Canadiens pre-season full of competition

Canadiens pre-season full of competition

Mario Perrazzino (HV)

Heading into this season’s training camp, there are seven players who have legitimate chances of making the team. Defense Mathieu Carle and Ryan O’Byrne or battling for the 8th defenseman on the team.

Up front, the battle for one, or possibly two spots is between Mikhail Grabovski, Kyle Chipchura, Corey Locke, and 25 year old rookie Janne Lahti. In goal, rookie net minder Carey Price has a strong chance to win the number 1 goalie title. Head Coach Guy Carbonneau has repeatedly stated that Carey Price will be a starter; either with Montreal or their top farm club in the Hamilton (AHL affiliate). He’s in tough with incumbent Cristobal Huet. However, last season Carey Price, a junior, was the best player in the Canadiens training camp. A repeat performance this training camp will guarantee him the starting job with Montreal.

On Sept 17 versus the Penguins, rookies Carle, Grabovski, , Lahti, Locke, and Chipchura all saw action in Canadiens first exhibition game of the season. Three players did stand out from the rest.

Kyle Chipchura , a definite future leader in the NHL, played a strong two-way defense, with great stick-handling abilities. Also getting a regular role killing penalties too. And won 10 of 14 face-offs. For Chipchura to stick with the club, he needs to impress the coaching staff that he’s a better skater than he’s shown. After the game, Chipchura was modest of his performance and added …” I wanted to keep things simple … play a simple game”.

Mikhail Grabovski too impressed many. Last season, Grabovski played a handful of games with Montreal. But unlike last year where he used his speed and wanted to do everything on his own, a more mature Grab ovski is now utilizing his speed , but uses his wingers too.

Lastly forward Corey Locke showed many why he won the OHL junior scoring race three seasons ago, and why he led the AHL in playoffs scoring last season. Locke is a natural goal scorer with a potent slap shot as he demonstrated during the game. As he puts things …”I like to fly under the radar”. He just plays his game.

Unfortunately, Mathieu Carle’s training camp came to an abrupt end during the game suffering sprain ligament in his left knee, which will put him out of action for the next eight weeks.

For Pittsburgh, all eyes in Montreal were on Montreal native Angelo Esposito who was overlooked at this year’s draft by Montreal on two occasions, and selected instead by Pittsburgh in the first round. We will excuse Esposito this night as he was a floater the whole night as it was his first ever professional game.