Martin St-Louis Makes Four Big Lineup Changes, Including a Surprising One
We have changes to announce for the Montreal Canadiens, including news about forward Alex Newhook.
Yesterday morning, we reported that Martin St-Louis made significant changes to his lineup, with major adjustments to his lines.
Emil Heineman was moved to the top line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, while young Oliver Kapanen was placed on the second line with Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky.
As for Alex Newhook, he ended up as the odd man out, getting demoted to the fourth line.
We were eager to see if these changes would stick today, and the answer is yes, with one exception.
Martin St-Louis Changed His Mind About Alex Newhook
All the changes made yesterday have been maintained today and will be in effect against the Washington Capitals, except for one.
Newhook has now been moved back to the second line, and Oliver Kapanen has been placed on the fourth line.
Here are the resulting line combinations (trios and duos):
Slafkovsky-Newhook-Dach
Anderson-Evans-Gallagher
Armia-Dvorak-Kapanen
Matheson-Guhle
Hutson-Savard
Struble-Barron
Primeau
Montembeault
So, we observe four notable changes:
- Emil Heineman remains on the first line and will play his first game with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
- Alex Newhook is back on the second line and appears to be centering Kirby Dach.
- Arber Xhekaj is a healthy scratch with Justin Barron and Kaiden Guhle returning to the lineup.
- Cayden Primeau will be in net, replacing Samuel Montembeault.
We're looking forward to seeing how this plays out tonight against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
| POLL | ||
What's your favorite change made by Martin St-Louis today? | ||
| Heineman on the first line | 452 | 55.5 % |
| Newhook already back on the second line | 225 | 27.6 % |
| Primeau in net | 72 | 8.8 % |
| Xhekaj in the stands | 66 | 8.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
