Due to an incredible number of absences related to COVID-19 and some injuries, the Montreal Canadiens must, for the second game in a row, get by with a lineup that is closer to the American Hockey League than the NHL.
In fact, no less than ten players in uniform tonight against the Hurricanes have played at least one game with the Laval Rocket this season. In addition, only five players on the current roster have reached the 100-game mark in the Bettman circuit.
In addition, only three of the players playing tonight have an annual salary of at least one million dollars. The Tricolore's payroll is therefore only $25,403,000, which is about $35 million less than the salary cap allowed by the National Hockey League!
To add insult to injury, Marc Denis of RDS pointed out that the CH's roster would not even meet the eligibility criteria for a preseason game, since the minimum of eight players considered "veterans" is not even reached.
In other words, even though we appreciated the effort of this young team against the Lightning on Tuesday, we can't expect much more from the Habs under these conditions, especially since the team was already having trouble winning WITH its veterans...
