The Montreal Canadiens should be revealing today the extent of injuries to Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher after Saturday night’s disastrous events in Montreal’s 2-1 loss to Toronto.
Both were out of the game in the first five minutes with what appear to be knee injuries. Laine’s injury was definitely to his knee, as it buckled after a knee-on-knee collision with minor-leaguer Cedric Pare. He left the ice in obvious pain. Laine departed the Bell Centre sporting a full knee brace and crutches.
Reinbacher’s injury was less obvious, but it looked like it involved his left knee when he fell awkwardly on it. The Canadiens are holding a practice at 10:30 am in Brossard today, and hopefully, they will update the media at some point today.
Laine’s injury looks like the more serious one, and he’s expected to miss an extended period of time. That opens up an opportunity for another player on Montreal’s second line, and so far this preseason, the player who looks most capable of filling that role may be Oliver Kapanen.
The 21-year-old Finnish center opened the season with an eye-opening performance against the Philadelphia Flyers, picking up two assists in a 5-0 Canadiens win last Monday.
Kapanen won 57 percent of his faceoffs, created four scoring chances, took three shots on goal, and finished his Canadiens debut with a CORSI rating of 71 percent. HJe was Montreal’s best player in that game and had fans and media buzzing after the contest.
Against the Leafs on Sept. 26, he still showed some good things, but there were also some struggles. He had a few turnovers, he only won two of 13 draws, no scoring chances were created or shots on goal were taken, and his CORSI rating dropped to 37 percent. He had less room to work with and spent a lot more time in his own zone. In his defence, the Canadiens lost Laine early on, and that meant lines were juggled, so he didn’t really have steady linemates.
There will be ups and downs for every rookie NHLer throughout the season, so it will be essential to see how he bounces back in his next game. What’s important is that we saw him at his best versus Philadelphia – and his best is pretty damn good.
So far this preseason, we have not seen Joshua Roy’s best, and Kapanen has looked like he is more NHL-ready at this point. He also appears to have more offensive upside than Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher, and Joel Armia. The coaches know what they are getting with those three veterans, and it’s not second-line production, so why not audition the youngster who may have that upside?
The argument against it may be that he’s not ready to face top-six forwards, but he did so frequently in the past 12 months in Liiga and the World Championships and excelled at both ends, so it makes sense to afford him that opportunity with the Canadiens.
It would also give the club another faceoff option on the second line. Kirby Dach has won 35.3 percent of his career faceoffs so far, and Newhook has won 41.4 percent. They need all the help they can get in that department, and perhaps between the three of them, they could get that mark above 45 percent if they all took faceoffs in the dots where they are most comfortable.
Could Oliver Kapanen take over Patrik Laine's spot on the 2nd line in his absence?@grantmccagg: "The offensive skills are there to be a top 6 forward"
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Let’s see what the kid has got. If he slides into a second-line role for the rest of the preseason and looks comfortable, it would answer the question of whether he should be sent back to Timra in the Swedish Hockey League. If the final roster spot at forward comes down to Roy and Kapanen, and the Finn has demonstrated that he can handle a top-six role to start the season, Roy can be sent down to Laval without having to clear waivers. In Kapanen’s case, he will either start the season with Montreal or return to Sweden – the AHL is not an option.
We’ll have a better idea of coach Marty St. Louis’s intentions tomorrow night when the Canadiens host the Ottawa Senators in their next exhibition match. Presuming Dach and Newhook are in the lineup and playing together, the player who lines up beside them is most likely to start the season with them unless the line really struggles. Here’s hoping that player is Kapanen.
