Canadiens Notebook: Ben Chiarot and Sami Niku Have a Story Together

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One of the big questions in Canadiens’ training camp is who will replace Shea Weber as Ben Chiarot’s defensive partner when the NHL regular season begins.

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Chiarot started training camp with Mattias Norlinder as his partner, but the 21-year-old Swede suffered a minor injury in Monday’s 5-2 preseason win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and was not on the ice for Wednesday’s practice. at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said Norlinder is expected to miss another four or five days and will not play this weekend when the Canadiens have back-to-back games against the Senators on Friday in Ottawa and Saturday at the Bell. Center.

Chiarot’s partner on Wednesday was Sami Niku, who was hired as a free agent last Friday after the Winnipeg Jets put him on conditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. Winnipeg selected Niku in the seventh round (198 total) of the 2015 NHL Draft and was 2-8-10 total in 54 games with the Jets divided over four seasons.

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“He was my partner during a few games there, when he would come and play for the Jets,” said Chiarot, who played five seasons in Winnipeg before joining the Canadiens as a free agent two years ago. “Back then he was like a promising young prospect. Obviously, he had a lot of offensive advantages. Really calm with the puck on the offensive blue line. He likes to shake the defender and make some moves. It is also quite good to move the puck across the ice from its own end. He has a good offensive ability and a good ability to move the puck.

“He was kind of a great prospect for Winnipeg there and then I think things got a little off for him…. so here he is with us now. “

Chiarot said he was impressed by Norlinder in training camp before his injury.

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“He’s a skilled skater, good offensive instincts,” Chiarot said. “He doesn’t lack confidence, he asks for the album. You can tell he’s played with men for a few years … I think he played in the Swedish league for the last few years. It seems comfortable. He makes professional plays and does not have any kind of immaturity in his game. It looks like he has a great future. “

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Cracking down on cross-checks

The NHL plans to enforce the cross-check rules more strictly this season, which could mean a big adjustment for defenders.

“My game probably not at all … I don’t do that,” Chiarot said with a straight face when asked how applying the rules might affect his game.

“You just have to defend a little differently,” he added. “It kind of goes back to when the rules changed when it came to grip, as soon as your stick got on a guy’s waist, it was a penalty. This is a lighter version of that. There are ways … I mean you can have one hand on your cane and push. Keep defending and have two hands on the stick to push a guy where you want, that’s part of the game. Maybe they are trying to get rid of the heavier ones that you may have seen around here. But we’ll see what that is called as the season progresses. “

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Chiarot expects there to be a sensation process early in the season with cross-checking.

“I remember the first games where they changed the rules, it was like 15 penalties a night and it was kind of disastrous,” he said. “So hopefully there will be a feeling for the first two weeks and then they’ll find a sweet spot where they can ditch the nasties and let the guys keep playing hockey.”

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The lines

This is how attacking lines and defense pairings were searched for the Red Team and White Team, who practiced on Wednesday at Brossard.

RED TEAM

Jonathan Drouin – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson
Rafael Harvey-Pinard – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Danick Martel – Jean-Sebastien Dea – Jesse Ylonen
Michael Pezzetta – Jan Mysak – Gabriel Bourque

Kaiden Guhle by David Savard
Ben Chiarot – Sami Niku
Corey Schueneman as Chris Wideman

WHITE TEAM

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Poehling – Laurent Dauphin
Mathieu Perreault – Cédric Paquette – Alex Belzile
Brandon Baddock – Jean-Christophe Baudin – Lukas Vejdemo

Alexander Romanov as Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak as Gianni Fairbrother
Tobie Bisson as Arber Xhekaj

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