WHERE DOES WEBER FIT?
Five pre-season questions
There was a time when NHL training camps offered several weeks for the players to get into shape after a summer when the only ice they saw was in a bucket of beer.
There will be no such luxury when the Canadiens report to the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard Thursday for a day of medical exams and fitness testing.
The players will hit the ice Friday and have only two days before they start playing. There will be an intra-squad scrimmage Sunday at the Bell Centre and the New Jersey Devils will be in town Monday for the first of seven exhibition games in 11 nights.
There will be 55 bodies to open the camp — six others are playing in the World Cup — and coach Michel Therrien said he’ll need all of them to get through the gruelling pre-season schedule. The need for extra bodies is compounded by the absence of such notables as goaltender Carey Price, defencemen Shea Weber and Andrei Markov and captain Max Pacioretty. They are competing at the World Cup of Hockey and while Pacioretty will be free by the weekend it’s likely Price and Weber will miss the first five exhibition games.
While most of the roster spots are spoken for, there are five questions that need to be answered before the season opener in Buffalo on Oct. 13.
1. Who has Price’s back?
His performance in the World Cup indicates that he’s at the top of his game and the simple answer to this question is Al Montoya, a veteran backup who was signed as a free agent this summer. But don’t count out Mike Condon, who surprised everyone last fall when he beat out Dustin Tokarski for the No. 2 job. And there’s Charlie Lindgren who’s undefeated in a Canadiens uniform. The one goaltender who doesn’t appear to be in the conversation is Zach Fucale, the one-time goaltender of the future. He’s only 21 and it’s too early to write him off, but he might be starting the season with Brampton in the ECHL.
2. Where does Weber fit?
The easy answer is to plug the right-shooting Weber into the spot vacated by P.K. Subban alongside Markov. That’s particularly enticing as both defencemen will be late arrivals because of World Cup duties.
But don’t be surprised if Nathan Beaulieu gets a chance to play an expanded role as Weber’s partner while Markov is paired with Jeff Petry.
3. Will youth be served?
First-round draft pick Mikhail Sergachev is physically ready for the NHL, but the smart money says he’s going back to the junior Windsor Spitfires. The Canadiens are reluctant to push young players, but it will be interesting to see if they give him a few games before sending him down.
4. Is this Michael McCarron’s time?
He played 20 games for the injury-riddled Canadiens last season with limited success. He had a goal and an assist, won more than 50 per cent of his faceoffs and stuck up for his teammates. But he also appeared slow at times and struggled in the defensive end. After dropping 11 pounds during the summer, he dominated at the team’s rookie camp. He has the size (6-foot-6, 220 pounds) the Canadiens have been looking for up the middle, isn’t afraid to go to the net and, as a bonus, is a right-handed shot.
5. Who’s on second?
Andrew Shaw is pencilled in as the left winger on the No. 2 line with Tomas Plekanec at centre and Alexander Radulov on the right. Shaw offers a gritty counterpoint to his more talented linemates and he’s capable of producing 15 to 20 goals. Finn Artturi Lehkonen is the long shot here, but he has to show more consistency than he did at the rookie camp or he’ll be back with Frolunda in the Swedish League.
The Canadiens are on the ice in Brossard Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m.