Firstly, let me preface all of this by saying this is the pre-season and what a player can accomplish with this intensity is vastly different than what he can accomplish in the regular season. With that as a disclaimer for what follows, here are my impressions of what we have seen so far.

Any evaluation has to start with Carey Price. Everyone needs to hope that he is three levels better than this. If he is not, the rest of the positives – and there are many – mean little.

Note, too, that Alex Auld let in two goals 5-hole on the first seven shots against the Wild and Auld didn't get booed. If Price lets in the same goals, it is a chorus of boos at the Bell Centre. Just an observation.

Eller not executing at top speed

The line up is set for the regular season. The staff knows who is going to be there, and Lars Eller is penciled in, but he is not one of the best 12 forwards on the team. I haven't seen him execute at high speed. I'm not sure he can.

Ryan White deserves Eller's job. White had many good games last year for the Habs. He's ready. A good team player, eager to sacrifice, very few mistakes, White is on the cusp of putting those WHL junior numbers that are significant to the test here. He has hands close to clicking at this level. More so than the steady Pyatt, who has won a job.

Max Pacioretty bulked up 10 pounds in the off season. He's stronger on the puck, and importantly the skating stride is still as good. It was Pacioretty's total victory in a speed race to cancel icing that led to the Habs fourth goal against the Wild.

If Pacioretty or White don't get Eller's job then David Desharnais deserves it. Small, of course, but what great sense around the net and what vision. Only nature that made him small robbed him of great things at this level.

Pity Ben Maxwell. He could get games in the show in other organizations, but it won't happen here unless the injury bug strikes.

Dustin Boyd was a good pick up, showing more than Halpern so far, certainly. Boyd has been a consistent NHLer who plays bigger than his size and I expect that to continue here.

Ian Schultz has a plan and though he is completely too young right now, you get the feeling that he's going to figure out how to execute it one day. A good set up on Enqvist's goal by Schultz.

Subban a work in progress

P.K. Subban is trying these hip checks at the blue line. If he ever connects, it's going to be spectacular, but in the meantime he's getting caught. P.K. is high octane entertainment, but he's got to play a lower risk game. He needs to think safer. It's just a matter of attitude, not talent, so expect that adjustment to be a mere hiccup on the road to stardom.

Louis Leblanc is not comfortable yet, but he shows a competitive desire that will serve him well. Leblanc's season comes down to the world juniors. If he can't get on that track, he isn't going to be on the NHL track.

Aaron Palushaj is another guy who is close. He has looked good and has more upside than Matt D'Agostini. A good trade.

Palushaj is one of five bubble guys that I have liked better than Eller. However, Eller will be in the opening night lineup. The pressure for the Halak trade is already high, so Eller will have an extremely long leash extending at least into November to get comfortable and show talent.

Veterans rounding into form

Benoit Pouliot has looked good. No finish yet, but he's moving his big frame through high traffic areas. That's the key for him. He will get his goals if he commits to that.

Among the veterans, it is not even needed to evaluate most of them really. They're just getting in shape and staying healthy. To say Michael Cammalleri hasn't looked good and is a problem strikes a false chord, so I will leave their evaluation to the regular season. Tomas Plekanec has looked good, but even he will tell you that it doesn't matter.

Overall, the Habs look like they're going to have two very strong lines, though Pouliot does need to hold up his end. He's the key. The back-end lines will definitely do their jobs and the players assigned there have the tools to help the cause.

On defence, the return of Andrei Markov as soon as possible is vital. Roman Hamrlik has to get healthy, too. There's not a lot of depth on the back end and just one defenceman not ready to perform at a high level can be very debilitating to a club. Thankfully for the Habs, Alexandre Picard was strong against the Wild.

An Achilles' heel in goal?

That brings us to the focal point of the team. The possible Achilles' heel. The big question mark. What will these goalies bring?

Last season, Halak was .925 and Price was .912 in the save percentage department. The club has to have those numbers and from what we have seen so far, there is no indication that is going to happen.

But as Carey Price says, "Relax, it's just the pre-season".

He will have to be true to that evaluation of his own play, that it will improve, because if it doesn't, the 16-17 players the Habs seem to have in the right spots won't be able to traverse the obstacles that the three or four laggards will have put in place to thwart them.

All in all, an extremely positive camp so far with only the one, very important question mark to be resolved.