Montreal Canadiens: Habs Look to Replace Yet Another Defenseman

Yes, the Montreal Canadiens lost their first game of the season, a 2-0 shutout suffered at the hands of James Reimer and the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.

And sure, for 40 minutes of the game, the Habs looked like they were in complete disarray and had virtually no chemistry on the ice. Michael Cammalleri looked uninterested, Tomas Plekanec was ineffective and even P.K. Subban played poorly—he was somewhat responsible for both Leafs goals.

I can't forget to mention that the team couldn't finish their chances and were terrible on the power play, even conceding a shorthanded goal to the very speedy, seemingly fully recovered Matthew Lombardi.

So yes, it was a very bad game for your Montreal Canadiens.

But the worst part about it?

Chris Campoli, the defenseman that general manager Pierre Gauthier signed just last week as an insurance policy, left the game with an injury after falling awkwardly over his own leg. It didn't look pretty.

Campoli left the Air Canada Centre on crutches.

What happens when an insurance policy needs an insurance policy of its own?

Time to call the newly renamed Alexei Emelin into action.

After being unimpressive in the preseason, Emelin will have the chance to redeem himself earlier than most expected. Raphael Diaz, who overtook Emelin in training camp, looked very good in his NHL regular season debut and will likely be on the big club for a while.

Although Emelin doesn't speak English, I hope he understands that the knock on him over the past few weeks was that he doesn't play with the physicality and edge that the Habs organization and fans expected him to.

Judging by last night, he's going to need to—the team doesn't have anyone else who will!

I think that Emelin needs to get used to the smaller North American ice surface and regain his confidence. I suppose only time will tell, but Emelin needs to get out there and play if he has any chance to improve.

The brass wasn’t going to make him sit for the entire year, so though the Campoli injury isn’t a desirable circumstance, Emelin was going to have to make his debut eventually.

The experiment will start on Sunday in Winnipeg; I really hope it yields positive results.

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