The Habs just got a LOT of great news...

The Habs have some major updates prior to their Saturday night game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. We got Nick Suzuki injury reports. We have Samuel Montembeau, Mike Matheson, Owen Beck, and the best of all, Ivan Demidov. Almost good news on all fronts, except for one. We're going to dive into every single one of these, the implications it has on the Habs moving forward, and even in tonight, because we do have a little roster change with Owen Beck drawing in. All of that and more coming up on this episode. I'm so excited for that. All these changes today, Jesse, but the first thing we got to talk about is Nick Suzuki. Like, he's out for tonight, which I thought was a given, but it didn't seem that way, because he was out there skating this morning, he was taking face-offs, and there were some people teasing maybe he could be ready to come back tonight, and no, ultimately not. But just the progress that we're seeing so quick with him is just some good news that I didn't expect, and I'm always all for that. Well, absolutely. Just the fact that he's going to probably be back soon. He was at the optional skate this morning. But again, we're working into Ivan Demidov, but it just looks like they could come back at the same time. And again, like this team is already playing well. You put both those guys on top of it. We know the power play is probably just that one thing. If we can get that really dangerous right now, which I feel like we got that good found that you just put Nick Suzuki, Demidov. It's almost going to be like an, I don't want to say automatic kind of fix for this, but it's just going to improve. It's going to get there. There's just so much talent. Now that's what's going to be really scary for other teams when they go play the Montreal Canadiens. We know the number is 5v5. The Habs are playing very good. The analytics paint that picture. We then bring in a really potent power play, which has served us so well, where it's just a weapon. Every single time they take a penalty against the Montreal Canadiens, where there's a very good chance we can score, pair that with how our PK is performing right now at over 93%, this is going to be a very strong team. This is going to be a very strong team, and hey, that's fine. I kind of want to get some rookie cards for some of our young guys, and that's why we're happy to partner with Courtyard on this video. One thing that we have always loved to do, as that hockey time of year starts to set in in the fall, is collect some cards. New season, new packs, all kinds of stuff like that. As you can see, it's been something that we've been doing since we were kids. You can see Guy Lafleur with some Marty St. Louis, and a whole lot more in here. So when Courtyard.io approached us to partner, it was an immediate yes. We were thrilled to partner up with them. And if you collect cards, you know that... It's obviously harder than ever getting them at fair value with just so many scammers and scalpers out on the market there right now. So that's why Courtyard right now is pioneering the next generation of commerce through gamified shopping. You go to their site, you open a pack, you find an amazing, like we found, PSA graded 10 Nick Lindstrom. And then right from there, it's graded, it's slabbed, and then vaulted for you. And then within one click, you can have that right to your doorstep. Another great benefit is that the packs are priced at their expected value. The chase cards are shown to you right up front and they have real time odds of the kind of cards that you can get. Plus, if the card isn't quite what you like, no problem at all. You can sell it right away with their guaranteed buyback offer like you're seeing on screen. Everything with Courtyard is really easy, I found. You like your card? Like we like Lindstrom. You can ship it to yourself right away. You don't like it. You can sell it with their guaranteed buyback. You can go to marketplace. There are 0% seller fees, 0% buyer fees on marketplace. And you can even check out these cards right here. Some Demidov and Hudson and Jesse. There's a lot more Habs cards where those came from. This is taking me back. And you got that peace of mind as well with your cards. Cause knowing that they're fully insured, they're stored in temperature controlled environments and there's on-demand shipping anytime. We have so much to get into in this video. So let's quickly move on to the other lineup changes. Well, I guess Suzuki isn't really a change, but quickly. On Owen Beck, he's coming back in. Florian Jack, I participated on some of the extra skating with Nick Suzuki, so it seems to me that he'll be the one drawing out. Owen Beck is back in, and to be honest, I didn't necessarily expect this one today, Jesse. Not that I don't think Owen Beck deserves to get another shot. Just like we saw with Adam Engstrom, they just took Arbor out, gave Engstrom a shot. Now, I don't think this is some kind of exhibiting him for a trade or anything like that, but I'm interested to see