Martin St-Louis completely changes his lineup and a verdict is officially announced for Patrik Laine

During the morning skate, Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis made a number of changes to his lineup ahead of tomorrow night's game against Utah HC.

First, he decided to put Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield back on the same unit, who will play with Alex Newhook on the team's first line.

In addition, he created a completely new combination by placing Quebec forward Joshua Roy, who was just recalled by the big club, alongside Jake Evans and Emil Heineman on the second line.

Of course, the third line of Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak remains unchanged, as they seem to have developed great chemistry since the start of the 2024-2025 campaign.

On the other hand, visibly unhappy with the performance of Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky against the Vegas Golden Knights, the head coach decided to send them a message by putting them together on the fourth line, where they should play alongside Joel Armia.

Personally, even if I'm happy to see Martin St-Louis "punish" the players who aren't giving enough right now, I especially have the impression that this combination, which is labeled as the fourth unit, will instead be the second line most used tomorrow night.

I would have preferred that the CH head coach send Kirby Dach to think about his game in the stands for a game. After all, the 3rd overall pick in the 2019 draft has only 8 points in 20 games this season, and he has a dismal differential of -15.

Here are the offensive trios that should be used tomorrow night:

What do you think of Martin St-Louis' new lines?

A verdict has just been announced regarding Patrik Laine

Even if some fans were hoping that Finnish forward Patrik Laine would make a return to the Montreal team tomorrow night, everything suggests that we will have to wait a little longer before seeing number 92 in action.

Let's recall that the newcomer to the Canadiens practiced with a regular jersey for the very first time this morning, so he is getting closer and closer to a return to play.

Moreover, he took part in a few exercises with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield this morning, suggesting that he could potentially join the two star forwards when he is ready to reintegrate Martin St-Louis' lineup.

One thing is certain, we are all impatient to see him in the Habs uniform!

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