- David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that the Canadiens had re-engaged in trade talks around winger Joel Armia last week. The veteran cleared waivers earlier this month and was just recalled earlier today but won’t play tonight against Washington. Armia has another season after this one left on his contract which carries a $3.4MM AAV. Accordingly, it stands to reason that any trade involving him will be a swap of overpaid veterans in need of a change of scenery.
Canadiens Rumors
Montreal Canadiens Recall Joel Armia, Assign Filip Mešár To OHL
The Montreal Canadiens have announced two roster moves: veteran forward Joel Armia has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, and 2022 first-round pick Filip Mešár has been assigned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
With second-line center Kirby Dach now confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, the Canadiens had a need for an extra forward on their NHL roster. The player they have chosen to fill Dach’s spot is the veteran Armia, 30.
The owner of a $3.4MM cap hit through next season, Armia has had three consecutive difficult seasons in Montreal.
The six-foot-three, 216-pound former top prospect has at times been an impact player in Montreal (such as in 2019-20 when he scored 16 goals and 30 points in just 58 games) but his consistency has been sorely lacking.
With training camp battles for forward spots highly competitive in the Canadiens’ preseason, Armia failed to secure a role on the team’s season-opening roster and was sent to Laval after clearing waivers.
An opportunity to play a top-line role and reset his game in the minors seems to have been the right call for Armia, who has scored four goals and five points in four AHL games this season.
Now back on the Canadiens’ NHL roster, Armia is likely to receive fourth-line winger duty with either him or Michael Pezzetta sitting in the press box as the team’s spare forward.
As for Mešár, the 2022 26th overall pick heads back to Kitchener after failing to earn a regular role on a Rocket team flush with quality scoring-line winger options. He did score his first career AHL point in yesterday’s win over the Rochester Americans, but was playing as a fourth-line right-winger next to Riley McKay and Jan Myšák.
The Canadiens seem to believe that the best path forward for Mešár’s development is to play a major role in the OHL rather than a limited role in the AHL.
Mešár’s underwhelming debut season in the OHL last year (he scored 51 points in 52 games) indicates that he still has some unfinished business in that league, so the hope will be that he’ll have a highly productive (if not dominant) final season playing junior hockey.
Since two Laval forwards are now leaving the team’s lineup, these departures could pave the way for Canadiens prospect Jared Davidson to play an increased role for the Rocket. The 21-year-old 2022 fifth-round pick had an impressive training camp and preseason but has fallen victim to the numbers game in Laval and played just one game so far for the team.
With Armia and Mešár no longer in the picture and fellow prospect Emil Heineman out with an injury, the roadblocks to Davidson receiving a regular role in the AHL could now be cleared.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Latest On Christian Dvorak
Montreal Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak has so far missed the entirety of his team’s young season, though his absence could be quickly coming to an end. The Canadiens announced today that Dvorak “wore a standard practice jersey during the on-ice session” of today’s practice. It can be inferred from this that a return to game action for Dvorak is on the horizon.
Dvorak’s return would come at an important time for the Canadiens, who are reeling from the season-long loss of second-line center Kirby Dach. Dvorak isn’t Dach, but he has scored at a 42-point pace as a Canadien and offers genuine value at the faceoff dot. There’s a possibility Dvorak takes the second-line center job Dach vacated, shifting Alex Newhook back to the wing. It’s possible Dvorak ends up on the third line with Brendan Gallagher in a move that might land Sean Monahan with Newhook and Juraj Slafkovský, the latter a player Monahan showed genuine chemistry with last season.
Kaiden Guhle Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury
- The Canadiens announced Thursday that defenseman Kaiden Guhle is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, likely a wrist ailment. Guhle left Tuesday’s 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the Wild with the injury and has not practiced since. There was some concern in Habs circles that Guhle’s absence would be longer-term, but he appears to have avoided the worst. It’s the second injury to a core Habs player in a matter of days after a dual ACL-MCL injury costed center Kirby Dach the remainder of his 2023-24 season. Guhle, 21, had notched an assist and a +4 rating in three contests, the latter being the second-highest on the team behind Johnathan Kovacevic. Another 21-year-old defender, Justin Barron, is expected to make his season debut Saturday against the Capitals with Guhle out of commission.
Guhle Leaves Game With Apparent Injury
- In one of the more chaotic games of the young season, the Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Kaiden Guhle would miss the rest of the team’s game against the Minnesota Wild after leaving late in the second period. In total tonight, before leaving the losing effort, Guhle played just over 10 minutes of action, taking one slashing penalty against Marcus Johansson.
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Canadiens’ Kirby Dach Out Long-Term With Lower-Body Injury
4:04 PM: It has been reported that Dach suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his knee. He will undergo further testing to officially determine the injury soon.
