The regular season is upon us, and the Montreal Canadiens were back at work this morning. The organization announced that Lucas Condotta, Brandon Gignac, William Trudeau, Jakub Dobes, Adam Engstrom, Logan Mailloux, and Joshua Roy had been sent down to the Laval Rocket in the AHL.

It wasn't surprising for the first three, Dobes, Engstrom, and Mailloux, really, but a message is being sent to Joshua Roy here. His camp wasn't good enough, and even though he was penciled in as an NHLer at the start, placing him on a line with Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson, he was overtaken by other players over the last couple of weeks (Kapanen and Heineman).

Related: Canadiens: What To Expect From Joshua Roy

This morning at practice, all but the top lines were modified:

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook-Kirby Dach-Joel Armia
Alex Barre-Boulet-Christian Dvorak-Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman-Jake Evans-Brendan Gallagher

Oliver Kapanen and Michael Pezzetta

On the back end, the pairings were as follows:

Mike Matheson-Kaiden Guhle
Lane Hutson-David Savard
Arber Xhekaj-Justin Barron

Jayden Struble wasn't practicing today; he had a therapy day. There are no surprises in the seven blueliners who are still with the team or with the pairings, really. Guhle has shown he can play on his off side, Savard showed he's the perfect big brother to bring youngsters into the league, and since Barron would have had to clear waivers, he was always going to be on the third pairing. The question will be who plays between Xhekaj and Struble.

Related: Canadiens: How To Solve A Problem Like Laine's Absence

If you add two goaltenders, you have the 23 players who have made the roster. However, the Canadiens are not cap-compliant, so someone else is likely to be sent down momentarily, at least until the season officially starts, and Carey Price can be put on LTIR, just like Patrik Laine.

Related: Canadiens: How To Solve A Problem Like Laine's Absence

Special teams were also put to work. This was no surprise, given what we've seen in the pre-season games in which an NHL lineup was used (the few times it happened). The first power play unit was made up of the first line, Dach and Matheson at the back, while the second unit was made up of Gallagher, Armia, Newhook, and Barre-Boulet.

The Canadiens now have until 5:00 PM to submit a cap-compliant roster, so watch this space for updates. Right now, the team is $1,187,084 over the cap, so sending Xhekaj to Laval on paper would make them compliant. I expect this is what will happen. He won't stay there for long, though. As soon as Price and Laine are on LTIR, the team will be able to recall him.

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