The Habs held their annual charity golf tournament on Monday as training camp quickly approaches. As usual, there was some news of note that came from it which we’ve covered here.
New Alternate Captain
With Joel Edmundson being traded to Washington back in July, there was an opening for an alternate captain. That has now been filled as defenceman Mike Matheson has been named to the role. The decision was made by management, not a team vote. Matheson filled the role at times last season when the other alternates were injured. Brendan Gallagher remains the other main alternate to captain Nick Suzuki.
Logan Mailloux
As it turns out, the defenceman hasn’t quite been given the green light from an eligibility perspective just yet. Jeff Gorton indicated that he has been cleared to participate in training camp and the preseason but not regular season games yet. However, he indicated that getting the final approval is not expected to be an issue if and when the time comes.
David Reinbacher
While Gorton wouldn’t rule out the possibility of his top pick from June making the Canadiens out of camp, he said the likeliest outcome is Reinbacher returning to the Swiss league for the upcoming season. He is eligible to play in Laval but has previously said that his preference would be to finish his schooling in Switzerland.
Dvorak Update
GM Kent Hughes indicated that everyone with the exception of Christian Dvorak is cleared for training camp. In Dvorak’s case, he needs to meet with the surgeon who performed his knee surgery back in March before receiving clearance. It has previously been suggested that he might not be quite ready to play at the start of the season; that would seemingly depend on whether or not he gets the green light from his surgeon.
Juraj Slafkovsky
While some (myself included) have mentioned they’d like to see Slafkovsky spend some time in Laval, that doesn’t appear likely to be the case. Head coach Martin St. Louis said that he would be surprised if the 2022 first-overall pick wasn’t with Montreal to start the season. Slafkovsky also stated that he lost some weight over the summer which could help him skate a bit quicker in his second season.
Goalie Logjam
Hughes was asked about Montreal’s logjam between the pipes. Without going into too much detail about it, he admitted that he’s open to moving Casey DeSmith before the start of the season. None of DeSmith, Samuel Montembeault, Jake Allen, or Cayden Primeau met with the media today but for the time being at least, it appears the four of them will be around when training camp gets underway next week.