- The Canadiens will get a boost to their back end tonight as they begin a home-and-home set with Pittsburgh. The team announced that Mike Matheson will return to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury, taking the place of Jayden Struble who will be a healthy scratch. Matheson, who signed a five-year, $30MM extension late last month, has four goals and 12 assists in 32 games this season while averaging nearly 25 minutes per game of ice time.
Canadiens Rumors
Montreal Canadiens Reassign Jared Davidson
After acquiring Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings yesterday evening, the Montreal Canadiens had one extra player on their active roster. To return to compliance, the Canadiens announced that they’ve assigned forward Jared Davidson to the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Davidson, 23, is in his third professional season and is 15 games away from registering his rookie campaign in the NHL. The native of Edmonton, AB, was drafted by Montreal with the 130th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft.
After concluding his major junior career with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, Davidson joined AHL Laval for the 2023-24 season. He finished 18th on the team in scoring but ninth in goal-scoring with 11 goals and 16 points in 38 games.
He came into his own last season and elevated his status to being a legitimate prospect for Montreal. Davidson scored 24 goals and 45 points in 69 games for the Rocket last year with a +25 rating. He finished second on the team in goal-scoring and third in total output, while also adding two goals and four points in 13 postseason contests as Laval reached the Eastern Conference Final.
His start to the 2025-26 campaign made him an obvious choice to replace Alex Newhook once he landed on the injured reserve in mid-November. He remains tied for sixth on the Rocket in scoring with nine goals and 11 points in 13 games. Unfortunately, that offensive success didn’t translate to his brief time with the Canadiens, as he registered only one assist in 10 contests.
Still, Davidson was extremely limited in his usage, averaging 8:43 of ice time per night. Additionally, he’s been a healthy scratch for seven contests. Regardless, his 18 hits show he’s unafraid to get involved physically, and should remain a prime recall candidate if the Canadiens run into injury trouble again.
Canadiens Acquire Phillip Danault
A familiar face has returned to Montreal, as the Canadiens have announced that they have acquired Kings forward Phillip Danault in exchange for the Blue Jackets’ 2026 second-round pick.
Los Angeles finds a new home for Danault, just an hour before the holiday roster freeze kicks in. The Kings had been examining trade options for the veteran middleman over the past few weeks amid one of the more difficult offensive stretches of his career. In 30 games this season, he’s yet to score a goal and has only mustered five assists.
Defensive acumen was always the highlight of the 32-year-old’s game, though. That hasn’t trailed off at all, with the 6’1″ pivot still managing a +3 rating in tough deployment despite the lack of offensive production going through him on the ice thus far. The paucity of goal-scoring also shouldn’t be conflated with a lack of trying. He’s averaging 2.93 shot attempts per game, slightly below his career average but far from a career-low.
The Kings were left with something of an excess of down-the-middle depth, too. Moving Quinton Byfield back to center had shifted Danault to a third-line role at even strength after shouldering duties as L.A.’s second-line center behind Anže Kopitar ever since his arrival in Hollywood in free agency in 2021. The Habs, who have long been looking to add an impact top-nine center as their rebuild draws to a close, were in even more dire need of help down the middle after losing center options Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook to injuries.
They won’t find the offensive needle-mover they were looking for in Danault, but he’s still a meaningful upgrade in the No. 2 slot behind captain Nick Suzuki over rookie Oliver Kapanen, at least in terms of two-way play. Assuming he is deployed there by head coach Martin St. Louis and gets extensive playing time with Calder Trophy candidate Ivan Demidov, Danault’s point production should come back alive.
Danault’s inclusion should also provide a meaningful boost to the Habs’ underlying numbers. Kapanen and Demidov have controlled 49.1% of expected goals with Newhook on their left flank and a horrid 38% with Juraj Slafkovsky in that slot at 5-on-5 this season. Danault hasn’t recorded a sub-50 xGF% since his rookie season, split between Chicago and Montreal back in 2015-16.
Aside from the obvious fit, as underscored by the Habs’ reported interest, it’s a feel-good story to reunite Montreal with its top center during their last deep playoff run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. That was the last of Danault’s six seasons in Montreal during his first run there, often used as their top-line anchor alongside Brendan Gallagher, including a career-high 41 assists in the 2018-19 season. He was top 10 in Selke Trophy voting in each of his final three seasons for the Habs and recorded 194 points in 360 games for them.
He’s now set to add to that total as the Habs only need to part ways with one of two second-rounders they were ticketed to hold in next year’s draft. They retain their own selection, parting ways with a pick they acquired from Columbus in the Patrik Laine deal.
