BROSSARD, Quebec -- The play of young defenseman Victor Mete has been a bright spot for a Canadiens team that has lost all six games, so far, in a dismal preseason.
Paired with Shea Weber since the beginning of training camp, the 19-year-old Mete has made the most of his opportunity to impress, to the point that he has a real shot of starting the season in Montreal.
"He continues to play well," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said after a 4-2 loss to Toronto in Quebec City on Wednesday night. "We're still making decisions, and to me he deserves to still be here. As long as he deserves it, and when it comes time to make the final decision, if he's still here that's going to be a good sign."
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Finding the right partner for Weber in the wake of Andrei Markov's decision to play in Russia is one of the biggest challenges Julien faces leading up to the season opener in Buffalo.
After giving Mete the first opportunity to play with Weber up to now, Julien mixed things up at practice Thursday. Mete was paired with Jordie Benn and Jakub Jerabek practiced alongside Weber.
Julien was asked if the move was designed to see how Mete would adjust after finding a level of comfort playing with Weber.
"Well that and at the same time I didn't want him just labeled as Webby's partner," Julien said. "And throughout a season you mix and match partners and we want to see how well he does with that situation as well. I think you know he's also a defenseman that's played the right side quite a bit in his junior career, so he's a guy that can play both sides, so can obviously Benn. So we're really happy with his camp so far and so we need to find out a little bit more about the player and so that's what we're doing right now."
The smooth-skating Mete has averaged 12:32 worth of ice-time over three preseason games. He is tied for the team scoring lead with two points after picking up a pair of power play assists.
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Defenseman David Schlemko was among the candidates to play with Weber, but he has been sidelined by a hand injury since the second day of camp. Schlemko, who was acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on June 22, remains day to day.
"He's a player that would be in our lineup but we would have liked to have a better idea about where to play him and with who," Julien said. "What's unfortunate is that we expected him to be day-to-day, that was really the case and it continues to be the case, but it hasn't progressed as quickly as we would have hoped. He's getting better but at first we thought he might turn the corner sooner."
Julien said that injured goaltenders Al Montoya and Charlie Lindgren are day-to-day.