4 Players. 2 Spots.

4 Players. 2 Spots.

Montreal Canadians have a problem that most NHL teams would love to have. Too many defensemen. Oops. Crunches. Oops. All berries. It’s a delicious part of this balance practice. But for guys like Arbor Jackeye, Jaden Strubal, David Rybacher, and Adam Angstrom, this means that somebody’s going to be the odd man out. In this video, I’m going to break down the Montreal defenseman log jam. Who stays, who goes, and what this means for the future of the team. Let’s talk about it. Yeah, he looked up his ass mustache today. I just wasn’t feeling it. So, in some ways, this is a tough subject. Honestly, I’m surprised it doesn’t get talked about more. And it’s funny, it really should be easy. The best player should be playing. And that’s at the crux of it. Who is the best player? That’s a hard question to answer. Not only that, who’s the most versatile player? That’s hard to answer, too. Who’s the most consistent? Uh, I think I think I know who that is. But then, is there someone that deserves the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be the best, most consistent, and the most versatile? Before we get into things, please, if you’re not already subscribed, we’re less than 100 subscribers away from 15,000 subscribers. I can’t believe it as I’m saying it. Thank you all so much for your support. Even through the summer, I mean, we’re getting good views. We’re getting lots of comments, lots of engagement. I know you guys are craving hockey content, so I’m happy that I can help you with that. If you’re already subscribed, don’t worry about it. Hit the like button. Helps me out with probably something. So, there’s a lot of questions that are hard to answer, but what are the ones that are easy to answer? Noah Dobson’s going to be playing. Lane Hudson’s going to be playing. Kaden Ghoulie is going to be playing. Mike Mat is going to be playing. And Alexandre Kier is going to be playing. But who’s going to fill that last spot? La For Depar. It’s uh Yeah, it’s tough. I think I have my mind made up, but for the sake of the content, let’s uh let’s draw this out a little bit. Let’s look at our challengers here. We have the sheriff, Arborjaki, Jaden Strubal, what do you want to call him? The bod the skater. Then there’s David Reinbacher, the uh the future, and Adam Angstrom, the wild card. With Arbory, you kind of know what you’re getting. He’s 24 years old, shoots left, 6’4, 240 lbs. He’s a fan favorite, the toughest player on the team, the toughest player potentially in the league. Although Matthew Olivier might have something to uh say about that one, but Jackie known for dropping the gloves, physicality, big hits, surprisingly good puck handling skills. He signed through 2026 on a $1.3 million contract. That is a one-way contract. If he was sent down to Lval, somebody could snatch him up. But like I said, you know what you’re getting. unmatched physicality, great energy, the ability to change the momentum of the game in a physical sense, which I think is his feather in his cap, but he has weaknesses. His discipline isn’t great. It’s become better, but his defensive positioning sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, and he still overcomits sometimes when he’s in the roster. He’s he’s a component that they don’t really have outside of maybe Josh Anderson who’s really identified himself as a strong physical presence. But if we continue the way we did last season where Jackey and Strubal kind of share that sixth position, I worry about Jakai’s development and I kind of worry about his stock. So there’s part of me that really is anxious for Arbory because he is one of my favorite players, but I don’t know. I don’t know if I see him with the team long term. Let’s talk about Jaden Strubal now. 23 years old, 6 feet tall, 19 200 lb. I really like Stroubel’s game and he he kind of came out of nowhere. I felt like last season he got buted out of the lineup for kind of unnecessary reasons, but it turns out that they were prepping Justin Baron for a trade, right? I remember specifically a game where Strubel got a goal and the next game he was out of the lineup. He was he was adding a lot of offensive punch to the team and was playing a sound defensive game. So, I think he’s a a strong skater. I think he has good sensibilities offensively and defensively. And he just finished signing a contract that brings him through through 2728 2-year contract 1.14 million. And that’s a one-way contract. If he was sent down to Laval, yeah, he could be picked up through waiverss. His strengths are, like I said, skating, gap control, simple, smart puck movement, keeping the puck along the boards and not getting too fancy with it. I think his weaknesses are that, you know, he’s not going to wow you with offense, but with the offensive defenseman that we have on the team, do you really need that? I’ve also seen individuals say that he is on the smaller side, but he isn’t, and he’s built like a brick house. I don’t find that he gets overpowered in the corners easily. And going back to Jackey, I find that he loses a lot of battles along the boards that he should he should not be losing. All right, now moving on to David Rybacher. David Rybacher, still only 20 years old, right? Is he only 20? I have to make sure about that. He is only 20, 6’2, right-handed defenseman and often touted as Montreal’s top defensive prospect. Got the fifth overall in 2023. He split last season with Cotton in Switzerland and Laval where he posted five points in 11 AHL games. He’s in the first year of his ELC and of course is waiver exempt. So Ryan Bacher can go back and forth between the teams. If the other two guys that we talked about already are the fire, Ryan Bacher is the ice, right? A calm, poised two-way player that has always been touted as having a top four pedigree. carries a long stick. He’s got good decision making, but he still might have to acclimate to the North American leagues and I would say he needs to add a little bit of strength. How much does he weigh? 