The Montreal Canadiens are suddenly dealing with a lineup puzzle after Tuesday’s injury update on Ivan Demidov, who will be out for two to four weeks with what appears to be a lower-body injury.
That’s a significant hit for a team that has started to find its scoring touch early, putting up eight goals across its first two games. It’s also a frustrating turn for Demidov, who opened the season with a goal and an assist and was rolling at a point-per-game pace through two appearances.
The 20-year-old Russian import has already shown why expectations around him are so high. Last season, he put together a huge rookie campaign, finishing with 19 goals and 43 assists for 62 points over a full 82-game schedule. He kept producing when the games got tighter, too, posting three goals and six assists for nine points in 19 playoff games as Montreal advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.
His absence doesn’t just affect the Canadiens’ overall offense. It also leaves Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkovsky without their playmaking wing, and neither player has recorded a point through the first two games. Without Demidov driving that line, generating chances figures to be a tougher task.
Montreal’s injury list is growing elsewhere as well. Demidov now joins Oliver Kapanen, Alexandre Carrier and Kaiden Guhle on the sidelines, turning what had been a strong opening stretch into a test of depth.
The Canadiens appear ready to shuffle things around to fill the gap. Kirby Dach is expected to move up to the second line at right wing, while 22-year-old Florian Xhekaj is projected to slide onto the fourth line with Jake Evans and Josh Anderson. If that top-to-bottom alignment holds, Dach would be in a new look with Newhook and Slafkovsky, since he did not play with them last season.
The fourth line has at least seen some time together before. Xhekaj, Evans and Anderson shared the ice for just under 21 minutes across three games last season, and that stretch ended with one goal for and one against.
With Demidov out, that group may get a longer runway this time. How well it handles those minutes could go a long way toward determining how Montreal gets through the next few weeks without one of its brightest young players.
In Other News...
Canadiens Suddenly Have A New Lineup Concern Beyond Demidov
The Canadiens lineup picture has taken on a little more haze heading into a busy stretch against the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. Demidov is already out with an injury, and Oliver Kapanen has also been missing from several practices, leaving head coach Martin St-Louis with more uncertainty than he likely wanted at this point in the schedule.
Kapanens absence has added another layer of intrigue because the Canadiens have not offered much to explain it, and the timing matters with games coming up quickly. St-Louis now has to keep sorting out combinations and depth options while trying to cover for Demidovs absence, and the clubs next few days may say a lot about how flexible the roster really is. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Have Found The Answer To A Big Top-Line Debate
Juraj Slafkovskys place in the Montreal Canadiens lineup has been one of the more interesting debates around the clubs recent stretch, and it took a twist when he was shifted onto the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The move came with Ivan Demidov sidelined, forcing the Canadiens to adjust their forward combinations and giving Slafkovsky a chance to show how he fits beside the teams two most established finishers.
The appeal is obvious: Slafkovskys size, puck protection and improving play can help drive a line that already has skill to burn, while the alternative is sending him back down to a second unit where he might carry more of the puck and the playmaking load. Montreal now has a decision to make about whether the experiment is a short-term fix or something worth keeping in place once the roster is back closer to full strength. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Face A Goalie Decision They Didn't Expect
A routine practice took an unwelcome turn for the Canadiens when Sam Montembeault went down with a non-contact right leg injury, and the team is expected to update his status later. For a club that had not exactly planned on revisiting its crease chart this way, the timing matters, especially with the goaltending picture still being shaped by what Jakub Dobe does with his opportunities.
Jacob Fowler is the name that naturally enters the conversation if Montreal needs help from Laval, where the young netminder has already made a strong impression in limited looks at both the NHL and AHL levels. If Montembeault is sidelined, the Canadiens could be looking at more than a short-term patch, with a possible extended evaluation in the crease depending on how Dobe holds up in the meantime. [Read more 🡒]