards that, with him having found the back of the net 35+ times each of the last two seasons with the Golden Knights.
On top of that, they need the complimentary pieces to step up around him, particularly Miller, who is coming off an injury-plagued and unproductive first year as Rangers captain. Getting him back to a 70-80 point player would be huge.
The new defensive core will also need to click on the back end, tightening things up and putting together much more consistent efforts right off the bat in front of Shesterkin.
While the Metropolitan Division is getting more and more competitive, Drury seemingly has raised the floor on this squad. If all of these things come together, the Blueshirts should be able to climb their way right back into the playoff picture.
The Rangers will miss the playoffs if…
They can’t make up the production left behind after moving top scorer Artemi Panarin (deadline) and do it all center Vincent Trocheck (offseason).
Panarin hurts in the goal-scoring department, an area New York struggled with even while he was still on Broadway, and Trocheck stings on both ends of the ice. If their new-look top-six can’t step up and put the puck in the net on a nightly basis, this team isn’t going to go very far for the third straight season.
Nov 18, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
One of the biggest keys is also for Shesterkin to stay on the ice and return to the Vezina-winning form that carried them deep into their past postseason runs. Everything can come together in front of Shesterkin, but if he isn’t leading the way between the pipes it’s hard to see them crawling out of the cellar any time soon.
Drury made aggressive moves to try to quickly work through this retool. Whether it will be enough remains to be seen.
Prediction
Fifth place in Metropolitan Division, miss playoffs
This team has the pieces to take a step forward this season. The floor has been raised, but it’s hard to tell exactly what their ceiling is. The Rangers should be able to work their way back into playoff contention, but a lot has to go right for them to go much further than that.
I do expect that they’ll be playing meaningful hockey and fighting for a spot down the stretch, but with the Wild Card race expected to be tight once again, I don’t think it’ll be enough to snap the two-year playoff drought.
Drury’s seat would figure to only get hotter after parting ways with legit assets in this quick retool if the team doesn't get over the hump.
The start of the 2026-27 NHL regular season has nearly arrived, with the Toronto Maple Leafs' season opener coming on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena.
With that, the team's NHL roster is essentially set, with the latest move being defenseman Nick Blankenburg signing a one-year contract with the Leafs for $1.4 million. The 28-year-old earned that contract after joining Toronto's training camp on a PTO.
The Maple Leafs now have eight NHL defensemen in their system. It will be a challenge for the team to distribute ice time for that depth, especially for blueliners like Troy Stecher, Emil Andrae and Blankenburg, who all float around the mix for the sixth or seventh defenseman role.
However, Chayka sees that depth as a real plus for his squad.
"I've never had an NHL head coach say we have too many good quality defensemen," Chayka said after Monday's practice at Scotiabank Arena. "So, just any time we got a chance to get a defenseman that we thought could skate, move the puck, defend, join the rush, facilitate offense.
"We wanted to get as many of those guys as we could. So just more kind of circumstantial in what was available. But whether it's through injuries or performance or, you know, different variables, you know, these things seem to sort themselves out. So we're happy we're not in the other position, looking for guys," he added.
There is a little less of a cluster for Toronto's forward group in terms of extra forwards on the NHL roster. But that doesn't mean the Leafs don't have depth in that position either.
Steven Lorentz, who has played 80 and 71 regular-season games for the Maple Leafs in the past two seasons, respectively, was waived and sent down to the AHL's Toronto Marlies just before the team left for their team-bonding trip to Arizona.
So whatever happens - injuries or players being unavailable - there are options for head coach Jim Hiller.
Center Bo Groulx, who played 13 games for the Maple Leafs in the NHL last season, appears to be locked in as an extra forward. He's practiced with the team consistently leading up to the start of the coming season.
"Bo obviously had a good season last season, came up, but I played well," Chayka said. "Throughout the playoffs, I thought he was a key member of that team. I think we're blessed with a lot of good depth. Credit to Ryan Hardy and John Gruden, and really the leadership group down there.
Chayka and the Maple Leafs' management's trust in some of their depth players doesn't end with Groulx.
"There's a number of guys that are in the system who, you know, we feel completely comfortable with playing NHL games, and Bo at this time is going to get a sample size, hopefully, to show what he can do, but hard-earned, happy for him," he said.
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Despite the smashing success that was the 2025-26 season, the Philadelphia Flyers are not favored to repeat as a playoff team heading into 2026-27.
Popular NHL analytics site MoneyPuck released its first predictions of the 2026-27 season, outlining each NHL team's chance to make the playoffs, reach the Stanley Cup Final, win their division, the number of points they are expected to reach, and more.