207 lb, 6’2. Yeah, I don’t know. You know, he you wouldn’t hurt to add a couple more pounds, I guess. Then there’s Adam Angstrom. uh he doesn’t get talked about enough, but if you watch Laval play and you watch Adam Angstrom, he’s 21, he’s 6’2″, 190 lb, and you would be sleeping on him if uh if you didn’t consider him for a spot in the Big Show this season. He played 66 games in Laval last season. He put five pucks in the back of the net and helped put 22 others. He’s on his second year of his ELC with a cap just under 900,000. So like Ryan Bcker, he’s waiver exempt. Angstrom moves the puck. He’s great at winning his battles. He’s a He’s a workmanlike defenseman and he’s right shot. I would be surprised if Angstrom doesn’t get at least a couple of opportunities this season, especially if there’s injuries, which I hope there aren’t, but they really need to test to see how this kid plays. So, with all that in mind, all that stuff that I didn’t really have to talk about because you know all that stuff, right? Hey, at least I don’t put up thumbnails that say the trade that changed the NHL forever and it’s just a picture of Mike Pazetta being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I see that a lot. Like the the trade that changed the NHL forever and it’s just some guy because any trade would change the NHL forever, right? So technically it’s not clickbait. It’s correct. Anyway, I digress. So what’s the easiest thing that the Canadians can do? Well, it’s to have Jack Eye and Strubel as rotating sixth and seventh defenseman. And from time to time, or when an injury occurs, bring Rinbacher up, bring Angstrom up, and then send them back down as they need to be sent back down when an injury resolves itself. But what happens if Angstrom or Brian Bacher make a mark? That is when things get interesting and I think that is where things could change the NHL forever. Going back to Jaca, I think uh yeah, I think he should be sweating a little bit. So, the time that he does get playing this season, he’s got to make a mark himself. He needs to find his confidence again. He he was defanged a little bit by Maltan St. Louis when he said he needed to find a simpler, more disciplined game. It was fun watching him skate around and, you know, headunt a little bit on the ice. and when he was doing it, he was confident and he was impactful, but he wasn’t playing the game that Montreal wanted to play. The other thing with Jaci is no doubt when it comes playoff time, he’s more important than Strubal, but I wouldn’t hold that too firmly because of those last two games he played against the Washington Capitals. First game was great. Last two games left something to be desired. First game was mostly great. There was still a a big mistake that he made. And with Strubal, yeah, you you got that two-year contract, but it’s a it’s a really easy contract to move. Still, I think that some of the chemistry that he’s created with Hudson, it really it really brought up his stock a lot. So, if you were to ask me what’s going to happen, I think it’s the easiest answer. I think Jack Eye and Strubble continue to play that sixth and seventh role, and they maybe they have space for Ryan Bacher to come up even right from the get-go. And maybe Strubel plays game one, maybe a Jakai plays game two, and Ryan Bcker plays game three. And I still think that there will be a time, there’s going to be an opportunity this season to get Angstrom up there as well. But ultimately, we’re going to see Angstrom and Ryan Bacher sent back down or, you know, Ryan Bacher might ride the pine for a little while. But I think that they want to get as much development time in for Ryan Bacher as possible. If Angstrom really identifies himself as an individual who is NHL ready, he might get he might get a shot at a lot of starts. You never know. How long is this video? I’m not even sure. But that’s going to do it for me, guys. Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate all the support. Last video is doing excellent. Of course, it’s a demod video. Put a lot of work and effort into that video. If you haven’t watched it, please go back and watch it. The introduction is some of my finest work, I have to say. But as always, like the video. it helps me out with whatever something in YouTube. Subscribe if you’re not already subscribed. I would love to have you. And as always, I will see you down in the comments. [Music]

The Montreal Canadiens have a good problem: too many defensemen. Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, David Reinbacher, and Adam Engström are all competing for roster spots – but who makes the cut? In this video, we break down each player’s contract, strengths, weaknesses, and what their future looks like in Montreal.

Will Kent Hughes make a trade? Will Reinbacher force his way into the lineup? Let’s talk about the Habs’ blue-line battle.

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