Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme is confident that his team will have Shea Weber back in the lineup for Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canadiens' captain has been dealing with an upper-body injury and has not played since April 28, missing the team's final seven regular-season games.
Ducharme was extremely optimistic about the 35-year-old's availability after Tuesday's practice, explaining that the team is "really confident he's going to be 100 per cent ready to play."
"Everything went well, and tomorrow he's going to take another step in that direction. We're really confident he's going to be 100 per cent ready to play," says Dominique Ducharme on Shea Weber.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) May 18, 2021
In other Canadiens' news, Ducharme confirmed that both Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Cole Caufield will be absent from the lineup in Game 1. Defenceman Alex Romanov will be a scratched as well.
Ducharme confirmed that Kotkaniemi and Caufield will be watching Game 1. But he also expects he'll be using them at some point, and that they'll be more prepared to play when they do finally get in.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) May 18, 2021
Ducharme did say he expects the youngsters to crack the lineup at some point in the series but made no firm commitment on when that would be.
Here’s Ducharme on the decision not to dress Caufield and Kotkaniemi for Game 1. He said later much of the same logic applied to Romanov, who will also sit for Game 1. And he also repeated that he will make adjustments as early as Game 2 if he needs to: pic.twitter.com/rkJB9OezCg
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) May 18, 2021
The Canadiens and Maple Leafs open their first-round series – the first playoff meeting between the rivals in more than 40 years – Thursday on Sportsnet and CBC. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT.
