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Canadiens Assign Owen Beck And Logan Mailloux To AHL

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Sunday: The team announced (Twitter link) that both Beck and Mailloux have been sent back to the AHL to allow them to play in the All-Star Game; neither played today against Anaheim.

Saturday: The Canadiens have added a bit of extra roster depth as they get set to start a three-game California road trip.  The team announced that they have recalled center Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux from AHL Laval.  It’s the second recall of the season for both players.

Beck is in his first professional season and has spent the bulk of it with the Rocket.  The 20-year-old played in two games with Montreal late last month and was held off the scoresheet.  Beck has had a productive rookie campaign in the minors, however, tallying 11 goals and 16 assists in 41 games, good for a tie for tenth in scoring among all AHL freshmen.

As for Mailloux, he got into five games with the Canadiens back in October.  He was productive in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 16:30 of ice time but struggled in the defensive zone.  He’s in his second pro campaign and has nine goals and 13 assists in 36 AHL appearances so far this season, putting him close to his offensive pace from his rookie year.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to see both players shuffled back and forth a bit over the coming days.  Beck and Mailloux are set to participate in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday with that event being held in California where Montreal will be for a few days.  Accordingly, they’ll likely be loaned back down following Sunday’s game and then recalled back to the big club on Tuesday when the Canadiens are in San Jose.

Canadiens Reassign Rafaël Harvey-Pinard

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The Canadiens loaned winger Rafaël Harvey-Pinard to AHL Laval on Friday, according to a team announcement. They now have a pair of open roster spots, with PuckPedia reflecting that Emil Heineman was also transferred to injured reserve earlier in the week.

Harvey-Pinard, 26, made his season debut in Thursday’s shutout loss to the Wild. He posted zeroes across the board in 8:54 of ice time, recording one hit. Montreal was outshot 4-2 with him on the ice at even strength.

It was a quiet showing amid a quiet season for the 5’9″ winger. A broken leg sustained during offseason training kept him out of training camp and on the shelf until mid-November, when the Canadiens assigned him to the minors on a long-term injury conditioning loan. They opted not to reinstate him to the active roster when his loan was up and instead placed him on waivers to keep him in Laval long-term. That was a semi-risky move, considering he’s on an expiring contract at an affordable $1.1MM cap hit and had 14 goals and 20 points in only 34 games two seasons ago, but there were no takers on the wire.

Thirty-one other NHL teams made the right call. Harvey-Pinard has struggled since his late start to the season, scoring only four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 24 games with Laval. He’s on pace for easily the worst offensive showing of his five-year professional career, especially after he logged 31 points in 40 games in his last extended AHL stint in 2022-23.

The Habs recalled Harvey-Pinard last weekend as the Habs wanted an extra forward with Heineman on the shelf, but he sat twice as a healthy scratch before entering the lineup. His lack of NHL usage and disappointing minor-league play this season makes it unlikely that he’ll receive his $1MM qualifying offer from Montreal at the end of the season, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Heineman’s IR placement does not affect his return timeline. He hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury as a pedestrian in a traffic action on Jan. 13 while the team was in Utah and is expected to remain out of the lineup for around another week.

Canadiens Believed To Have Had Second-Round Pick Offer For Evans At Draft

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The Canadiens were believed to have been offered a mid-second-round pick back at the draft for center Jake Evans, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.  He adds that the Capitals may have been the team making the offer.  Evans is in the middle of what is likely to be a career year as he has 11 goals and 14 assists in 50 games while being the league leader for shorthanded ice time by a forward.  A pending unrestricted free agent, Evans has a very affordable $1.7MM cap charge this season and could plausibly double that on the open market this summer.  Montreal will have to decide if it’s worth accepting what’s likely to be a similar offer by the March 7th trade deadline or trying to sign him to a contract extension in the coming weeks.

Canadiens’ Kaiden Guhle Out Indefinitely With Quadricep Laceration

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1:12 p.m.: Guhle sustained a lacerated quadricep muscle that was surgically repaired overnight, the team announced. He’s been released from the hospital but will be out indefinitely.

10:09 a.m.: In a corresponding move, defenseman Jayden Struble has been reinstated from his conditioning loan to AHL Laval. The 23-year-old lefty was held without a point and took two minor penalties with a plus-one rating in a pair of contests for the minor-league club.

8:10 a.m.: The Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle has suffered a lower-body injury and will need further evaluation. Guhle sustained the injury in the third period of last night’s 4-1 loss to Winnipeg when he fell into the corner awkwardly. He appeared to catch an edge on the play as he was trying to pinch in from the blue line, his right leg fell behind him and jammed into the boards, suffering the full weight of the impact. Guhle required assistance to get to the dressing room and did not appear to bear any weight on his right leg.

The 16th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft is in his third NHL season and has become a huge piece of Montreal’s back end, averaging over 21 minutes a night of ice team and seeing the third most deployment at even strength on the team. Guhle has also been tasked with taking on some of the most difficult minutes in Montreal, starting nearly 60% of his shifts in the defensive zone and taking on the toughest assignments.