For now, the Flyers are starting off in the bottom half of the NHL with their 43.1% chance of making the playoffs, which notably ranks below teams like the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres, and Utah Mammoth.
Those odds put the Flyers in the same tier as teams like the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets, who have 42.2% and 41.9% chances of making the playoffs, respectively.
MoneyPuck also projects the Flyers to have a 20.1% chance of reaching the second round of the playoffs, as they did last year; a 9.2% chance of reaching the third round; a 4.3% chance of reaching the Stanley Cup Final; a 2% chance of winning the Cup, and 6% chance of winning the Metropolitan Division.
As for points, MoneyPuck has the Flyers sitting at 93.4 points, which would be a five-point regression from the 98 they amassed last season.
Should the Flyers be underdogs?
At first glance, it does make some sense that the Flyers are not exactly expected to repeat as a playoff team for the second year in a row.
Goalie Joseph Woll was the Flyers' biggest addition this offseason. (Photo: Kyle Ross, Imagn Images)
Outside of the addition of backup goalie Joseph Woll and the attempt to bring in superstar center Leo Carlsson on an offer sheet, the Flyers bumbled through a mostly nondescript offseason where their only other noteworthy addition was veteran center Noel Acciari, who came over from the slightly more favored Pittsburgh.
Plus, teams that missed the playoffs last season, like Washington and New Jersey, made considerable upgrades in contrast, adding players like Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, Boone Jenner, Luke Evangelista, Anthony Mantha, and Evan Rodrigues.
The Flyers can look at full seasons of Porter Martone and Tyson Foerster as new additions of their own, while David Jiricek and Simon Benoit should be able to contribute more than Emil Andrae and Noah Juulsen did last year.
Woll, too, is a considerable upgrade on the departed Sam Ersson, who went 14-11-5 with a .870 save percentage in his final season with the Flyers last year.
Comparatively, Pittsburgh's best players aren't getting any younger, and they'll be rocking an unproven tandem in goal with Sergei Murashov and Arturs Silovs.
Columbus has dealt with some major distractions between Zach Werenski, Adam Fantilli, and now Kirill Marchenko, and defenseman Dante Fabbro will begin the year on injured reserve.
With a fast start, the Flyers should quickly overtake some of their peers in the eyes of the public.
The Florida Panthers hit the ice for a final practice in Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning before embarking on their season-opening road trip.
It’s the first time we received a look at what could very well be head coach Paul Maurice’s Opening Night roster.
There were 21 players on the ice, including 12 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.
Among them was new Panthers forward Brady Tkachuk.
His last action came during Florida’s second preseason game on Tuesday night in Sunrise, when he played the first two periods but not the third.
Afterwards, Maurice downplayed any sort of injury, instead saying something that tightened up on Tkachuk and that he was expected back on the ice in the short term.
After sitting out a few practices, Tkachuk is good to go for Opening Night.
“He’s ready to roll,” Maurice said Monday.
Now it appears that the Cats will enter the season with only one regular player – Brad Marchand – missing from the lineup.
Marchand has been skating and working his way back from offseason surgery, with the expectation that he will be able to jump into the Panthers’ lineup sometime in November.
Florida rolling without many healthy scratches is something we’ve seen in the past from healthy Panthers squads, so it’s not terribly surprising to see the Cats apparently heading down that route again.
USA TODAY Sports' NHL experts believe the Hurricanes will win the Metropolitan Division again, but none expect the team to reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2026-27.
Two of the three picked a Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1993, going with the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens. The third picked a more recent champion, the Florida Panthers, who won back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025 and have Aleksander Barkov back from an ACL injury.
Here are USA TODAY's predictions for division winners, Stanley Cup Final and champion, plus four major awards winners:
Several former Buffalo Sabres players hit the waiver wire on Sep. 27, as Henri Jokiharju, Sam Lafferty, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Vinne Hinostroza have all been waived by their current clubs.
With the Boston Bruins having a crowded blueline, Jokiharju has become the odd man. The former Sabres defenseman appeared in 41 games last season for Boston, where he recorded two goals, 15 points, and a plus-2 rating.
Lafferty was placed on waivers by the Florida Panthers after signing with them this off-season. This comes after the former Sabres forward recorded one goal and one assist in 29 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last season.
Lyubushkin being placed on waivers comes after the Nashville Predators acquired him from the Dallas Stars during the summer. The former Sabres defenseman recorded one goal, nine points, 68 hits, and a plus-1 rating in 53 games last season for Dallas.
