Toronto will be without Max Domi, who failed his physical and is out indefinitely after complications from an offseason surgery, while Morgan Rielly is working through a viral condition that has him on a slower ramp into camp. Montreal is already down top-four defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who had adductor surgery this summer and isn't expected back for 4-5 weeks — an absence that's opened a real battle for the last blue-line spot between David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom.
The bigger story in Toronto is upstairs: John Chayka took over as GM after a disappointing season got head coach Craig Berube fired, and Jim Hiller has replaced him behind the bench. Auston Matthews has already praised Hiller's communication style in camp. Montreal made its own additions, signing winger Chris Kreider and bringing in Derek Lalonde as an associate coach specifically to fix a penalty kill that struggled a year ago.
Montreal's season ended with a second-round exit to Carolina, dropping 4 of the last 5 games in that series, and the roster answering for that now looks different up front — Kreider has been running on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in early camp sessions, a shift away from the Slafkovsky-Suzuki-Caufield trio that carried the team for two years. Behind them, Oliver Kapanen, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook are all competing for the second-line center job next to Ivan Demidov. Toronto's early lines have paired Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews with new addition Jack Roslovic, with John Tavares centering William Nylander, giving both new-look top-six groups something to prove against each other Saturday.
- OutKaiden Guhle (D) — The Canadiens announced Wednesday that Guhle is recovering from a minor surgery to his adductor muscle that he underwent over the summer, and he's expected to return in 4-5 weeks.09/16
None of it will settle much — split-squad lineups and camp battles make this more evaluation than rivalry night. But between Toronto's coaching change and Montreal's retooled top six, there's more to actually watch for here than a typical preseason opener, with the real answers arriving when these two meet again in ten days for a game that counts.