10:39 AM: Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach is expected to miss “significant” time with a lower-body injury, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports. Dach sustained the injury in Saturday’s win against the Chicago Blackhawks after he was on the receiving end of a large hit from Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi.
Dach, 22, looks like a future top-six fixture for the Habs – if he can stay healthy. He recorded 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 58 games in 2022-23 – his first season in Montreal – a career-high pace of 54 points in a full season. The 2019 third-overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks logged two assists through his first two games this season, but it appears he’ll need to wait a while to add to that total.
Dach missed 16 games at the tail end of last season with another lower-body injury. In his absence, another young forward on the cusp of a breakout, Alex Newhook, will center the team’s second line. Montreal acquired Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche this summer in exchange for a first- and second-round pick as well as defense prospect Gianni Fairbrother.
Montreal hopes this isn’t a sign of things to come. The team lost over 600 man-games to injury last season, believed to be an NHL all-time record. For a team hyper-focused on the development of their young core, this is far from an ideal situation.
With Dach out of the lineup, look for the Habs to place him on injured reserve and make a corresponding recall of a forward from AHL Laval. They now have just 12 healthy forwards on the roster.
Emil Heineman Out Indefinitely With Upper-Body Injury
Montreal Canadiens forward prospect Emil Heineman is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, per an announcement from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
Heineman, 21, is one of the better prospects in the Canadiens’ system and was knocking on the door for a lineup spot after a strong training camp. After finishing out the 2022-23 season with his club in Sweden, Leksands IF, Heineman came over to North America and notched seven goals and nine points in 11 games with Laval down the stretch. He had an assist through two games with Laval this season before sustaining the injury. Dobber Prospects has Heineman ranked as the team’s third-best left-wing prospect behind 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky and Harvard product Sean Farrell.
Kirby Dach Out With Lower-Body Injury
Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach left last night’s contest against the Chicago Blackhawks with a lower-body injury, according to an announcement from the club. Dach was the recipient of a big hit from Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi, one that sent Dach into the Blackhawks’ bench. It appears as though Dach’s injury came from that hit, and at this moment the team has not released any additional details on Dach’s absence.
Should the Canadiens lose Dach for any notable period, it would be a significant early blow to the team’s season. Not only would it represent an unfortunate setback given the time Dach missed last season, it would also represent a significant loss to the Canadiens’ ability to both win games and develop their players. As head coach Martin St. Louis’ second-line center, Dach had a crucial role helping the growth of his two wingers: offseason trade acquisition Alex Newhook and 2022 first overall pick Juraj Slafkovský. In an admittedly small sample size that line appeared dominant at times, and the one game they played entirely together was called Slafkovský’s best game of his career by local media. The development of those players is of the most important aspect of this Canadiens season, so whether Dach’s injury will keep him out long-term is an extremely important storyline to track for Canadiens fans.
Montreal Canadiens To Assign Joel Armia To AHL, Recall Arber Xhekaj
Although an official team announcement is pending at this time, CapFriendly reports that the Montreal Canadiens will send down forward Joel Armia to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, as well as recall defenseman Arber Xhekaj in a corresponding move.
In this move, it will be the first time since the 2015-16 season, then under contract with the Winnipeg Jets organization, that Armia will spend some time in the American Hockey League. Acquired from the Canadiens in 2018, Armia was actually included as a sweetener in a deal that would see Montreal absorb the contract of goaltender Steve Mason. After a couple of solid seasons in Montreal, mostly due to injuries, Armia’s production has continued to slip, losing him a spot on the roster for the foreseeable future.
On the positive side of the coin to this deal, the Canadiens will see the return of one of their more imposing defenseman from last season. Due to a shoulder injury in February that would derail the remainder of his season, Xhekaj would play in 51 total games, scoring five goals and eight assists. More importantly, given his style of play on the blue line, Xhekaj would throw a total of 159 hits during his rookie campaign, as well as nine fights.
With cap space being a bit of an afterthought this season in their rebuilding efforts, the Canadiens will accrue a $2.25MM buried penalty for sending Armia to the AHL. The new-look cast in Montreal will start their season off this evening against their long-time rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Miguël Tourigny Assigned To ECHL
- Montreal Canadiens 2022 seventh-round pick Miguël Tourigny is slated to make his North American pro debut with the ECHL’s Trois-Rivières Lions. The five-foot-eight blueliner was assigned to Montreal’s ECHL affiliate today. Tourigny’s development has been somewhat unconventional thus far, as the 21-year-old spent his first professional season in Slovakia, where he scored 26 points in 44 games. Tourigny does not yet have an entry-level contract with the Canadiens but did sign a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Laval Rocket this summer.