Bottom Six Minutes pre-season: Good thing that didn’t count

The lineup is beginning to take shape for the Montreal Canadiens. In their third matchup of the pre-season against the Ottawa Senators, we saw almost entirely a roster of players that will either be in Montreal or Laval this season. Luckily it wasn’t the real Canadiens roster, as they dropped an ugly 7-2 decision to their divisional foes.

Welcome to your Bottom Six Minutes for the least inspiring game of this pre-season.

There’s no use lamenting an ugly loss like this in a meaningless game. Of course, you’d like to see better, but at the end of the day this is not the Montreal Canadiens lineup that we’ll be seeing this season when the games do count. After tomorrow’s game is when we should start to see the lineup really take shape.

Kaiden Guhle was an interesting piece on the blue line. I believe he’s in line for at least his nine games before being sent back to junior, and what he does with those nine games could make the decision to send him back to the WHL a tough one for the Habs brass.

Chris Wideman was also interesting in the loss, as he showed in particular an ability to help this team with it’s power play. It certainly seems that he has earned his spot with the club for this year.

And of course, the most impressive forward line for the Habs was again the trio of Christian Dvorak, Jonathan Drouin, and Josh Anderson. That line looks like a lot of fun, and it will be interesting to see if Dominique Ducharme elects to keep them together beyond the pre-season.

Alas, as always, we’re still talking about practice. There will be a chance to avenge the sad nature of this particular practice tomorrow night in Montreal against the same — or slightly different — Senators.