MONTREAL – The Canadiens have their opening night roster. With the NHL’s Monday, September 28 deadline looming, Montreal trimmed its training camp group down to 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders, submitting nine players to waivers with the intention of assigning them to the Laval Rocket. The club didn’t put out a formal release on its own website — the moves were confirmed only through social media — but RDS reported the full list of cuts on Sunday.

Nine Players Hit Waivers

Montreal placed nine players on waivers Sunday, all ticketed for Laval if they clear: forward Alex Belzile, forward Samuel Poulin, and a trio of offseason additions in Brett Berard, Sasha Pastujov and Maksymilian Szuber, along with goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen, forward Hunter McKown, and defensemen Ethan Samson and Reilly Walsh. It’s a mix of depth veterans and newcomers who simply ran out of room on a crowded camp roster.

Reinbacher and Fowler Sent Down Outside Waivers

Two more names left the group through direct reassignment rather than waivers: David Reinbacher and Jacob Fowler. Reinbacher had a strong camp overall even with a rougher outing in his final exhibition game, and Fowler — who went 9-6-2 with a .908 save percentage in 17 NHL games with the Canadiens last season — heads back down as well. Neither move says anything negative about where the organization sees them long-term; it’s about ice time and development at this stage.

Xhekaj and Engström Stick, Montembeault Wins the Backup Job

Florian Xhekaj made the club after a physical, attention-grabbing camp, while Adam Engström avoided the cut list and will round out the blue line to start the year. In net, Samuel Montembeault heads into the season as Jakub Dobeš’s backup now that Fowler has been reassigned.

Coach’s Take

Fowler, Engström and Montembeault are the real winners of this camp — but let’s start with Xhekaj, because I’ve been saying all week it would have been a disgrace not to keep Florian Xhekaj with this team. He had an outstanding camp and pushed the coaching staff into keeping him for the start of the season. That’s exactly how you keep a culture alive: show up, work hard, perform, and you earn your spot. Xhekaj did precisely that, and he got rewarded for it.

If Xhekaj won his job, Montembeault did the same thing at the backup goalie spot. He had a rough season a year ago, and the Canadiens were direct with him about what he needed to work on. He took that seriously — on the ice every day with the goalie coach, in the gym all summer — and he showed up to camp in better shape, backing it up with a strong performance: just one goal against across three exhibition games. The fanbase is going to be hard on him regardless, but all Montembeault can do is take it one practice, one game, one day at a time. As for Fowler, nothing is lost here. He had a good camp, and heading to Laval isn’t a negative — I actually think it helps him. Being the guy between the pipes every night, continuing to develop, is exactly what he needs, and I’d guarantee he gets a call-up at some point this season. Fowler has a real future with this organization. It’s just a matter of time before Fowler and Dobeš are the tandem for the long haul.

The genuinely surprising decision of the day is keeping Adam Engström over David Reinbacher. A lot of fans, myself included, expected Reinbacher to stick around given he’s a right-shot defenseman and the Habs wanted three lefties and three righties on the blue line. We were wrong. Why? Because Montreal believes the rotation for their fifth, sixth and seventh defensemen is easier to manage if Reinbacher isn’t up with the big club having his ice time squeezed. Kaiden Guhle is expected back within two or three weeks, at which point either a defenseman gets sent back down or the Canadiens make a move. In the meantime, Reinbacher needs game reps — real minutes, every night — and the organization clearly believes that’s better served in Laval right now than watching from the press box in Montreal. There’s nothing negative in this for him. The Habs already know Struble, Xhekaj and Engström can all play the right side, since all three did it last season, so it’s a win-win for the organization: whoever isn’t playing defense in Montreal on a given night rotates through, and the group stays sharp until Guhle is back in the lineup. I understand the thinking, and it makes sense.

One note for Habs fans: this is an 84-game season, so don’t panic every time a player comes or goes. There will be call-ups and there will be trades along the way. Remember, Montreal has seven players entering the final year of their contracts, and Kent Hughes simply can’t keep all of them. Some fans are already frustrated that Kirby Dach is still on this roster — the real question is how much longer that lasts.

Check back for my full camp observations and a player-by-player report coming soon.