The Montreal Canadiens announced today that forward Sammy Blais has been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
The move appears to be a response to an injury suffered last night by veteran forward Jake Evans. Evans left the game with an apparent lower-body injury. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported last night that Evans would not travel with the team to Pittsburgh for their game tonight against the Penguins, and remains under evaluation. Per TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, the Canadiens placed Evans on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least a week.
By recalling Blais, the Canadiens have given themselves another forward to work with as they plot their response to Evans’ injury. The recent trade acquisition of veteran pivot Phillip Danault will certainly help the team absorb any Evans injury, though it is not clear at this time if Danault will be able to play in Pittsburgh.
Evans is currently slotted in as Montreal’s third-line center, playing in between Josh Anderson and Alexandre Texier. That figures to be where Danault will eventually slot in, but if he’s not able to play tonight, the Canadiens could shuffle their lines a little bit to make room for Blais since he is not a natural center.
The Canadiens have two natural pivots on their fourth line, veteran Joe Veleno and rookie Owen Beck. The Canadiens could move Beck to center for tonight’s game, put Blais on the wing in Beck’s spot, and then elevate Veleno to Evans’ position in the event Danault can’t play tonight.
Looking at this move from Blais’ perspective, this recall is his first chance to play for the Canadiens in the regular season. He signed a one-year, league-minimum one-way deal with Montreal over the summer, but didn’t make the Canadiens’ roster out of training camp. He was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and ended up scoring three points in eight games there before landing on waivers once again.
The Canadiens claimed Blais and, as the only team to do so, were able to send him down to the AHL, where he has remained until today.
Blais won the Calder Cup with the Abbotsford Canucks last season and has a notable amount of championship experience. He won the Stanley Cup in 2019 as a member of the St. Louis Blues and scored some important goals for Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships, winning a gold medal with his country. More recently, Blais scored nine points in nine games in the AHL for the Rocket en route to today’s recall.