The first thing we have to take note of is that Dominique Ducharme decided to test Jonathan Drouin on the right (or left) side of Nick Suzuki and Tyler Toffoli. But why? Because Cole Caufield will not be in uniform tonight...
OK. So, it was different this morning at practice because Cole Caufield was absent at the beginning of the session... and he won't be participating in tonight's duel. Does the Habs want to take it easy on the young man's shoulder before the season starts? That's probably the most likely scenario at this point.
Defensively, Kaiden Guhle will once again be paired with David Savard, while Gianni Fairbrother will again be uniformed, as he has greatly impressed so far.
UPDATE - 10:50: Okay. Caufield won't be in uniform tonight, but he did jump on the ice later than the others, as did Christian Dvorak. So it's understandable that the players scratched tonight simply jumped on the ice after the others. That's it!
For Caufield, we want to wait to play him again, I guess. Which probably means that the little number 22 will be in the last preseason game... We speculate!