The Kings won’t be enthused with the return. Danault is cost-controlled through next season at $5.5MM, and L.A. was hoping to make any trade a player-for-player swap rather than taking back futures. Nonetheless, it was becoming clear the Kings wanted a quick resolution, short of Danault outright asking for a trade, giving themselves time to flip the pick for a replacement on the other side of the roster freeze if they so choose.
PHR’s Josh Erickson contributed significantly to this article.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Canadiens, Devils, Mammoth Among Teams With Interest In Phillip Danault
The Canadiens, Devils, and Mammoth are among the teams that have interest in making a deal for Kings center Phillip Danault, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports.
Montreal has long been active in the market for a second-line center, a pursuit that only intensified after long-term hopeful Alex Newhook had ankle surgery, knocking him out until March. Danault wouldn’t back nearly as much offensive punch as some other candidates, but he’s a familiar option – playing 360 games for the Habs between 2016 and 2021 as one of the most suffocating matchup centers in the league. His comfort level in a top-six support role, averaging at least 16 minutes per game for nine consecutive seasons, makes him a natural fit even as his scoring has dried up.
Danault’s contract, which expires after next season and carries a $5.5MM cap hit, won’t be an obstacle for them or most other teams. The Kings will almost certainly be taking money back in the deal as they seek rostered talent in return for Danault, with LeBrun reporting they’re unwilling to flip him for draft picks or futures.
His putrid scoring line this season, notching just five assists in 30 games with no goals, is bound to scare at least a few center-needy teams off. He’s still averaging a respectable 1.40 shots on goal per game, though, and the Kings have finished at a woeful 7.0% clip with him on the ice at 5-on-5. Some positive regression is bound to occur, particularly with the 32-year-old notching at least 40 points in each of his first four seasons with Los Angeles.
While that offensive falloff and his minutes being cut due to Quinton Byfield’s move back to center have him looking for a change of scenery, his advanced numbers still remain some of the best on the Kings. He’s managed a +3 rating despite the lack of offensive production while receiving primarily defensive zone starts at even strength. No L.A. forward has been on the ice for fewer shots per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than Danault at 23.9.
That makes the Devils’ interest in him likely more than just a top-six stopgap while Jack Hughes continues his rehab from a hand injury. When Hughes returns in the coming weeks, Danault would slot in as New Jersey’s third-line pivot behind Hughes and fellow Selke Trophy candidate Nico Hischier while also serving as one of their top penalty killers. It wouldn’t amount to a significant change in role compared to what Danault’s seeing now in L.A., but with only a 10-team no-trade list as part of his deal, he doesn’t have much say in the matter.
Still, he would appear as more of a redundancy behind Hischier than another scoring winger, presumably a higher priority for the Devils as their offense has slipped into the bottom half of the league amid a rough post-Thanksgiving stretch. Weaponizing their already limited cap space on Danault wouldn’t offer a truly meaningful upgrade to their top nine when healthy, especially with their new-look third line of Arseny Gritsyuk, Cody Glass, and Connor Brown posting spectacular results earlier this year.
Like New Jersey, the Mammoth have a short-term need down the middle with Logan Cooley out of commission until February. They have a younger, cheaper, in-house option with a similar archetype to Danault in Barrett Hayton. While he’s also had some offensive struggles this season, he’s still contributed more points than Danault (a 4-3–7 scoring line in 31 games) and is coming off a 20-goal year. He’s struggled in the faceoff dot at 47.8%, though, indicating they may be planning on shifting him to the wing if they do pick up Danault once Cooley is back in the fold.
Image courtesy of David Gonzales-Imagn Images.
Montreal Canadiens Reassign Sam Montembeault To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Montreal Canadiens announced today that netminder Sam Montembeault has been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on a conditioning loan.
According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, Montembeault “agreed to be sent down to finish the week” in Laval, and Lavoie added that “it’s smarter” for Montembeault to get the chance to play for the Rocket later this week in Cleveland and then meet the team on the road in Pittsburgh on Sunday
Montembeault last appeared in a game for the Canadiens on Dec. 9, but has not started a game since Dec. 2. Montembeault has endured the worst season of his tenure in Montreal since arriving as a waiver claim early in the 2021-22 campaign.
