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Atlantic Notes: Dvorak, Walman, Greenway

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TSN is reporting that the Montreal Canadiens have upgraded the status of center Christian Dvorak to day-to-day, meaning that the 28-year-old could play before the end of the season. The Canadiens announced on January 4th that the Palos, Illinois native would miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle, but he was a full participant in the Canadiens’ practice today and wore a regular jersey.

Dvorak was originally acquired by Montreal back in September of 2021 from the Arizona Coyotes. The trade hasn’t worked out as the Canadiens had hoped after sending a 2022 first-round draft pick and a 2024 2nd round draft pick to Arizona in the exchange. Dvorak has battled inconsistency and injury during his tenure in Montreal, particularly this season where he has missed nearly four months of action and has just three goals and four assists in 25 games.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • Helene St. James of The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman will draw back into the lineup after being sidelined with a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old missed the last six games with the ailment and will draw in against the Tampa Bay Lightning in place of veteran Olli Maatta. Walman has dressed in 61 games this season and has averaged nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game, registering 12 goals and nine assists to go along with 150 blocked shots and 106 shots on goal.
  • Buffalo Sabres forward Jordan Greenway is reportedly being evaluated for an upper-body injury according to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. Lysowski adds that the Sabres are hopeful that Greenway will be day-to-day with the ailment and can get back into game action soon. The Sabres sit seven points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining and are all but mathematically eliminated at this point in the season. In his first full season with the Sabres Greenway has contributed nine goals and 15 assists in 62 games to go along with 131 hits.

Kaiden Guhle Receives One-Game Suspension

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The ruling is in for Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle.  After slashing Flyers winger Travis Konecny from the bench during their game yesterday, the Department of Player Safety announced (video link) that Guhle has received a one-game suspension.

The 22-year-old slashed Konecny in retaliation for a hit he threw on winger Juraj Slafkovsky seconds earlier in the dying seconds of the second period.  However, any contact with a player on the ice from the bench is prohibited.  In the ruling video, it’s noted that any contact that typically occurs from the bench can be handled with a penalty on the play or a fine.  However, Guhle’s actions rose above that, resulting in the one-game ban.

It’s the first supplementary discipline of any kind for Guhle who will forfeit just under $4.5K in salary based on his $863.3K AAV.  The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.  He will now miss their game against Carolina on Saturday which should allow Johnathan Kovacevic to return to the lineup.  Guhle will be eligible to return for Montreal’s contest versus Florida on Tuesday.

Kaiden Guhle Facing Player Safety Hearing

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Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday for slashing Flyers winger Travis Konecny in Thursday night’s win. The 22-year-old sophomore slashed Konecny’s wrist from the bench in retaliation for a hit he’d just laid on Montreal winger Juraj Slafkovsky but did not draw a penalty on the play (video via RDS). Given the minimal severity of the incident, it likely won’t be a long absence for Guhle. Still, retaliatory plays plus being involved in on-ice action from the bench is normally a recipe for supplemental discipline. The 2020 first-round pick has neither been fined nor suspended over his two-year, 112-game NHL career. After missing nearly half his rookie season due to injuries, Guhle is back on track this season with six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 68 games while logging over 21 minutes per outing. Johnathan Kovacevic remains on the roster as an extra defenseman and will draw into the lineup if Guhle misses time.

  • Hurricanes winger Jesper Fast will likely return tomorrow against the Canadiens, head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. He’s missed Carolina’s last five games and hasn’t played since March 19 with an undisclosed injury. If he’s not quite ready to go, he’ll re-enter the lineup against the Bruins next Thursday, per Brind’Amour. The 32-year-old Swede has six goals and 18 points in 66 games for the Canes after signing a two-year, $4.8MM extension to remain in Raleigh last summer.

ECHL Newfoundland, Trois-Rivières May Not Finish Season

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The ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers and Trois-Rivières Lions are at risk of folding before the 2023-24 regular season draws to a close, per a report from Matthew Vachon and Paule Vermot-Desroches of Le Nouvelliste. The clubs, which are the second-tier affiliates of the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens, respectively, are majority-owned by Deacon Sports and Entertainment, which is nearing bankruptcy and owes the city of Trois-Rivière more than $600K.

