Blue line battle a tale of contrasts

Canadiens must choose tiny veteran or giant rookie for last defence spot

MONTREAL There’s just one spot left on the Montreal Canadiens’ blue line and the men fighting for it are at opposite ends of their careers. Jarred Tinordi, a 6-foot-6 mountain of a man, is 22 and has struggled to find his footing at training camp.

Francis Bouillon, meanwhile, is closing in on 800 games in a National Hockey League career spent defying skeptics — who, at various points, wrote off the 38-year-old off for being too small, too slow and too old for big-league hockey.

There’s an outside chance the Canadiens keep 21-year-old Darren Dietz in the lineup but for now, the smart money seems to be on Bouillon or Tinordi. They’re competing to see who will remain with the team to start the regular season — not for a job on the ice, but rather as the team’s seventh defenceman. The job entails watching teammates play from the press box until such a time as one injures himself or runs afoul of the team.

The rest of the blue line spots are spoken for. Prospect Nathan Beaulieu, who looked good when thrown into the mix during last season’s playoffs, cemented his position in the starting lineup Wednesday night in Chicago — scoring the game-winning goal and picking up an assist in a 3-1 Habs win.

It was believed, going into Thursday’s practice, that the Canadiens would hang on to Davis Drewiske to round out the roster.

Drewiske, 29, played safe hockey during the pre-season, rarely attracting attention for turnovers or the other types of mistakes that land young defencemen a trip to the minors. But Drewiske — along with Greg Pateryn and forwards Sven Andrighetto, Jake Dowell and Gabriel Dumont — was sent to the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday.

Dumont and Drewiske will have to clear waivers in order to join the farm club.

Tinordi had a rough training camp. Sunday against the Washington Capitals, he turned the puck over and took two penalties through 40 minutes of hockey.

It wasn’t until midway through the third period that Tinordi made his presence felt, laying a crushing hit on Capitals defenceman Nate Schmidt. Moments after leaving Schmidt crumpled on the ice, Chris Brown challenged Tinordi to a fight and was awarded a mouthful of knuckles for his troubles.

An impressive display of violence, but the hit on Schmidt — it turned out — was deemed illegal. It earned Tinordi a game misconduct.

Therrien said Thursday that Tinordi needs to adjust to the speed and intensity of the NHL.

Which leaves us with Bouillon: an undersized, affable, lunch-pail player who worked his way into the NHL after spending time in the East Coast Hockey League — one of the inner rings of pro hockey hell.

The 5-foot-8, 198-pounder first made the Canadiens roster in 1999 and his position then, just as it is now, was seen as tentative.

“It’s funny, 15 years later, I’m answering the same question as I used to,” he told Postmedia News. “You know like, ‘What do you think about your spot (on the team)?’ or ‘You’re battling for your spot again?’ Same thing again and again.

“I never expected to play close to 800 games in the NHL. It was a long run, a marathon. I took it step by step, year by year, never looked at my career in the long term.”

It’s tough to deny Bouillon is slowing with age but, with less than a week to go until the season opener in Toronto next Wednesday, he’s still skating with the team.

“I know exactly what we get from (Bouillon),” said Therrien, who coached Bouillon in the juniors and gave him his first shot with the Canadiens 15 years ago.

“He’s a good person, a good defenceman.”