Bob Hartley has revealed his Canadiens lineup and there are several surprises
During his segment on BPM Sports, veteran head coach Bob Hartley remains an incredibly interesting person to listen to due to his extensive experience in the field.
This time, he revealed the starting lineup he would consider for the beginning of the season, based on the information currently available to him.
Here are Hartley's forward lines and defensive pairings:
Newhook-Monahan-Gallagher
Slafkovsky-Dvorak-Anderson
Harvey-Pinard-Evans-Armia
Matheson-Savard
Harris-Guhle
Xhekaj-Kovacevic
Montembeault
Allen
As we can see, there are several surprises in his lineup.
Firstly, we have a top line consisting of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Kirby Dach. I quite like the idea, especially considering that everyone should be healthy, or nearly so, for the early games of the season.
Sean Monahan would be used as the second center in the lineup, alongside newcomer Alex Newhook, and a return to the top 6 for Brendan Gallagher. I'm pleased to see the young Juraj Slafkovsky being paired with Josh Anderson; he had his best moments last year when he was on the same line as Anderson.
Another surprising element appears in the defensive lineup, as Justin Barron would be scratched from the lineup again this year, despite showing promise after being called up mid-season.
Furthermore, the Canadiens' most recent acquisition, Gustav Lindstrom, also wouldn't make the top 6 on defense. He would serve as the seventh defenseman, which means Barron would return to Laval to start the upcoming season.
| POLL | ||
Do you agree with Kirby Dach being on the wing of the first line? | ||
| Yes | 94 | 76.4 % |
| No | 29 | 23.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
