Every training camp has one job battle that says more about a team’s philosophy than any other, and for the Canadiens this fall it’s the fight for the 13th forward spot. On paper it looks like a simple depth-chart question. In practice it’s a referendum on how Montreal wants to build: reward the players it has spent years developing in Laval, or use the roster spot to grab an established, NHL-tested body from outside the organization.

The traditional answer is Laval. It almost always is — that’s where a team’s up-and-coming forwards are supposed to prove they’re ready for full-time NHL minutes, and Montreal has no shortage of candidates there. But another door is open at the same time: the wave of experienced NHL players who inevitably get placed on waivers as thirty-plus teams trim their rosters down to the regular-season limit. A handful of those players will have exactly the profile a team wants in a 13th forward: NHL games on the resume, and no development plan to protect if he needs to sit for a week.

With that in mind, here are five players who will all have to clear waivers before their own teams can option them to the AHL — meaning for one day, they’re theoretically available to everybody, Montreal included.

Part 1: Five Names That Could Clear Waivers

Nathan Gaucher, C/RW — Anaheim Ducks Organization

Drafted 22nd overall in 2022, Gaucher is a 6-foot-3, 207-pound power forward built to play a north-south, physical game and win puck battles along the wall. He got a three-game look with Anaheim in 2025-26 and put up 15 goals and 29 points in 62 games with the San Diego Gulls. He’s not a pure scorer, but he’s the kind of frame and forecheck NHL coaches trust in a bottom-six role.

Reid Schaefer, LW — Nashville Predators Organization

Also a 2022 first-rounder (32nd overall, originally Edmonton’s pick), Schaefer is even bigger at 6-foot-4, 218 pounds. He actually got real NHL run in 2025-26 — 47 games with Nashville, 8 points — before finishing the year back with Milwaukee, where he had 28 points in 33 AHL games. An agitator with size and a real shot, he’s already shown he can hold down a bottom-six NHL role for stretches.

Matthew Poitras, C/RW — Boston Bruins Organization

The most skilled playmaker of the group. A 2022 second-round pick, Poitras had 15 points in 33 NHL games as a 19-year-old rookie in 2023-24 and has bounced between Boston and Providence since. In 2025-26 he racked up 44 points in 69 AHL games. He’s a restricted free agent still without a new deal in Boston, which is its own wrinkle — and at 5-foot-11, he’s undersized for the role — but if Boston has to make a roster decision on him, he’s the name in this group with the highest offensive upside.

Ivan Miroshnichenko, LW — Washington Capitals Organization

A 2022 first-rounder (20th overall) with one of the more compelling stories in the sport after coming back from a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis to keep climbing the Capitals’ system. He’s a genuine power winger with a heavy shot — 34 points in 41 AHL games with Hershey in 2025-26 to go with a 3-point cup of coffee in 13 NHL games. He’s signed through 2027-28, so Washington would have real reason to try to keep him, but he’s exactly the kind of talented winger who occasionally slips through waivers because of forward depth elsewhere on the roster.

Luca Del Bel Belluz, C/LW — Columbus Blue Jackets Organization

The best pure counting stats of the five. A 2022 second-rounder, he’s coming off a 58-point season in 55 AHL games with Cleveland (22 goals, 36 assists) and has already played 30 NHL games across three seasons with Columbus. Back-to-back AHL All-Star selections. If any name on this list is going to intrigue people the most on pure skill, it’s him.

Editor’s note (to build out together): of the five, Del Bel Belluz and Miroshnichenko have the best offensive tools; Gaucher and Schaefer are the safer physical/depth profile; Poitras is the changeup because of the RFA situation and his size. Confirmed: Poitras is still an RFA, not signed to a new deal.

Part 2: Are Xhekaj, Beck and Berard Already the Answer?

Here’s the thing about all five names above: Montreal’s realistic shot at any of them is limited. Waiver claims go in reverse order of the standings, and after an Eastern Conference Final run, the Canadiens will be picking near the back of the line. If more than one team puts in a claim on Miroshnichenko or Del Bel Belluz, Montreal isn’t winning that. A lower-profile name like Gaucher or Poitras is more realistic if it ever came to that.

Which brings us back to the players already in the building.

Florian Xhekaj, LW/C

6-foot-4, 205 pounds, and Arber’s younger brother. He’s a full-time pro now, coming off 29 points and 182 PIM in 64 AHL games with Laval, plus a 5-game NHL cameo. He’s a physical, net-front presence more than a scorer, but that’s a specific kind of tool a bottom-six needs.

Owen Beck, C

28 career NHL games across three seasons, with 33 points in 58 AHL games in 2025-26 and 15 in his most recent NHL look. A smart, reliable, two-way center who was a Memorial Cup MVP not that long ago.

Brett Berard, LW

And here’s a name that changes the whole conversation: Berard isn’t hypothetical anymore. Montreal actually acquired him from the Rangers in late June and signed him to an extension in July, so he’s a Laval Rocket player right now. He’s the oldest of the three (23, turning 24 in September) and actually the most NHL-tested of the group, with 48 NHL games and a real track record in Hartford. That age gap is exactly the point — he’s further along than Beck or Xhekaj, meaning Montreal can play him or sit him without worrying about stunting a teenager’s development curve. The knock on him is size — at 5-foot-11, he’s on the small side for a bottom-six job. He may functionally already be the internal option this whole article is asking about.

Editor’s note (needs the most work together): I want to make the case for each of the three, then be honest about which one profile fits “13th forward who can be scratched without it costing him anything” the best. My gut says Berard is the closest match on experience, but his size is the real counterargument — worth weighing against Beck’s more prototypical bottom-six frame.

Part 3: One More Door

Beyond Laval and beyond the five names in Part 1, there’s one more path worth naming: a more established NHL veteran who gets caught in a separate waivers wave. Different from the five prospects above, this would be a player already with real NHL mileage who can absorb healthy scratches without it mattering to a development timeline — exactly like the Berard profile but with even more experience.

(We’re leaving the PTO angle out of this piece — there’s no indication Montreal is actually pursuing that route.)

The Real Question

This isn’t really a “who’s better” article. It’s a philosophy question: at equal talent, does Montreal reward a player it has spent years developing over an outsider brought in from a waiver claim? Our answer, and the one worth building the piece around, is yes — with a condition. If Xhekaj, Beck or Berard is ready, he should get the job, full stop. The waiver wire only becomes the right answer if none of Montreal’s own players are truly ready to play meaningful minutes — because the worst outcome here isn’t picking the “wrong” player, it’s picking someone, internal or external, who ends up glued to the press box. Whoever wins the 13th-forward job needs to actually play.

Training camp will give us the real answer. This is our starting marker for it.