Josh Anderson earns spot on Canadiens' No. 1 line to start out season

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One of many huge questions heading into the Canadiens’ coaching camp was who would begin the season on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

We acquired the reply at observe Monday in Brossard.

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Josh Anderson, come on down!

Heading into camp, Anderson was a number one candidate to play with Suzuki and Caufield. Different choices included Kirby Dach, Sean Monahan and Alex Newhook.

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“I didn’t have my thoughts made up,” head coach Martin St. Louis mentioned. “I knew (Anderson) was a chance.”

Anderson was at proper wing for observe Monday with Suzuki at centre and Caufield on left wing, and that’s what the No. 1 line will appear like when the Canadiens open the common season Wednesday in Toronto towards the Maple Leafs (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports activities, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

St. Louis mentioned Anderson had an awesome coaching camp and earned his spot on the No. 1 line after scoring a purpose in every of the three pre-season video games he performed.

The Canadiens made their last cuts to get all the way down to the 23-man roster restrict that included 13 forwards, seven defencemen and three goalies — Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau — on the ice for observe Monday. They opted to maintain three goalies as a result of Primeau must clear waivers with the intention to be despatched all the way down to the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

The Canadiens positioned ahead Joel Armia and defenceman Gustav Lindström on waivers Sunday, after which on Monday despatched ahead Emil Heineman and defenceman Mattias Norlinder to Laval. Armia and Lindstrom each cleared waivers Monday and are probably headed to Laval.

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The opposite ahead traces at observe Monday had Dach between Newhook and Juraj Slafkovsky; Monahan between Tanner Pearson and Brendan Gallagher; and Jake Evans between Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen. Michael Pezzetta was the additional ahead.

The defence pairings had Mike Matheson with David Savard, Kaiden Guhle with Johnathan Kovacevic and Arber Xhekaj with Jordan Harris. Justin Barron was the additional defenceman. CapFriendly.com reported that Xhekaj — who didn’t should clear waivers — was assigned to Laval on paper later within the day in a salary-cap transfer however shall be again with the Canadiens for the season opener.

St. Louis has labored with Anderson to make him a much less predictable and simpler winger, instructing the 6-foot-3, 224-pounder find out how to use his pace in numerous methods and be higher away from the puck. Final season, Anderson had 21-11-32 totals in 69 video games earlier than struggling a season-ending excessive ankle sprain.

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“He can’t simply skate the place he needs to skate,” St. Louis mentioned. “He must go the place the sport wants him to go. I’ve seen that development final yr and this yr. I do know he’s acquired lots of pace, but it surely’s how you utilize your pace.

“It looks like Andy will get lots of breakaways. I really feel like second half of final yr he was getting tons of breakaways, this yr once more. For a giant man that’s acquired lots of pace, he’s lastly realized find out how to use it, when to make use of it and he understands the steadiness on the ice along with his different two teammates higher in all probability than he has previously. He’s a big-time participant for us.”

St. Louis mentioned the choice to maintain Ylönen over Heineman got here all the way down to expertise. Ylönen has performed 52 video games with the Canadiens during the last two seasons, whereas Heineman has but to play a recreation within the NHL. St. Louis added that doesn’t imply Heineman isn’t able to play within the NHL, however he can have a “higher chair” and extra ice time in Laval to develop.

St. Louis mentioned the choice to maintain Barron over Norlinder because the seventh defenceman was made for related causes.

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