Carbonneau has plenty of unanswered questions

[Habsfan84]

MONT TREMBLANT — Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau planned to use his opening-night lineup for the team’s final two exhibition games.
But that plan is on hold because Carbonneau isn’t sure who’s going to be in that lineup. The biggest question going in to training camp remains the biggest question mark coming out — who will back up Cristobal Huet?
Huet will start Thursday night when the Boston Bruins visit the Bell Centre. But Carbonneau said he was undecided about who would be between the pipes Saturday in Ottawa.
“The priority is still to make sure that Cristobal is ready for the season-opener,” Carbonneau said Tuesday. “After Thursday’s game, we’ll sit down with Cristobal and (goaltending coach Rollie Melanson) and decide from there.”
The decision comes down to whether Huet needs more work or Carbonneau and his staff need another look at the candidates for the No. 2 job — Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak.
Going into camp, Carbonneau said Price would have to be No. 1 if he hoped to stay in Montreal because it’s important for him to play.
But general manager Bob Gainey didn’t appear to be on the same page — in fact, he might not have been in the same book — when he said Monday that there might be enough work for a backup in Montreal.
“I have no problem with what Bob said; there are pluses and minuses in every situation,” Carbonneau said.
While goaltending remains a focal point, Tuesday’s practice yielded a clue to what’s happening among the forwards.
Mikhail Grabovski has been one of the surprises of the camp. He centred a line Tuesday with Guillaume Latendresse and Bryan Smolinski.
“I feel like I can play in the NHL,” Grabovski said as he tried out his improving English.
While Smolinski has been a centre for most of his career, Carbonneau will take advantage of the fact he can also play right-wing. That’s where Smolinski was Sunday in Halifax, and he looked comfortable on the wing as the Canadiens beat the Bruins.
The Canadiens have an abundance of centres, but it appears that two of the four middle jobs will go to rookies. The other is Kyle Chipchura, who was between Steve Begin and Tom Kostopoulos on Tuesday.
Patrice Brisebois’s return to practice Tuesday means things are also crowded on defence. There are nine players for six starting spots, although there’s room to keep two spares, as the Canadiens did last season.
The most interesting decision will involve rookie Ryan O’Byrne, whose size, physical play and skating are offset by a lack of experience and the fact he’s the only defenceman with a two-way contract, which makes it easy to return him to Hamilton. His situation is similar to that of Price — it’s important the youngster gets some playing time.
But Carbonneau rejected a suggestion that O’Byrne would have to be one of the top six defencemen to stay in Montreal.