Montreal Canadiens Cut Seven Players As Season Looms

Despite the available lineup spot created by Laine's injury, on Monday morning, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they've sent seven players to the AHL, with the Laval Rocket.

Here's their official press release:

The Habs are set to start their regular season in Montreal, against the Toronto Maple Leafs, on Wednesday.

This decision had a lot of implications for the team. Martin St-Louis, the rest of the coaching staff, and the management had a lot of things to put into consideration before deciding on their opening night roster.

First, this means that we'll likely see Emil Heineman, Oliver Kapanen, and Alex Barré-Boulet in uniform for the game against the Leafs. This caused quite a debate as management opted for these three players instead of Joshua Roy, the young prospect who shined last season before being injured. In the first 23 games of his career, Roy scored nine points, but all Habs fans can agree that he contributed a lot more than what his scoresheet suggests.

Unfortunately for Roy, he struggled in the training camp and couldn't prove to the team that he deserved a spot for the first game.

On the other hand, Kapanen already had a shoe in, as if the team decided to cut him, he would've been sent back to Europe (something that could still happen eventually this season). Kapanen, cousin of former Leafs Kasperi, led the Habs players in the preseason with four points, and showed a lot of promise on the ice. As for Barré-Boulet and Heineman, they managed to cause a surprise in the training camp. Both players bring a lot of energy to the lineup, but it wouldn't be surprising to see them sent down in the AHL at some point this season.

We can also see that the Habs decided to keep most of their waiver-eligible players with the team, to avoid losing them. However, this could change on Monday afternoon, when the NHL releases the daily list players put on waivers by their teams.