The Blackhawks continue their long trek away from the United Center to open the 2023-24 season on Saturday night when they’re up north to face the Montreal Canadiens.
Montreal swept the season series between these two teams last season, although that wasn’t the most difficult task to complete given the state of the Blackhawks’ roster. It’s a mildly more difficult this season given the presence of one particular player in Chicago now, but the lineup still has plenty of openings waiting to be filled by prospects down the road.
The bleu, blanc et rouge are in a similar rebuilding phase of their franchise’s life cycle, which is why they were also flirting with the Connor Bedard sweepstakes in the 2022-23 season. It obviously didn’t work out in their favor, and the Canadiens still seem like they’re in search of the truly top-tier talent that tends to be the focal point of these rebuilds — although there’s still some good talent here. Nick Suzuki just turned 24 years old and will likely be wearing the “C” in Montreal for years to come. Cole Caufield, aka Alex DeBrincat but born in Wisconsin, looks like someone who a legit 40-goal threat each season. The 2022 No. 1 overall pick in Juraj Slafkovsky is back for his second full NHL season. Kaiden Guhle is one of the hopeful long-term pieces on Montreal’s blue line, as is David Reinbacher, although the latter is back in Europe for another year of seasoning after being the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 draft. Oh, and Kirby Dach is here, too, for whatever that’s worth. It’s a young core being assembled in Montreal and the next few seasons should reveal how solid that core is — or is not.
The present-day Montreal roster is similar to Chicago in that there are several veterans on it who seem to just be along for a short-term ride with the potential to be moved for picks and/or prospects at the trade deadline a real possibility. This group includes forwards like Sean Monahan and Tanner Pearson along with defenseman David Savard. And behind of this is old Blackhawks rival Jake Allen in net, with Carey Price on LTIRetirement until his contract runs out in the summer of 2026. Montreal finished 28th in the league standings last season and it’s hard to envision them taking a substantial leap forward this season without a massive breakout season from the one of the aforementioned prospects.
As for Chicago, the forward depth that didn’t really exist on this team has been challenged with a few early injuries. Although Taylor Hall seems like he’ll be back sooner than initially expected, his absence for this game puts more of the offensive burden on Bedard. He’ll be flanked by Ryan Donato and Taylor Raddysh, with Reese Johnson drawing in to account for Hall’s absence. The blue line remains unchanged from Wednesday, while Petr Mrazek gets the nod in goal:
Feels like a fairly even matchup on paper, even with the Blackhawks down a few bodies. It’s also Bedard’s first game in Canada and it’d be fun to see him take the Hockey Night in Canada stage by storm with some sort of virtuoso performance, one that leaves Canadiens fans feeling like Axl Rose pulled his band off the stage.
Let’s go Hawks.
How to watch
When: 6 p.m. CT
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal
TV: NBC Sports Chicago, NHL Network
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720