Projecting the Montreal Canadiens' Opening Night Roster

The season begins tonight! After a long wait, players are finally lacing up their skates and strapping on the pads for some NHL action. In the case of the Montreal Canadiens, their games don't start until Wednesday, so they'll have some extra time to tinker with their roster setup. They may need it, as their team is rife with injuries to key players, including captain Shea Weber and elite goaltender Carey Price. Losing those two, easily the two most important leaders on their team through last year's playoff run, will be a hard challenge to overcome. Thankfully, the team hopes that Price can be back in goal by mid-November, but they are giving him time to care for his own health until he's fully ready to play again. With that in mind, there was a big re-shuffling of the Habs' roster as a result of these two (and several other) injuries. Let's see how it's looking heading into opening night, starting at forward:

Tyler Toffoli - Nick Suzuki - Cole Caufield

Jonathan Drouin - Christian Dvorak - Josh Anderson

Joel Armia - Jake Evans - Brandan Gallagher

Artturi Lekhonen - Cedric Paquette - Alex Belzile

Matthieu Perrault

Adam Brooks

Ryan Poehling

On top of the two injuries mentioned earlier, the Habs are also missing new addition Mike Hoffman and key penalty-killer Paul Byron. The good news is, they should both be back within a few weeks, and once they return this forward group will look a lot different. Until then, 30-year old forward Alex Belzile appears to have finally worked his way into an NHL lineup, after years of hard work to get here. He'll likely get his first shot at the full-time roster either on Wednesday against Toronto, or Thursday against Buffalo, but what better way to show he's finally earned a spot than by playing him on opening night? 

On defence, more injuries necessitated new faces being brought in to fill the void:

Brett Kulak - Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot - David Savard

Alexander Romanov - Chris Wideman

Xavier Ouellet

Sami Niku

Both Wideman and Savard are new additions to this blueline, although Savard is likely the only permanent fixture. Wideman will likely end up as the 7th D once Joel Edmundson recovers from an injury of his own. The loss of Shea Weber really hampers this blueline, regardless of the additions made, and by the sound of things, he won't be back any time soon. That leaves Jeff Petry to take over in his stead. Petry has been an excellent defender since arriving in Montreal and has carried the top RD spot on several occasions, but his ability to permanently play in that role has never been established. Also of note, while the Habs recently signed Sami Niku for one year, he was placed on IR and is out indefinitely with a concussion.  Once he recovers, there's a good chance you'll see him in the lineup at some point as well.

In net, the Habs' will need to rely on their backup and a new face to get them through the first stretch of the season:

Jake Allen

Sam Montembeault

Cayden Primeau

The uncertainty surrounding the length of Carey Price's absence made it necessary for the Habs to claim Montembault off of waivers from Florida. The young goalie had played well in limited games with the Panthers, but he'll be relied upon a lot more to start the season this year. Although Cayden Primeau was sent back to the AHL last week, he's the obvious choice for a call-up should the Habs need more support in goal, and once Price is back, this trio will shift accordingly.

What do you think of Montreal's roster this season, and what would you change?

Photo credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports