The preseason came to an end for the Habs on Thursday night as they fell 5-4 in a shootout to Ottawa in a game that saw them start strong and finish strong, but struggled in between.

The Canadiens will be without Carey Price for an indefinite period of time as the NHL announced on Thursday that the goaltender has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  

The decision to hand Jake Evans a three-year extension may have come as a surprise over the weekend but in the eyes of our writers, the surprise was a pleasant one.

Following Tuesday’s loss to Toronto, the Habs have trimmed their training camp roster by four, sending Gabriel Bourque, Gianni Fairbrother, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard to Laval while placing Michael Pezzetta on waivers.

The Habs got off to an okay start on Tuesday night in Toronto but things fell apart early and often as Samuel Montembeault faced plenty of shots in his first game in a Montreal uniform, one that saw the Maple Leafs pick up the 6-2 victory.

Jake Evans is expected to have a bigger role on the Habs this season and they’ve opted to give him a vote of confidence, announcing that they’ve signed him to a three-year contract extension.  The deal carries a cap hit of $1.7 million.

Ryan Poehling had a strong second half. Jesse Ylonen was one of the best players in the second period. Arber Xhekaj was quite strong. But all of these flashes came after the team’s top unit of Suzuki, Toffoli, Gallagher, Petry, and Romanov stepped up and led the way as the Habs played a fundamentally strong game to earn a 2-1 win over Ottawa on Saturday night.

There has been some uncertainty surrounding Montreal’s goaltending situation with Carey Price’s availability for the start of the season in question.  As a result, the Habs opted to add some more depth at the position on Saturday, claiming Samuel Montembeault off waivers from Florida.

The Habs kicked off a home-and-home set versus the Senators on Friday night and couldn’t get much going either offensively or defensively as they fell 7-2.

It was only a matter of time before the Habs made a big list of cuts with minor league camps soon to get underway.  That happened on Friday as Montreal trimmed down their roster by 19 players.