The Montreal Canadiens made room for their young defensive talent this summer by moving two established players.
But blue-line prospects Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher are trying not to look too far ahead, even though they all dream of seizing this opportunity to make the NHL roster.
The Canadiens traded Johnathan Kovacevic to the New Jersey Devils and sent Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the deal that brought forward Patrik Laine to Montreal.
David Savard and Mike Matheson are the only defencemen on the team with more than 115 games of NHL experience. Third-year Kaiden Guhle is also guaranteed a spot on the blue line.
Beyond that, the picture isn’t as clear.
Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron will likely have an edge over Hutson, Reinbacher and Mailloux at training camp. But the three highly touted rookies have profiles that suggest they could become top players in the NHL, whereas the …