One of Montreal’s most prominent players, defenseman Shea Weber, did not participate in most of the the Canadiens’ practice Tuesday, but stepped onto the ice as the session was winding down and then worked out on his own for about 20 minutes.
Shea Weber pic.twitter.com/bgy4onwtQr
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) July 14, 2020
Before he appeared, the team, adhering to the NHL’s strict guidelines for discussing medical issues during the balance of the 2019-20 season, told reporters simply that Weber was “unable to practice.”
Canadiens coach Claude Julien subsequently said that those league rules did not allow him to elaborate on the reason Weber did not practice with his teammates, but that he expects Weber to take part in practice Wednesday.
In addition to Weber, defensemen Brett Kulak and Xavier Ouellet did not practice for the second day in a row. There was no additional information on their absences.
Josh Brook, who did not skate on Monday, joined the team for practice on Tuesday.
With those players missing from drills, here is what Montreal’s personnel combinations looked like:
FORWARDS
Tomas Tatar — Phillip Danault — Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin — Nick Suzuki — Joel Armia
Paul Byron — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Artturi Lehkonen
Dale Weise — Jake Evans — Jordan Weal
Ryan Poehling — Charles Hudon — Alex Belzile/Laurent Dauphin
DEFENSE
Victor Mete — Jeff Petry
Ben Chiarot — Christian Folin
Gustav Olofsson — Cale Fleury
Noah Juulsen — Josh Brook
GOALIES
Carey Price
Charles Lindgren
Cayden Primeau
Michael McNiven
The Penguins, who will face Montreal in a best-of-five qualifying round beginning Aug. 1, seem to have their lineup pretty well decided, but Julien told reporters today that isn’t necessarily the case with his team.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an evaluation camp,” he said. “But there’s some players impressing that could have us change our plans come (the final workout before traveling to Toronto) July 25.”
He cited Kotkaniemi, a 20-year-old who had six goals and two assists in 36 games with the Canadiens this season, as one who has made a particularly favorable impression.
Although Montreal, which finished 15 points behind the Penguins during the regular season, will be a decided underdog in the play-in series with the Penguins, Julien said he likes what he has seen from his team during its early workouts.
“I think the first two days have been way better than I even expected,” he said. “I think we’re going in the right direction.”