Montreal does have some good young defensemen in the AHL right now, however, none will be able to make the jump up from Laval and handle the duties that Guhle has been taking on.

Montreal is in the thick of the Eastern Conference’s race for the Wild Card spots, and losing Guhle for an extended period would be a big blow to their playoff hopes. However, there is a break in February for the Four Nations Face-Off, which could allow Guhle some recovery time, should he need it.

Montreal could also look outside the organization for help as they have 12 draft picks in this year’s draft and will have almost $6.5MM in cap space to work with at the NHL Trade Deadline.

Canadiens Recall Rafael Harvey-Pinard

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Montreal has added some extra forward depth in advance of their game tonight against New Jersey.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard from AHL Laval.

The 26-year-old started the season on injured reserve, missing the first 22 games with a leg injury.  Following a conditioning stint with the Rocket, he then cleared waivers at the beginning of December and has been with them ever since.  Harvey-Pinard has played in 24 games with Laval this season, recording four goals and seven assists.

Harvey-Pinard has seen extensive NHL time in the last two years.  In 2022-23, he impressed as a midseason recall, ultimately collecting 14 goals and six assists in 34 games.  That helped earn him a two-year, $2.2MM contract in the 2023 offseason.  But things didn’t go as well for him last year as he was limited to just two goals and eight helpers in 45 appearances while also missing time due to injuries.

Montreal hasn’t had much success filling Emil Heineman’s spot on the fourth line since he was struck by a car in Utah last week.  Veteran Michael Pezzetta has been given several looks but has failed to clear five minutes of playing time in any of his last seven games.  Prospect Owen Beck received a two-game look but has since been returned to the minors and now it appears Harvey-Pinard will get a chance to reclaim his spot from last season on that line.

With the recall, Montreal’s active roster is now full.  Jayden Struble remains on the roster while on a conditioning loan to Laval while despite Heineman’s injury, they’ve elected not to place him on injured reserve just yet.

Canadiens Assign Jayden Struble To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Canadiens assigned defenseman Jayden Struble to AHL Laval on a conditioning assignment Friday, the team announced. He will remain on the active roster while suiting up in the minors but will need to be reinstated after two weeks. Otherwise, he’ll need to be waived to continue playing in the minors.

Struble, 23, was scratched for the seventh straight game in last night’s loss to the Red Wings. He’s only played four times since Dec. 12 and has been subject to 15 healthy scratches during that span.

The 2019 second-rounder has firmly slipped behind Arber Xhekaj on the team’s left defense depth chart for now. There hasn’t been much appetite for head coach Martin St. Louis to make lineup changes amid a 13-4-1 surge since mid-December that has Montreal in the thick of a highly competitive Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Still in his development stage but no longer waiver-exempt, the Habs thus need to take advantage of a conditioning stint to get Struble some regular playing time. The Rhode Island native has been decently effective when given a chance this season, posting five points through 26 games while leading Montreal defenders with a 51.9 CF% at even strength, albeit in limited minutes (14:16 ATOI).

Controlling shot quantity hasn’t meant controlling shot quality for Struble this year, however. He’s posted a minus-seven rating and has been on the ice for just 1.7 GF/60 at even strength compared to 3.1 GA/60. He has been decently effective on the penalty kill, though, where he averages around a minute per game.

Still, by most definitions, this season has been a step back for the physically involved Struble. He earned a midseason promotion from Laval last season to make his NHL debut and ended up skating in 56 big-league contests, recording 10 points, a minus-three rating, and 57 PIMs. He finished fifth on the team with 121 hits and averaged 16:07 per game, so his minutes have been reduced by nearly two minutes this season.

The Canadiens only have seven defensemen on the active roster, including Struble. Therefore, expect them to use their open roster spot to recall a temporary replacement from Laval in the coming days. Struble had seven points and a plus-five rating in 13 appearances with the minor-league club last season.

Beck Assigned To Laval

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  • The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that center Owen Beck has been assigned to AHL Laval. The 20-year-old was recalled on Sunday and played in Montreal’s last two games, playing just over 15 minutes combined.  Beck is off to a solid start to his professional career in the minors, collecting 25 points in 37 games with the Rocket this season.  No corresponding recall is expected before their game in Detroit on Thursday.

Marcel Bonin Passes Away

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Four-time Stanley Cup champion winger Marcel Bonin passed away Sunday, according to an announcement from the Canadiens. He was 93.

Montreal was where Bonin was born and where he played his best hockey, but it wasn’t where his NHL career started. Acquired by the Red Wings in 1952 from the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Senior Hockey League, where he was briefly teammates with all-time great Jean Béliveau, Bonin made his NHL debut at age 20 that season.