how he can do, because that fourth line, Beck, Cappin and Doc. Like, hey, I was working with Florian. I'm curious to see if Beck can bring some of that defensive edge, too. I always like when he's in the lineup, to be honest. His advanced metrics are pretty good, too. The depth that the Montreal Canadiens have certainly is a huge advantage here. We see Newey, he's still on that first line. We got that injury to Matheson. We still have a decor, definitely an NHL decor, and still a very good one, dare I say an elite one with the way that Lane Hudson, Noah Dobson are playing right now and the company all around it as well. We got, this is a huge opportunity for Owen Beck. It's a huge opportunity as well for Adam Engstrom, who, by all accounts, deserves to be in the NHL and would be out. Most likely, if Mike Matheson was healthy right now, the same is to be said for Arbor Jack guy. He obviously deserves to play big opportunities for these players. And that's what's been so nice about this team from the beginning. Yeah, there's maybe been a little bit more injuries than last year. But Kent Hughes, Jeff Gordon, have been well equipped for it. And I feel that Martin St. Louis is very much grateful for that, for the options that it's really giving the team right now. And again, it's so important to have those options on defense, Josh, the way that Adam Engstrom is playing. So like the analytics, the way he's playing, like you have to play more. You're curious to see, like, can he keep this up? How is this going to translate to his production? Because you have to feel like with the analytics, like the points are going to come. He's going to help his team win. I'm quite surprised by it, anyway, what the analytics show, and we don't want to question that all the time at this day and age. That being said, defense is going to be key coming into this game. Can the Montreal Canadiens make it a five-game winning streak? Because we know over this past four-game winning streak, they've only allowed four goals. Clearly, there is a relationship here. It's obviously the Montreal Canadiens, when they're playing that strong defense, we know that they can score. That's going to be the recipe for them here tonight. Can they stick to that? Obviously, having the young rising star in the NHL, Jacob Fowler, is certainly going to help with that tonight, Josh. Completely agree. There's a reason that he's in that. You talk about the strong defense, and that has been a big part, too. Limiting the goals against and Fowler is the ultimate back line of the defense. It's a combination, but you're right. I think there are actual defense in front of him. Maybe he gets slept on a bit. Now, to be fair, that game against St. Louis, that was a whole lot of Jacob Fowler. That one, but like still, you're right. The rest of the time, it's been really good. And I'm very excited to see what Fowler is going to be able to do because he's rested now. That was his first day off in a while. You know, Jakub Dobocky did get the last start, but they're all pretty fresh. Three days of rest for Fowler. 101 shots faced, 980 save percentage over those last. Three games or in the last 10 days, he has been unbelievable. And just again, to remind people, the start by start, just look at these numbers, basking them, unbelievable numbers in the save percentage, 1,000, 971, 952. He's on pace to do something unbelievable. He has six straight wins. The Montreal Canadiens have four straight wins. It feels crazy. And Fowler also against Pittsburgh, he's been pretty good. He's only given up two goals against Pittsburgh in his career. So, not too bad in just two games. So, very excited about this. But there is a bit of a wrench thrown into this whole situation. Like, we can talk about Fowler so much. We have so much to get into today. The pressure is now on a bit more. We talked yesterday, Jesse, about the updates on Samuel Montembeau and how Kent Hughes might be running with three goalies. Well, the update now is that Samuel Montembeault has been upgraded today, today. Now, like you mentioned earlier, Matheson is now officially out two weeks with a lower body injury, which is the bad news we alluded to earlier. But Suzuki seemingly coming back sooner than we expected. Monty now being day to day and the Demi thing we'll get into in just a moment. It puts a bit of pressure on the goalie situation, but all the same, like Samuel Montembeau, we've talked about how last year was maybe just a bit of an unlucky year for him relative to his career. He's due to bounce back a bit, but all the same, Jesse, I mean, having so like we talk about depth all the time and I know a lot of people don't see Monty in the long term. I don't either. I really don't. But still, in the short term, it is at least depth to some degree. Montreal is just like, even when we have guys going out with injury, it's very clear how well we're able to step up in their absence. And Fowler is the example in net right now. Everybody's coming back at the same time and questions are going to be need to be asked not only at the