With Joel Edmundson injured, Alexander Romanov had taken his place alongside Jeff Petry on the first defensive pairing. The tests are now a thing of the past, Romanov failed to establish himself as an ideal partner for Petry.
Dom Ducharme then decided to bring together two individuals who had played well together in the past, Jeff Petry and Brett Kulak. They had been solid together in the playoffs in 2020.
Ben Chiarot was paired with David Savard on the second pairing. Romanov was moved to the third pairing with Chris Wideman.
Kaiden Guhle and Sami Niku make up the extra pairing at the blue line.
The attacking trios have been molded as well. This means that Ryan Poehling will likely be traded to the Laval Rocket when the injuries return. He currently serves as the 13th forward. Mathieu Perreault leads the fourth unit along with Artturi Lehkonen and Alex Belzile.
For the rest, there are no surprises. These combinations have been modeled frequently during training camp.
This should look very similar to the lineup the Habs will use in the first game of the regular season on Wednesday in Toronto.
