St-Louis Reveals First Canadiens Lineup on Day 1 of Camp, Makes Early Decision on Dobson
The Montreal Canadiens' 2025 training camp has officially kicked off, and already, Martin St-Louis has revealed the group compositions for the start of activities.
As always, this first announcement sparks plenty of discussion, as it features expected duos and trios, but also a surprise that particularly draws attention on the blue line.
In my opinion, this is exactly what makes days like this so exciting: you never know which combinations will emerge and how they will shape the team's future.
The Official Groups Revealed at the Canadiens Training Camp
Here is the full breakdown of the players for this 2025 training camp, as announced by the organization:
Group AGoalies: Benjamin Gaudreau, Kevin Mandolese,
Samuel MontembeaultDefensemen: Marc Del Gazo,
Kaiden Guhle,
Lane Hutson, Darick Louis-Jean, Charles Martin,
Owen Protz,
David ReinbacherForwards: Vincent Arseneau,
Samuel Blais,
Kirby Dach, Laurent Dauphin,
Ivan Demidov, Will Dineen, Joseph Dunlap, Egor Goriunov,
Oliver Kapanen,
Patrik Laine,
Tyler Thorpe,
Luke Tuch, Joe Veleno,
Florian Xhekaj Group BGoalies:
Jakub Dobes,
Kaapo KahkonenDefensemen:
Alexandre Carrier,
Nathan Clurman, Ryan O'Rourke,
Jayden Struble,
Arber XhekajForwards:
Josh Anderson,
Owen Beck,
Zachary Bolduc,
Jared Davidson, Mark Estapa,
Jake Evans,
Brendan Gallagher,
Riley Kidney,
Alex Newhook, Xavier Simoneau
Group CGoalies:
Jacob Fowler, Hunter Jones
Defensemen:
Noah Dobson, Adam Engström, Mike Matheson, Tobie Paquette-Bisson, Wyatte Wylie
Forwards:
Alex Belzile,
Cole Caufield,
Lucas Condotta,
Sean Farrell,
Filip Mesar, Israel Mianscum, Vincenz Rohrer,
Joshua Roy,
Juraj Slafkovsky,
Nick Suzuki
What stands out immediately is the presence of Noah Dobson alongside Mike Matheson in Group C.
This combination suggests that St-Louis already wants to test this pair in an important role.
Here's what Anthony Martineau deduces from the defensive pairs:
If we look at the group compositions, we can deduce that MSL currently sees:
Guhle - Hutson
Matheson - Dobson
Xhekaj/Struble - Carrier
In my opinion, I have to say that seeing Dobson integrated this way from the start seems like excellent news for the Canadiens' defensive stability.
| POLL |
SEPTEMBRE 18 | 731 ANSWERS St-Louis Reveals First Canadiens Lineup on Day 1 of Camp, Makes Early Decision on Dobson Which player will you be watching most closely at the Montreal Canadiens training camp? |
| Ivan Demidov | 552 | 75.5 % |
| Lane Hutson | 51 | 7 % |
| Juraj Slafkosvky | 105 | 14.4 % |
| Kaiden Ghule | 23 | 3.1 % |
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