The Montreal Canadiens announced the final cuts to their training camp on Monday, and Juraj Slafkovsky is not one of them.
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Young defensemen Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris were also spared in this wave of cuts, which means they will start the regular season with the Habs.
“They announced it to us at the same time, revealed Xhekaj in a press scrum. It’s an incredible feeling. They told me that I had an excellent camp and not to give up. I know there are a lot of good young players here and anything can happen if I’m not up to it.”
“It was really special to experience this with these guys, meanwhile slipped Guhle. It’s a dream come true. It’s the first step to staying here all season. I am very excited.”
It was thus the backs Justin Barron and Otto Leskinen, the attackers Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylonen as well as the goalkeeper Cayden Primeau who were victims of the ax. They will all report to the Laval Rocket.
It’s only a matter of time before Logan Mailloux is sent back to his Ontario Hockey League team, the London Knights. The Habs said the former first-round selection is currently testing the condition of his shoulder, but won’t be part of the 23-man roster.
Guhle and Xhekaj have been particularly impressive during the pre-season schedule. The former demonstrated his attacking flair by scoring three goals, while the latter struck terror into his opponents with his shoulder strikes and punches.
As for Slafkovsky, he took a little while to get going, but showed good progress. The most recent first overall pick in the National League draft can also join the Rocket later this season if the Montreal staff feels the need.
In addition, guard Johnathan Kovacevic, recently acquired from the Winnipeg Jets on waivers, was training with his new teammates Monday morning and wore the number 26.
Intriguing combinations
On Monday, in training, head coach Martin St-Louis used combinations that differed somewhat from those deployed during the preparatory calendar.
Unsurprisingly, the talented Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki shared the first unit with Josh Anderson. Veterans Mike Hoffman and Jonathan Drouin alternated on the right on the second line, completed by Kirby Dach and Sean Monahan. The young Slafkovsky, meanwhile, played with Christian Dvorak and Brendan Gallagher. Rem Pitlick and Jake Evans for their part played with Michael Pezzetta and Evgenii Dadonov, competing for the last position on the right of the fourth unit.
In the absence of Joel Edmundson, who has still not received the green light from the doctors, Jordan Harris was skating with David Savard. Xhekaj, Guhle and Chris Wideman took turns on the second pair. In the end, Mailloux and Kovacevic were confined to the third pair.