As for Hinostroza, he has been waived by the Colorado Avalanche. The 32-year-old forward split last season between the Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers, where he recorded six goals and 18 points in 65 games.
Sandis Vilmanis wasn't a first-round pick, nor does he come from a country with a rich hockey history, but all he's done is put his head down and work.
Before the Florida Panthers drafted him in the fifth round (157th overall) of the 2022 NHL draft, Vilmanis moved from Latvia, where he was born, to Sweden to play hockey. After being selected, he moved to Canada to play in the OHL. After two impressive seasons, he joined the Charlotte Checkers and continued to impress the organization.
Now entering the 2026-27 season, Vilmanis is preparing to not only make the opening night lineup but also play in the top nine alongside Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
"I think he's a top-9 player all day long," said coach Paul Maurice of Vilmanis. "We don't have to wait three years for him to be impactful. ... He's got enough in his game right now for me to just play him. ... I've got lots of faith in that young man."
It's high praise, but Vilmanis deserves it.
In his rookie AHL season in 2024-25, Vilmanis posted nine goals and 27 points, while showing defensive responsibility and physicality. In his sophomore season, Vilmanis' play warranted an NHL call-up.
He notched 17 goals and 38 points in 48 AHL games, but more importantly, he scored three goals and added five points in the 19 NHL games he skated in.
His NHL role was that of a fourth-liner, but he was impactful. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, he posted a Corsi For percentage of 53.73 percent and an expected goals percentage of 55.04 percent at 5-on-5. The Panthers were even in goals for, at 7-7.
In addition to his on-ice analytics, the 22-year-old took 15 shots on goal, threw 38 hits, and blocked five shots while averaging 10:23 of ice time.
His NHL performance warranted a look during training camp, but the 6-foot-1, 192-pound left-handed winger continued to improve with a stellar performance at the World Championship. He scored four goals and led Latvia in points with 11 in just eight games. His 11 points ranked tied for fifth with NHL stars like Nico Hischier, Lucas Raymond, Timo Meier, and his Panthers teammate and captain, Aleksander Barkov.
The Panthers' third line matters more than most NHL teams' third lines. Lundell and Luostarinen are critical to the Panthers' defensive game, both at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. They take plenty of defensive zone draws, as without Barkov last year, Lundell and Luostarinen had the most defensive zone starts on the team, despite Lundell missing 18 games and Luostarinen missing nine.
Vilmanis will need to produce offensively alongside the Panthers' Finnish duo and be potent and responsible defensively. It's a fairly large ask for a 22-year-old still on an entry-level contract, but Maurice clearly holds Vilmanis in high regard and believes he is ready for the role.
When Marchand returns and if the Panthers' lineup is healthy, where Vilmanis plays will be interesting to monitor, but for now, all Vilmanis can do is make that decision difficult.
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The Detroit Red Wings are only days away from the start of the 2026-27 NHL regular season, and by late Monday afternoon, they will need to submit their final, cap-compliant opening-night roster.
While defenseman Simon Edvinsson remains unsigned despite being present at Training Camp, the Red Wings have announced that another defenseman is now unavailable, albeit for a different reason.
Jacob Bernard-Docker, whom the Red Wings signed last offseason and later extended to a two-year, $3.2 million contract, has been placed on Injured Reserve.
#RedWings have placed D Jacob Bernard-Docker on Injured Reserve.
This means that the chances of young defenseman Anton Johansson, who impressed during Training Camp and the preseason, could very well find himself on the Opening Night roster.
Additionally, the Red Wings recently claimed 6-foot-4 defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from the Calgary Flames.
Last season, Bernard-Docker skated in 63 games, scoring one goal with four assists along with 25 penalty minutes.
He's appeared in 207 career NHL games with the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Red Wings, and has tallied seven goals with 22 assists, 82 penalty minutes, and has a minus-one rating.
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While the Montreal Canadiens had a day off on Sunday, the Habs brass worked hard on roster decisions. As reported yesterday, a group of players was put on waivers while another group, which didn’t have to clear waivers, was assigned to the Laval Rocket. That group included Jacob Fowler, Owen Beck, and David Reinbacher.
While Fowler wouldn’t have looked out of place on the NHL roster, Samuel Montembeault’s bounce-back performance sealed his fate. The Bécancour native has earned the right to back up Jakub Dobes, and while he won’t be with the Canadiens long-term, this is the last year of his contract; Fowler may need a bit more patience before the coast is clear. Of course, Montembeault could be traded, but that’s far from guaranteed, as there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for him right now.
