Before their game against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, the Montreal Canadiens recalled forwards Luke Tuch and Lucas Condotta to fill out their forward group in their final pre-season game at the Bell Centre. It is the first game of a home-and-home against the Senators to close the pre-season.
Tuch was sent down in the first major wave of cuts that the Canadiens made. Condotta was placed on waivers the next day and sent down officially on Monday. Being recalled in the pre-season does not count against his waiver clock timeline, which will only begin once the regular season starts.
The Canadiens now have 17 healthy forwards on the NHL roster, not counting the injured Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Patrik Laine. This allows them flexibility to not have to play too many NHL regulars before the regular season gets underway. Josh Anderson missed practice with a therapy day on Monday but skated with players not in uniform for Tuesday’s game.
Oliver Kapanen will get another chance in pre-season, this time playing on the right wing with Alex Barré-Boulet and Christian Dvorak. It seems more likely than not that Kapanen has the inside track for an NHL roster spot.
Emil Heineman gets a look with Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher, while Joshua Roy and Joel Armia will play with Kirby Dach. Michael Pezzetta will play with Condotta and Tuch.
On defence, it will be another opportunity for some players to stake a claim to an opening night roster spot. Logan Mailloux, Adam Engström, Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron are all in the lineup alongside David Savard.
It will be a long look for Engström, who gets a chance next to the veteran NHLer Savard.
Cayden Primeau will start in goal for the Canadiens.
