The Montreal Canadiens host the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre tonight, with no shortage of storylines.

Joel Armia was recalled from the Laval Rocket after scoring four goals in four games. He won’t play against Washington, Michael Pezzetta remains in the lineup after playing his first game of the season on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild. Montreal is trying to find a solution to the Armia situation. He doesn’t fit anywhere in the organization at the moment. Armia is too good (and is paid too much money) to play in the American Hockey League and he doesn’t have a role with the big club, nor should he be taking precious minutes away from a younger, hungrier player.

The #GoHabsGo have recalled Joel Armia from the AHL. They tried trading him in the off-season, and word is they re-engaged in trade talks this week. We’ll see if any traction is gained. He’s got another year left on his deal at a $3.4M cap hit.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) October 21, 2023

It’s hard to picture a team wanting to acquire Armia’s contract, you’re probably looking at a situation where a team gives the Canadiens a higher value contract, on a shorter term.

Justin Barron will make his season debut because of the injury to Kaiden Guhle who is luckily only day-to-day with an upper body injury. He has been skating on his own the last couple days. Barron has been practicing as the seventh defenseman and should be eager to make an impression after making the Canadiens out of camp. His skillset and offensive instincts are unquestioned, Barron now has to prove he can put it all together.

As far as the Capitals are concerned, Alexander Ovechkin is still looking for his first goal of the season. He hasn’t had a shot on goal in two games, something that has never happened in his NHL career. Ovechkin has always played well against the Montreal Canadiens, with 37-goals in 55-games. He is currently 72-goals away from Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.

All three former Montreal Canadiens who play for the Capitals, will miss this game with injuries. Max Pacioretty, Charlie Lindgren and Joel Edmundson are out of the lineup.

After a subpar effort against the Wild where they took too many penalties and had abysmal play from special teams, Montreal has a great chance to bounce back against a Washington team that has an aging core of slow players. Or Ovechkin has other plans, in his favorite NHL building on a Saturday night.

The Montreal Canadiens did everything you’d want in game one, with the exception of winning the game. The season opener was entertaining, provided swings in emotion and had plenty of drama. Even with a 6-5 shootout loss to arch rival Toronto, fans should be optimistic if this is a sign of things to come.

The most encouraging thing from the opener was the play of the second line featuring Juraj Slafkovsky, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook. They were Montreal’s most dangerous line, Newhook scoring twice and Slafkovsky having one his best games in the NHL.

The fourth line contributed with two goals of their own and the powerplay displayed signs of life scoring once and having a second one called back on a coach’s challenge for offside.

Scoring five goals in regulation should be enough to win the game but the Maple Leafs have a deadly offense and Montreal shouldn’t have started Jake Allen.

Montreal’s starting goaltender struggled mightily and even though he made the odd highlight reel save, at least two of the goals were stinkers.

It looked like the Canadiens had taken a 3-0 lead in the second period when Cole Caufield scored a powerplay goal. But it was called off after a successful coach’s challenge and then Allen let up a softie to Noah Gregor on a low shot from a terrible angle. It was a quick swing of two goals that let Toronto back in the game.

Allen also got caught either cheating or sleeping on Matthew’s second of the game which went in along the ice inside the post short side.

The Matthews hat trick goal which tied the game, also had Allen overcommit and swimming on his stomach. Yes, it was a nice showing of patience by one of the best goal scorers in the game but still a bad one visually.

But the question has to be asked, why was Allen in goal in the first place? He was clearly outplayed by Sam Montembeault for majority of last season who deserved to have the opening night start. With another goalie, the result may have been different. Maybe it was Montembeault’s subpar training camp or split stats versus Toronto that explain the decision to go with Allen. But it was the wrong decision.

Next up the Canadiens have the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night at the Bell Centre and if they play like they played in game one and get a couple more saves, they should be able to secure two points in the standings.

It won’t be as dire as everyone thinks.

It’s unlikely that the Montreal Canadiens will make the playoffs, or even be on the playoff bubble. The team’s rebuild is in its infancy and the Atlantic Division is the toughest in hockey. But that doesn’t mean the Habs won’t significantly improve.

Here are four bold predictions for this season.

Feel free to come back at season’s end and ridicule these takes.

1) The Canadiens will accumulate 80-points in the standings

Last season Montreal finished with 68-points and an increase of 12-points is realistic. The team dealt with significant injuries to players like Cole Caufield, Mike Matheson, Sean Monahan and Kirby Dach. They started last season with five rookie defenseman and an 18-year-old first overall pick, most should progress nicely in their second full seasons. Finally, getting rid of the dead weight in exchange for young hungry players will provide a nice bump in points.

2) Juaj Slafkovsky will get more than 42-points

Slafkovsky’s first season wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. The season started with a wide eyed enthusiastic kid looking to make an impact and finished with dejection, a loss of confidence and an injury. He was limited to just 39-games.

While ending the season hurt wasn’t ideal, Slafkovsky was able to take the time off to heal up and spend time in the gym getting leaner and quicker. His training camp was solid scoring two goals and earning a role in the top-6. Playing with a pass first guy like Kirby Dach, if Slafkovsky goes into traffic and to the net the goals and points will come.

3) The Canadiens will have a top-10 powerplay

This bold prediction, maybe a little more difficult to justify. The powerplay a year ago was putrid. Not only did it not score with any regularity, it often zapped momentum. The powerplay was effective just 16 per cent, good for 29th in league.

With so much focus from the coaching staff placed on this area of the game, I think they’ll find solutions. If you look at the first unit, three important pieces in Monahan, Matheson and Caufield missed large stretches of time. That’s your quarterback, trigger man and goal line player. Their presence can’t be understated.

4) Cole Caufield will score 50-goals!

Need we say more…? He would have done it last season if not for the injury.

A couple notes head of tonight’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Candiens.

Who to watch for tonight:

For the Habs, watch out for Josh Anderson who loves playing against Toronto. He has 13-goals in 30 career games against the Maple Leafs.

Meanwhile Auston Matthews has recorded 23-goals in 33 games against Montreal.

Lineups:

Montreal Canadiens:

Forward:

Caufield – Suzuki – Anderson

Newhook – Dach – Slafkovsky

Pearson – Monahan – Gallagher

Harvey-Pinard – Evans – Ylönen

Pezzetta

Defence:

Matheson – Savard

Guhle – Kovacevic

Xhekaj – Harris

Barron

Allen

Montembeault

Primeau

Toronto Maple Leafs:

Forward:

Bertuzzi – Matthews – Marner

Domi – Tavares – Nylander

Knies- Minten -Jarnkrok

Gregor – Kampf – Reaves

Defence:

Rielly – Brodie

McCabe – Klingberg

Giordano – Liljegren

Samsonov

Woll

Enjoy the game everyone.

Here’s where you will get all my thoughts!