Through 15 games this season, Montembeault has an .857 save percentage. That’s a steep decline from the quality .902 mark he posted a year ago, and his form in recent games has been a far cry from the level of performance that earned him a spot on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
So much of the challenge of being a high-end goaltender in the NHL is managing the mental side of the position, as the ebbs and flows of a player’s confidence can prompt wild swings in performance. The position is widely viewed as an inherently volatile one, from a performance perspective, and the wild change in Montembeault’s year-over-year performance is a clear illustration of that consensus belief in action.
Montembeault started off the season poorly, failing to register a .900 save percentage in five of his first six games of the season. Things have only spiraled downwards from that point, and as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels wrote, Montembeault “wasn’t rebuilding confidence in games with the Canadiens,” so now he’ll get the chance to rebuild his confidence at the AHL level.
Despite his struggles in 2025-26, the Canadiens appear committed to Montembeault, something that is unsurprising given the organization’s level of financial investment in the player. He remains under contract for an additional season at a $3.15MM cap hit, and while that isn’t an exorbitant or unfair sum by any means (one could actually make the argument that Montembeault was severely underpaid in the first year of that deal), it’s not exactly the kind of cap hit a team can bury in the AHL or easily move on from.
So the best route for the Canadiens and Montembeault appears to be exactly the route they’re taking, which is exhausting every option to try to rebuild Montembeault’s decimated confidence level.
With Montembeault now in Laval, the Canadiens are left with two goalies on their NHL roster. Top prospect Jacob Fowler was highly impressive in his first start against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but lost his footing a little bit during his second start, when the Canadiens collapsed and were on the wrong end of a comeback victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Fowler will get the nod against the Flyers tonight, but waiting in the wings is Jakub Dobes, a 24-year-old who emerged as the club’s backup last season. Dobes has been inconsistent this season, at times performing as poorly as Montembeault, and at times showcasing the form that earned him an NHL role in 2025-26. Dobes’ most recent start was a step in the right direction, with the Czech netminder making 27 saves on 28 shots in the team’s win over the Edmonton Oilers, earning first star of the game honors in the process.
Photos courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Montreal Canadiens’ Mike Matheson Out Day-To-Day
The Montreal Canadiens will be without a key defenseman for their game against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight, as the club announced that blueliner Mike Matheson is out with a day-to-day injury.
While Matheson may not have quite the same high profile as former New York Islanders star Noah Dobson or reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson, he’s in the conversation as the Canadiens’ most important defenseman on a consistent nightly basis. Matheson currently leads the Canadiens in average ice time per game, playing nearly a full two minutes more than Hutson. (24:54 to 23:06)
Matheson averages so many minutes despite barely factoring into the Canadiens’ power play plans.
While Matheson was once the team’s top-unit power play quarterback (a role he played successfully, scoring 62 points in 2023-24), the additions of Dobson and Hutson have cost him that role. As a result, Matheson has shifted into a more defensive role, and now he leads the club in short-handed ice time per game, averaging 4:10 on the penalty kill each night.
Matheson spends more time per game killing penalties than any other defenseman in the Eastern Conference, and every other blueliner in the NHL besides Dallas Stars defensive anchor Esa Lindell.
The former Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman’s ability to endure a massive workload isn’t a new development. Matheson ranked No. 7 in the NHL in time on ice per game among defensemen in 2024-25, and No. 3 in the NHL in 2023-24. He currently sits No. 10 in the NHL in that same metric this season.
In other words, since arriving in Montreal, Matheson has become an invaluable do-it-all defenseman for the Canadiens, someone head coach Martin St. Louis relies upon heavily in just about every kind of on-ice situation.
Of course, Matheson has drawn some criticism at times for being mistake-prone, and he does have some forgettable moments. But the Canadiens rewarded him with a $6MM AAV contract extension that will carry him through his age-37 season for a reason, and that’s precisely why his injury and absence tonight is so significant for the Canadiens.
Thankfully for Montreal, it appears Matheson’s injury is relatively minor, and will only keep him sidelined for a few days at most. But while he is injured, it will be interesting to see how the Canadiens fill Matheson’s minutes.
They are already the NHL’s youngest team by a decent margin, and their already inexperienced blueline only becomes even more inexperienced without Matheson. And now, as a result of this injury, that blueline has approximately 25 minutes of ice time and, on average, four minutes of short-handed ice time to fill.
Photos courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Four-Time Cup Champion Bobby Rousseau Passes Away At Age 85
Former Montreal Canadiens forward Bobby Rousseau has passed away at the age of 85, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Rousseau was a part of the Canadiens’ push to two rounds of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, in 1965 and 1966, then 1968, and 1969. He also won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie in 1962, after posting 21 goals and 45 points in 70 games.