goaltending position. But also now on defense, is it Engstrom or Jack sitting out at the forward position? Again, certain guys like Kirby Dach, Alex Hickey, they've been stepping up their play again. These are difficult questions. We're going to need to be asked very, very soon, right? But again, we just know where we need to go, what the future. Jacob Fowler, a monster, 10.1 saved above expected goal saved above expected right now leading the entire NHL um in this department again it's just so massive what he's being able to do for this team and you got to feel like this is a big time player he said he wanted to come into Montreal to have the bright lights to play in the Saturday nights when it matters the most and for me that's his key Josh like when i'm looking into this game here tonight i know Crosby's maybe not had his best season so far but we're talking about a Saturday night and we're talking about In Montreal, right? Like, you know that he's going to want to show out. So it's really about taking him outside of this game early. What I liked so from the Montreal Canadiens their last game against Dallas is it was such a good road game where they were able to get the lead early and just take the crowd out of it. Here at home, I think it's just about really getting that good start, just building upon it. As the Habs have been so able to do, again, it's going to come down to that defense. Yeah, I completely agree. I think limiting Pittsburgh's offense through our defense is exactly right. Try and limit the amount of shot attempts on our goalies if we can help it. We did great against Dallas. Like you said, that was such a good example of what we need to do. We can limit that Dallas offense. We can do it again against Pittsburgh. I'm very excited for it. And also, let us know down below who you guys think is going to win tonight. Type A, if you think the Habs are going to do it, even while it's still shorthanded without Suzuki and Demi. Or B, do you think the Penguins are going to steal it? I assume we're going to have a lot of A's in the chat. But one final thing we have to talk about before this video ends. Is Ivan Demidov seen without the walking boot? A nice happy hit at the very end of this video. It's Corinne Haynes and confirmed by other people seeing it. Just saw Demidov walk by with no walking boot. He had stick and gloves. Looks like he finished a session of ball hockey. Now, there were some other tweets coming out. Eric Engel saying, look, the Habs say Demidov's still on his timeline, which is good because the end of that two to four week timeline is Tuesday coming. So just three days from today. He was projected to miss a maximum of four weeks. This is coming up very soon. Now, he was seen with the walking boot as well, like kind of recently, but also without. So hopefully we'll see him skating very soon, maybe as early as tomorrow, Jesse. But all signs are it's just good news for Montreal. And like you mentioned, the power play is the one place where him and Nick Suzuki are going to be able to really level it up. We fall into 31st in the NHL, but we know only the only place to go from here is up. And that's a crazy thing to say about a team who just went on a perfect 4-0 road trip, looking to win their fifth in a row without their captain and without their top youngster. The power play is the number one way that Ivan Demidov is going to be able to help the Montreal Canadiens very quickly after his arrival, but we know it doesn't end there, Josh. I'm really curious to see how he can really unlock players like Chris Kreider, who we know was really getting some points earlier this season, looking really good. I think he's still a good player. He's just getting a little bit of that support, like Ivan Demidov can so clearly do in his playmaking abilities is going to be key. And again, this is just so great, not only for us, But for him, for somebody who just loves the game of hockey so much here in the chat, you might know what you like sound off if you just love the game, because that's what it's really about here at the end of the day. Again, just somebody who loves to practice, be at the rink, just the fact that you can get up. And the thing about having the walking boot, like you can skate shortly thereafter. It's often more of just like a precautionary measure at this point in time. So he's going to be good to go really soon. And we all just can't wait to see him back out on the ice. Completely agree. It's just to protect it. Without getting, you know, further damage. It's not that he needs it structurally, hopefully, to walk. And not for a two to four week injury. So, I assume as soon as he's good, he's pain-free. Back in his skates. Boom. Like nothing ever happened. So, leave your thoughts on all this down below. So many changes. That'll do it for this episode. Jam-packed. If you enjoyed, check out Courtyard of Partner on this video. Make sure you're tuning in after the game tonight. Thank you for watching every single day. I'm Josh Goss and my co-host, Jesse Poirier. We'll catch you all in the next one.