According to Vachon and Vermot-Desroches, the ECHL has set a deadline for DSE to sell the clubs by April 2. However, the sale of both franchises is unexpected to happen in time. The ECHL’s board of governors, led by commissioner Ryan Crelin, will meet Tuesday to decide whether to allow them to play out the season. Regardless, the league will absorb ownership of the two franchises after the April 2 deadline.

Both teams have 10 or fewer games remaining on their regular-season schedule. The Growlers and Lions are both in the league’s North Division and are part of a tight race to claim the final two playoff spots available with Maine, Reading, and Worcester – all five clubs are within five points of each other. As Vachon points out, it’s worth noting that each team will have a representative at the board of governors meeting that will decide the Growlers’ and Lions’ fate, and it’s fair to assume those in the playoff hunt could help swing a vote toward not allowing the clubs to finish the season.

The Growlers have been one of the league’s most successful teams since their inception in 2018-19, winning the Kelly Cup in their inaugural campaign and making it to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2023. The Lions are only in their third year of existence and their lone playoff appearance, coming in their inaugural season, was cut short in the first round at the hands of Newfoundland.

No players under contract with the Canadiens are currently on assignment to Trois-Rivières, but they hold the exclusive signing rights of three players on the squad: forward Jakov Novak, a 2018 seventh-round pick of the Senators whom they acquired last offseason; defenseman Miguël Tourigny, a 2022 seventh-round pick; and goaltender Joe Vrbetic, a 2021 seventh-round pick.

However, two NHL-signed players are on assignment to Newfoundland. Maple Leafs 2021 sixth-round pick Vyacheslav Peksa is the team’s current backup netminder, posting an .890 SV% and a 5-10-1 record in his first season in North America. Panthers defense prospect Nathan Staios was loaned to the club late last month.

Martin St-Louis Re-Joins Montreal Canadiens

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced that head coach Martin St-Louis has re-joined the team in Denver after taking ten days away from the club to be with his family. St-Louis will be back behind the bench tomorrow night when the Canadiens take on the Colorado Avalanche. St-Louis thanked Geoff Molson, Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, along with assistant coach Trevor Letowski who had assumed head coaching duties in St-Louis’ absence. He also thanked the entire Canadiens organization for supporting his family.

St-Louis took time away from the Canadiens to be with his family after his youngest son Mason suffered a hockey injury while playing for U15 Mid-Fairfield in Connecticut. A week later the 16-year-old reportedly suffered complications from the injury and ended up in hospital. Since his hospitalization, Mason’s condition has thankfully stabilized, and he is now recovering at home. St-Louis thanked everyone for respecting the privacy of his family and asked that people focus on the team going forward for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

St-Louis’ return could give the Canadiens a boost as they look to close out the season on a high note. The young team will miss the playoffs for the third straight season under St-Louis but is just four points shy of matching last season’s totals with 12 games left to play. The Canadiens have improved in each season under St-Louis and could be poised to contend for a playoff spot next season if they can make some moves this summer to address their roster deficiencies.

Canadiens Hoping To Sign Adam Engstrom After SHL Playoffs

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  • The Canadiens are hoping to sign prospect Adam Engstrom once his SHL playoffs with Rogle come to an end, notes The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription link). The 20-year-old was a third-round pick (92nd overall) in 2022 and is coming off a decent campaign that saw him pick up 22 points in 51 games in his second full year in Sweden’s top division.  Unlike some college players who will sign and play right away, it’s likely that any agreement with Engstrom wouldn’t begin until next season.