Rousseau, born Joseph Jean-Paul Robert Rousseau, began his career in the QMJHL. He led the league in scoring as a rookie, with 85 points in 44 games. Montreal acquired his rights soon after, and loaned him to the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens of the Eastern Professional Hockey League for the 1960-61 season. That same year, Rousseau was also loaned to the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, who represented Team Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. He would take home a Silver Medal from that tourney, in a year where USA won Gold and the Soviet Union won Bronze.
All of that came before Rousseau’s NHL career, which kicked off in-full in the 1961-62 season. He took home the Calder that year, en route to planting his feet as a routine 20-goal, 50-point challenger in the Canadiens’ lineup. He held that role through his age-24 season in 1964-65, but broke out in the 1965-66 season with 30 goals and 78 points in 70 games – all career-highs. Rousseau bounced between 60 and 70 points for the next three seasons, before dipping back to 58 points in the 1969-70 campaign.
That was enough to turnover his position in the Canadiens’ lineup. Rousseau was traded to the Minnesota North Stars, where he spent one season before again being traded to the New York Rangers. He was technically a later-named future considerations in the latter trade, a move that would prove foolish after Rousseau posted 157 points in 236 games, and four seasons, with the Rangers. His career came to a gradual close in the 1973-74 season, and officially in 1975 – the same year that his Montreal Canadiens would kick off another spree of Stanley Cup wins.
Rousseau is remembered for his fast skating and hard shot. More than that, he’s remembered for taking over games with bouts of skill, and the dynamic option that skill offered Jean Béliveau and Henri Richard in some of their best years. Rousseau was a key winger for Montreal, alongside the links of Gilles Tremblay and Claude Provost.
Rousseau’s older brother, Roland, also won the Memorial Cup. The family completed the Memorial Cup hat-trick when Rousseau’s grandson, William Rousseau, won the 2023 Cup with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. William went on to win the QMJHL’s ’Goaltender of the Year’ award in 2024 and now plays professionally with the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders.
Bobby Rousseau will forever be rememebred as one of 119 players to have their name on the Stanley Cup four different times. He leaves behind his wife, Huguette, as well as eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. His name is among Montreal’s true greats. Pro Hockey Rumors sends our condolences to Rousseau’s family, friends, and the Montreal faithful. For more insights and quotes, visit NHL.com’s story remembering the Canadiens legend.
Jake Evans Out For Personal Reasons
The Montreal Canadiens will be without center Jake Evans for their contest tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadiens shared that Evans is away from the team for personal reasons and that he would rejoin the team this weekend in New York.
There were no additional announcements from the team or subsequent reports indicating why Evans is missing, so it would be unfair to speculate. Still, given that he’s rejoining the team in New York, Evans is expected to re-enter the lineup when the Canadiens take on the Rangers on Saturday.
It also explains, in part, the trio of recalls made earlier today by Montreal. The Canadiens already have several players on the team’s injured reserve, so there was no need for a corresponding roster move. Owen Beck, who was included in today’s recall, will likely slot into Montreal’s third line in place of Evans and appear in his third NHL contest of the season.
Canadiens Promote Jacob Fowler, Owen Beck, Adam Engstrom
The Canadiens have recalled goaltender Jacob Fowler, center Owen Beck, and defenseman Adam Engstrom from AHL Laval, according to a team announcement late last night. They’d been operating without any healthy extras on the active roster, so they had three open spots. With no new injuries other than the Habs’ longstanding IR designations for Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, and Alex Newhook, all three look to be performance-based recalls as Montreal continues to embrace the youth movement.
Fowler, 21, was Montreal’s third-round pick in the 2023 draft. He’s since become one of the top goalie prospects in hockey and a consensus top-five prospect in the Habs’ pool, ranking #4 according to NHL.com and #2 according to Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler also ranked Fowler as the No. 2 goalie prospect in the league over the offseason behind the Sharks’ Yaroslav Askarov. With the latter now being a full-fledged starter in San Jose, Fowler may be the brightest name outside of the NHL.
It’s his elite positioning and incredible side-to-side technique that scouts praise, leading him to post some ridiculous stat lines in college over the past few seasons. The Florida native spent two seasons at Boston College before turning pro with Laval at the end of last year. He backstopped the Eagles to back-to-back Hockey East regular-season championships, was a First Team All-Star both years, and won NCAA Goalie of the Year honors as a sophomore with a .940 SV%, 1.63 GAA, seven shutouts, and a 25-7-2 record in 35 games.