As for Beck, nobody was surprised to see him head back to Laval; he’s a good player who does everything well but nothing fantastically well. He doesn’t fill a gap in the Canadiens’ lineup the way Florian Xhekaj brings sandpaper.
Reinbacher’s return to Laval is also somewhat surprising, especially since Kaiden Guhle is injured, but he's done enough to earn a call-up as soon as circumstances warrant it. It also seems inevitable that the Habs will need to make room on their blueline sooner rather than later. Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj, Engstrom and Reinbacher could all play in the NHL, but once Guhle is healthy, they’ll all be fighting for a single spot.
On Monday morning, Martin St-Louis ran his first practice of the real season. Only 23 players were on the ice since Oliver Kapanen was missing and is now considered day-to-day. As for Guhle, he was on the ice, but unlike Saturday morning, when he joined the team in practice, he wore a no-contact jersey. With Kapanen missing, the following lines and pairings were used at practice:
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Chris Kreider
Juraj Slafkovsky – Alex Newhook – Ivan Demidov
Alexandre Texier – Phillip Danault- Kirby Dach
Zachary Bolduc – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson
Extra: Florian Xhekaj. If Kapanen had been available, chances are Dach would have been right next to the youngest Xhekaj as an extra. Newhook slides in nicely at second C with his speed, but when Kapanen is healthy, he’s likely to go right back in that spot while Newhook goes down a line, making Dach surplus to requirements. St-Louis has already confirmed that Kapanen will not play on Tuesday.
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson – Alexandre Carrier
Jayden Struble – Arber Xhekaj
Extra: Adam Engstrom. He took reps with Guhle, which more than likely means he’ll be the seventh defenseman on Tuesday night.
Jakub Dobes
Samuel Montembeault
As for the power play, TVA Sports’ Anthony Martineau reports that the second unit features Bolduc, Newhook, Kreider, Dobson and Texier. The first unit remains intact as both Hutson and Demidov were back on the ice this morning.
It’s unusual to see the Canadiens with 14 forwards on their roster, so you have to wonder whether Kent Hughes might be working on a trade right now. According to insider Frank Seravalli, the Edmonton Oilers are very interested in trading for Kirby Dach. Stan Bowman, who was the Chicago Blackhawks GM when they picked Dach third overall in 2019, is now the Oilers GM, so there’s a link there. Warren Rychel, an Oilers scout, attended the game between the Habs and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, but Dach wasn’t playing in Montreal that night, but rather in Ottawa. Could the two teams be working on a multi-piece trade? Are the Oilers having buyer’s remorse over the often-injured Frederik Andersen and are considering Montembeault? Time will tell.
It will be interesting to see what the lineup looks like tomorrow night against the Toronto Maple Leafs as the puck officially drops on the season, the coach refrained from announcing his starting netminder.
Nick Blankenburg turned his opportunity with the Toronto Maple Leafs into an NHL contract.
The Maple Leafs signed the former Colorado Avalanche defenseman to a one-year, $1.4 million deal Sunday after Blankenburg joined the club on a professional tryout. For the Avalanche, it marks another chapter in the story of a player who made a memorable impact in a short stint with Colorado.
The Avalanche acquired Blankenburg at the 2025-26 trade deadline, bringing in the right-handed defenseman to add depth to the blue line for the stretch run.
Blankenburg appeared in 12 regular-season games with Colorado, scoring twice and adding an assist for three points.
He also suited up in five playoff games.
His biggest moment came in Game 2 of Colorado’s second-round series against the Minnesota Wild. Blankenburg scored his first career playoff goal with his parents watching from the stands, making the moment even more meaningful for the 28-year-old defenseman.
Colorado ultimately chose not to bring Blankenburg back in free agency. Instead, the Avalanche turned their attention to Noah Juulsen, who had spent the previous season with the Philadelphia Flyers, as they continued to build out their defensive depth.
Blankenburg found another opportunity with Toronto.
After earning a PTO with the Maple Leafs, he made enough of an impression to secure a one-year contract worth $1.4 million.
The deal comes after Blankenburg recorded a career-best season offensively between Nashville and Colorado. He finished the 2025-26 campaign with eight goals and 16 assists.
Blankenburg has now appeared in 178 NHL games, recording 18 goals and 40 assists.
For the Avalanche, Blankenburg’s time in Colorado was brief, but it included a series of memorable moments. Now, he gets another chance to establish himself in Toronto.
How do you think Blankenburg will fare in Canada? Let us know down below.
