After a lengthy road trip to the season, the Habs kicked off the home portion of their 2020-21 season on Thursday night against Calgary. Special teams proved to be key for Montreal as three of their four goals weren’t scored at five-on-five and that was the difference in a 4-2 win.

The Habs have found their replacement for Shane Churla as they announced moments before their home opener that Martin Lapointe has been appointed as the new Director of Amateur Scouting, receiving a three-year extension as well. 

Noah Juulsen was scooped up on waivers by Florida earlier this month and while it gives him an NHL salary, it’s likely not the best option for his development. This is a proposal to re-work the waiver system which would result in short-term pain for long-term gain.

The Habs wrapped up their season-opening six-game road trip with four more games out West and made the most of them as they picked up seven of eight points thanks in large part to their offence which came to life.

The Habs went into Saturday’s game against Vancouver looking to take two of three out of the set. It was a more defensive effort but in the end, they were able to put up five goals again and skated away with a 5-2 win.

Thursday’s rematch against Vancouver was quite entertaining for the first 25 minutes, and then the Habs took over in a big way. They were led by the Jesperi Kotkaniemi line for the second night in a row as Tyler Toffoli has looked like a 50-goal scorer so far in Vancouver; he picked up two more goals in a 7-3 win.

In a game where defensive responsibilities were checked at the door, Tyler Toffoli finally hit the mark as he notched a hat trick but unfortunately for the Habs, it wasn’t quite enough on Wednesday night as they fell 6-5 to Vancouver in a shootout.

Josh Anderson was one of Montreal’s biggest additions over the offseason. They paid a big price to get him, both in terms of acquisition cost and contract, one that may have some consequences down the road.