Now, as a first-year pro, he’s immediately stepped in as a top-five starter in the AHL. His three shutouts in 15 games are tied for the league lead, as are his 10 wins. Among 31 AHLers with 10-plus appearances, his .919 SV% and 2.09 GAA rank fifth. He’s well on track for an AHL All-Star nod, if not Rookie of the Year honors as well.
While some subpar scoring chance generation numbers at 5-on-5 are the biggest reason why the Habs have had trouble holding onto a playoff spot this year, subpar goaltending hasn’t helped. Last year’s breakout starter, Sam Montembeault, has now lost the crease to second-year NHLer Jakub Dobes and has an untenable .861 SV% in 14 appearances. Dobes has been better on the whole, but he’s also been incredibly streaky. The 24-year-old had a .940 SV% through his first five outings before posting a .827 mark in his next five. Since then, he’s averaged a .888 mark for a .891 SV% on the year, putting him squarely in ’meh’ territory with 0.1 goal saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
One thing’s for sure – Fowler isn’t coming up to ride the bench when he could easily continue a starter’s workload in Laval. He should be ticketed for his first NHL start tomorrow against the Penguins. Montreal has the roster flexibility to carry three goalies for the time being while they sort out what’s best for the team now and what’s best for Fowler’s development.
Beck and Engstrom aren’t afterthoughts, either. The former was a second-round pick in 2022 and is still viewed as a top-five-to-10 prospect in the pipeline. The 21-year-old has gotten NHL reps before – including two appearances this year on an October recall. He has just one assist and a -4 rating in 15 career showings dating back to his post-draft season, though.
Things have been tough sledding in Laval this year for the 6’0″ pivot, though. Touted as one of the better two-way centers from his draft class, his -4 rating in 22 games is second-worst on the club – particularly jarring considering Laval has a +23 goal differential – and he’s been limited to three goals and eight assists for 11 points. That 0.50 points per game mark is a large step back from the 0.69 he managed last season as a rookie.
Nonetheless, things aren’t working on Montreal’s fourth line at present. Center Joe Veleno has just one point – a goal – in 24 games with a -10 rating. Beck’s career stats, even in a limited sample, are preferable to that. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a look over the former first-rounder in Veleno tomorrow in Pittsburgh as well.
Engstrom’s recall may be more oriented toward having an extra defender available for a road game, something the Habs have done many times already this season without shaking up their lineup. The 2022 third-rounder spent several days on the roster around Thanksgiving and made his first two career NHL appearances in the process, going without a point but managing an even rating and three shot attempts with two blocks and one hit. He was used squarely in bottom-pairing minutes, averaging 12:03 of ice time per game.
The 22-year-old lefty is viewed as a high-ceiling puck-mover, though, and has even been generating some trade interest as the Habs have very little maneuverability on defense long-term. Their top-four group of Guhle, Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, and Mike Matheson are all signed long-term, with top prospect David Reinbacher still to come. Now in his second season in Laval, Engstrom is in the early stages of a breakout with a 5-11–16 scoring line in 20 games, including a +8 rating. With Guhle unavailable, there’s an argument to be made that he should be getting a longer look in the NHL ahead of lower-ceiling options like Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj.
Image courtesy of Eric Canha-Imagn Images.
Canadiens Reassign Kaapo Kahkonen
12/8: The Canadiens have reversed this move with Montembeault feeling better.
12/7: The Montreal Canadiens have recalled goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen from the AHL. He will backup Jakub Dobes with Sam Montembeault under the weather, per hockey insider Frank Seravalli.
Kahkonen has served as backup for the AHL’s Laval Rockets this season. He has a 6-2-0 record and .895 save percentage through nine games. Those numbers pale in comparison to rookie starter Jacob Fowler, who has 10 wins, three shutouts, and a .919 save percentage in 15 games. Recalling the veteran Kahkonen will allow Montreal to keep Fowler in a starting net with three games ahead this week.
Kahkonen has fallen down the depth chart, but still brings plenty of experience to the fill-in role. He has appeared in 140 games across seven NHL seasons. That includes a nightly backup role through two years with the Minnesota Wild, and two years with the San Jose Sharks, between 2020 and 2024. He routinely eclipsed a .900 save percentage through his first five seasons in the NHL. That includes a .913 save percentage in 36 games of the 2021-22 season, which he split between Minnesota and San Jose. His performance fell off with a move to the Colorado Avalanche last season, landing him in a routine AHL role. That role has now stretched across four AHL clubs – three last season, then a move to Laval this year. He isn’t likely to curb the slow years on this recall, but should offer a steady hand if the Canadiens need it.