The Canadiens announced several player cuts Sunday ahead of their NHL season opener Tuesday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports).
Forward Florian Xhekaj wasn’t among them and will be on the Canadiens’ season-opening roster, joining his brother, Arber. The Canadiens have to submit their official 23-man roster to start the season by 5 p.m. on Monday. Adam Engstrom also wasn’t among Sunday’s cuts and will be the Canadiens’ seventh defenceman to start the season, beating out David Reinbacher for the job while Kaiden Guhle continues to recover from adductor muscle surgery.
The Canadiens announced Sunday that goalie Jacob Fowler had been sent down to the AHL’s Laval Rocket, along with defencemen Reinbacher, Owen Protz and Luke Mittelstadt, and forwards Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, Tyler Thorpe, Laurent Dauphin, Jared Davidson and Dillan Bentley.