Projecting Montreal's season opening lineup against Toronto

It's been yet another busy off-season for Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. He brought in some size on defence in the way of Stanley Cup champion David Savard. 2020-21 KHL defenceman of the year Chris Wideman was also brought in to shore up the blueline. As for the forward group, Bergevin made some key additions by signing Mike Hoffman, Cedric Paquette, and Mathieu Perreault.

Although Montreal brought in these players, they also lost several through free agency, and one via the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. Cale Fleury (Seattle - Expansion Draft), Phillip Danault (Los Angeles), Tomas Tatar (New Jersey), Corey Perry (Tampa Bay), Jon Merrill (Minnesota), and Charlie Lindgren (St. Louis) all left Montreal this off-season.

Bergevin also locked up quite a few of his pending UFA's and RFA's in the last few weeks. Joel Armia signed a four-year deal one day before unrestricted free agency opened. On July 31st, he re-signed Artturi Lehkonen to a one-year contract. Michael Pezzetta, Michael McNiven, and Ryan Poehling also inked their new deals during August.

Montreal will also have to deal with a couple of injuries this season, including captain Shea Weber, who will miss the entire year due to injuries to his ankle, foot, and knee. Paul Byron will also be out for a while after having hip surgery in late July. The timeline for his return was five months which would put him back in Montreal's lineup in early January.

Goaltender Carey Price had a minor procedure done on his knee in late July and he will be ready to go for training camp next month. After missing the last few weeks of the regular season and all of the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to personal reasons, forward Jonathan Drouin is expected to be ready for training camp.

With all that being said, let's take a look at what the Canadiens lineup could look like for their first game of the 2021-22 season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Forwards

Tyler Toffoli - Nick Suzuki - Cole Caufield
Jonathan Drouin - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Brendan Gallagher
Mike Hoffman - Cedric Paquette - Josh Anderson
Artturi Lehkonen - Jake Evans - Joel Armia

Alternate options: Mathieu Perreault, Ryan Poehling, Jesse Ylonen.

Defence

Joel Edmundson - Jeff Petry
Alexander Romanov - David Savard
Ben Chiarot - Chris Wideman

Alternate options: Brett Kulak, Mattias Norlinder, Xavier Ouellet.

Goalies

Carey Price
Jake Allen

The only issue with Montreal's lineup is the logjam on the wings, which will get even more complicated when Paul Byron returns in early-January.

As mentioned, Montreal will open their 2021-22 campaign at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto against the Maple Leafs on October 13th.

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