Montreal Canadiens Claim Chris Tierney

The Montreal Canadiens have added a little veteran presence off the waiver wire, claiming Chris Tierney from the Florida Panthers. Joey Anderson and Justin Kirkland, who were on waivers with him, both cleared.

Tierney, 28, has played nearly 600 games in his NHL career, even if those have rarely been as a leading man. The depth forward has three points in 13 games with Florida this season, after scoring six goals and 18 points in 2021-22 with the Ottawa Senators.

Florida was able to slip him through waivers at the beginning of the year, but now that teams like Montreal are dealing with so many injuries, he wasn’t making it back to the minor leagues this time.

The Canadiens updated several players today, indicating that Joel Armia is out day-to-day and Chris Wideman will be out week-to-week. The most intriguing update had to do with Kirby Dach, who won’t travel with the team due to what the team is calling “illness-like symptoms related to a lower-body injury.”

Dach hasn’t played in a week now, and there is no clear timeline for his return. Montreal’s claim of Tierney makes sense in that context, given how few healthy bodies the Canadiens have. Signed to a one-year, two-way contract, he’ll be a UFA in the summer.