Blake Biondi Enters NCAA Transfer Portal

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  • Canadiens prospect Blake Biondi has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, reports Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune. The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick back in 2020 (109th overall) and has spent the last four seasons at Minnesota-Duluth.  Biondi had 19 points in 34 games this season and could have become a free agent in mid-August if he hadn’t signed an entry-level deal with Montreal by then.  Instead, he’ll push that deadline back by a year and play his bonus season at a new school in the hopes of finishing up strong.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard Loses Waiver Exemption

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Canadiens winger Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is no longer waiver-exempt after playing in his 70th career NHL game in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Canucks, per CapFriendly. The 25-year-old has had his 2023-24 season plagued with injuries, only skating in 32 of Montreal’s 69 contests, although he hasn’t been particularly effective in the lineup, either. His 14 goals in 34 games after being called up from AHL Laval last season hasn’t managed to carry over, and he’s only scored once in 32 contests this season while adding seven assists. Logging 12:49 per game, the 2019 seventh-round pick has been one of the Habs’ worst offensive forwards. He has produced some value with decent possession metrics, logging a 45.8 CF% at even strength that’s above average relative to his teammates, but there hasn’t been much to suggest he can stick in a top-nine role long-term. The 5-foot-9 forward has one season left on a contract carrying a $1.1MM cap hit and will be an RFA with arbitration rights in 2025.

Joshua Roy Out Indefinitely With Undisclosed Injury

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Canadiens rookie winger Joshua Roy will be out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury, GM Kent Hughes said in a team release. The 20-year-old sustained the injury in Tuesday’s game against the Oilers and has left the team’s Western Conference road trip to return to Montreal for evaluation. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports the injury occurred when Roy blocked a shot from Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in the third period of yesterday’s 3-2 overtime loss, although he didn’t appear to miss a shift.

It’s been an otherwise promising season for the youngster, who’s climbed his way to the NHL ranks earlier than expected. Still in the first season of his entry-level contract, the 2021 fifth-round pick exploded in the minors with 13 goals and 32 points in 40 games for AHL Laval, one of the best per-game rates on the team. He received an 11-day recall in January and was summoned again to the Canadiens on Feb. 11, where he’s remained aside from a brief loan to Laval on March 8, the day of the trade deadline, to make him eligible to play with Laval in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Roy hasn’t looked out of place in the majors, recording four goals, five assists, and nine points with a -2 rating through his first 23 games. He’s managed solid possession metrics for a rookie on a rebuilding squad, logging a 49.5 CF% at even strength as well as a 2.9 relative CF%, and he’s averaging just under a minute per game on the power play. He’s logged middle-six minutes overall, averaging 12:08 per game, and is shooting at 11.8%.

For the Canadiens, it’s another disappointing injury to a young forward in a development year. They’ve been without Kirby Dach since Game 2 of the regular season due to a knee injury, while Alex Newhook and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard have also missed significant chunks of the season.

If Roy’s evaluation yields a week-to-week timeline for a return, he may be done for the season. The team has 14 games and 27 days remaining on their regular-season schedule.

Canadiens Reassign David Reinbacher To AHL

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The Canadiens reassigned 2023 fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher to the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Monday, per the minor league’s transactions log. The organization’s highest-drafted defense prospect will get his first taste of North American pro hockey to close out the 2023-24 season.

Reinbacher spent this season on loan to EHC Kloten of the Swiss National League, where he’s played since making his professional debut in 2021-22. The 19-year-old logged major minutes on one of the worst teams in the league, finishing second among Kloten defensemen with a goal and 11 points in 35 games with a -15 rating. It was a downturn in production compared to last season from the Austrian defender, although it’s excusable given the state of Kloten, which cycled through multiple head coaches and posted a -69 goal differential in 56 games. Once one of the best teams in the country before the turn of the century, Kloten was relegated to the second-tier Swiss League in 2018 before gaining promotion back to the NL in 2022.

The right-shot blueliner inked a lucrative three-year entry-level contract which could pay him up to $6.35MM shortly after last summer’s draft, but his European Assignment Clause meant he needed to return to his Swiss club after not making the Montreal roster out of training camp. However, by all accounts, that was the plan as early as draft day. If Reinbacher doesn’t get a recall to the Canadiens and remains under 10 NHL games played on the season, his ELC will not go into effect this year and will slide to 2024-25. If that occurs, he will be an RFA in 2027.

Laval is in a fight for a playoff berth in the North Division, trailing the Toronto Marlies by three points with two more games played for the final berth. The Canadiens hope Reinbacher can slot into a defense that’s allowed a division-worst 209 goals this year and play major minutes during their 12 remaining regular-season games in preparation for a battle for a roster spot during next season’s training camp.

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