MONTREAL -- After a pre-season full of twists and turns -- most notably the decision by star goalie Carey Price to sit things out at first and enter the player assistance program -- the Habs have their new opening-night lineup.
The Canadiens finalized a 23-man lineup on Monday ahead of the team's regular season opener on Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The roster was finalized Monday, the team said in an announcement at about 4 p.m. The cutoff is Monday at 5 p.m. to make the lists official.
Decisions were tough in the last week or two. But in the last few days, with one forward cut during training camp, the team was down to just 24 healthy players.
The team marked down 15 forwards, six defencemen and two goalies:
FORWARDS
The roster has these forwards, in alphabetical order:
17 - Josh Anderson
40 - Joel Armia
60 - Alex Belzile
24 - Adam Brooks
22 - Cole Caufield
92 - Jonathan Drouin
28 - Christian Dvorak
71 - Jake Evans
11 - Brendan Gallagher
62 - Artturi Lehkonen
13 - Cedric Paquette
85 - Mathieu Perreault
25 - Ryan Poehling
14 - Nick Suzuki
73 - Tyler Toffoli
DEFENCE
On defence, these are the six players picked:
8 - Ben Chiarot
77 - Brett Kulak
26 - Jeff Petry
27 - Alexander Romanov
58 - David Savard
20 - Chris Wideman
GOALTENDERS
And on goal, Price's regular backup, Jake Allen, will be joined by his own backup, Samuel Montembeault, who spoke about the prospect earlier this week:
34 - Jake Allen
35 - Samuel Montembeault