He posted four goals and 13 points in 37 games during his rookie campaign with Detroit in 1952-53, splitting the year between the NHL and the Wings’ AHL affiliate at the time, the St. Louis Flyers. After spending nearly all of 1953-54 in lower-level leagues, he returned to Detroit full-time for 1954-55. Bonin was an impact piece, finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 36 points in 69 games and adding a pair of assists in 11 playoff games as he won his first of four Original Six championships.

That summer, Bonin was part of the blockbuster deal that sent Terry Sawchuk, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner and future Hall-of-Famer, to the Bruins. He spent one year in Boston, recording nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 67 games on a Bruins offense that limped to a league-worst 2.10 goals per game.

Bonin returned to lower-tier hockey with his old stomping grounds in Quebec the following year before being claimed by his hometown Canadiens in the Inter-League Draft preceding the 1957-58 campaign. Reunited with Beliveau, then a perennial MVP candidate, and names like Henri Richard, Maurice Richard, and Bernie Geoffrion, Bonin resurfaced as a high-end complementary piece.

Bonin won Stanley Cups with Montreal in his first three seasons back in the league, recording 133 points in 182 games between the 1957-58 and 1959-60 campaigns. In year four, he recorded a career-high 35 assists and 51 points in 65 games. He was off to a good start in 1961-62, notching 21 points in 33 games, before sustaining a career-ending back injury in a game against the Red Wings in February.

He recorded 11 goals and 22 points in 34 games across four trips to the postseason with the Habs. All but one of those goals came in the 1959 playoffs, where he led the league with 10 goals in 11 games en route to Montreal’s fourth of five straight titles.

All of us at Pro Hockey Rumors offer our deepest condolences to the Bonin family and his loved ones.

Montreal Canadiens Recall Owen Beck

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Owen Beck’s first full season in the AHL has earned him a relatively quick call-up to the NHL level. The Montreal Canadiens have announced the recall of Beck from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. He is expected to take Emil Heineman’s spot in the lineup while Heineman recovers from a lower-body injury sustained after being struck by a vehicle.

Beck is only three years removed from being the 33rd overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft. He debuted with the Canadiens only a year later, going scoreless against the Ottawa Senators after only 9:48 of ice time.

Montreal returned Beck to the OHL’s Peterborough Petes for the 2023-24 season and he was eventually traded to the Saginaw Spirit at the OHL trade deadline. In the most impressive run of his major junior career, Beck scored 18 goals and 51 points in 32 games for the Spirit down the stretch. Unfortunately, Beck and the Spirit were eliminated by the London Knights in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Still, they had a berth in the 2024 Memorial Cup playoffs given their status as the host team.

In part due to a one-goal performance from Beck in the semifinal game against the Moose Jaw Warriors and a two-goal game from Beck in the championship game against the Knights, the Spirit captured their first Memorial Cup championship in organizational history.

Finally turning to professional hockey for the 2024-25 season, Beck has gotten off to an impressive rookie campaign in AHL Laval. He’s scored nine goals and 25 points in 37 games with a +9 rating. Beck is only two points away from tying the team lead in scoring which is an impressive feat considering he’s still only 20 years old.  It remains to be seen if Beck will join Montreal’s lineup this evening when they take on the New York Rangers or give him a few days of practice at the NHL level.

Canadiens’ Emil Heineman Out Three To Four Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

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Canadiens forward Emil Heineman sustained an upper-body injury on Monday when he was struck by a car in Salt Lake City, the team said in a statement. As a result, he’ll be sidelined from game action for three to four weeks.

Montreal provided no other details on the 23-year-old’s condition, but thankfully, the news isn’t any worse than it is. That brief return timeline suggests he may not have needed surgery as a result of his injuries – if he did, it was likely minor.

A 2020 second-rounder by the Panthers, he was traded to the Flames in the 2021 Sam Bennett trade and again to Montreal in 2022 as part of the return for Tyler Toffoli. After a four-game trial with the Habs last season, he’s cracked the roster in earnest in 2024-25 and is tied for eighth on the team in scoring with 17 points (10 G, 7 A) through 41 games.

Heineman managed that production despite averaging 10:06 per game at even strength, which is the least of any Habs regular. He’s received some fringe power-play usage but has been most effective as the left wing on one of the league’s most effective fourth lines this season with Jake Evans and Joel Armia, who control 56.9% of expected goals when used together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.

The 6’0″, 202-lb Heineman has also been Montreal’s most physical skater, leading the team with 101 hits. It’s been an abundantly successful rookie campaign for the pending restricted free agent by all accounts, putting himself in line for a decent raise this summer and a guaranteed roster spot moving forward, barring any unexpected regression.

Expect enforcer Michael Pezzetta to see his most regular usage this season in Heineman’s absence. The 26-year-old was a healthy scratch for all of November and December but has played in four games since the New Year, bringing his total on the campaign to seven. He’s still looking for his first point of the campaign and has a minus-two rating while averaging 6:25 per game.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Heineman in his recovery.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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