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Montreal Canadiens Recall Two Players From AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens announced today that they have recalled forward Joël Teasdale and defenseman Frédéric Allard from the Laval Rocket of the AHL. Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis told both players after their game last night for Laval. The Canadiens will be back in action on Wednesday night as they try to play spoiler against the New York Islanders.

Teasdale has finally found his footing in the AHL after years of setbacks due to injuries. He has provided the Rocket with secondary scoring in a season that they have needed it due to the litany of recalls they’ve had to endure thanks to Montreal’s injury situation this season. Teasdale has 23 goals and 38 points in 57 games in his third year with the Rocket. The 24-year-old doesn’t play the prettiest brand of hockey but has put up numbers in the AHL by getting to the net and winning puck battles. His hard work has been rewarded as he will dress in his first career NHL game.

Frédéric Allard was a third-round pick of the Nashville Predators back in 2016 but has yet to establish himself as an everyday NHLer. He was acquired by the Canadiens from the Los Angeles Kings back in early March and has played one game for Montreal thus far. In 40 AHL games this season, the 25-year-old Allard has just two goals and five assists. His offensive numbers in the AHL this season have really fallen off from his previous five years in the league. Allard had established himself as a solid two-way defenseman capable of chipping in 20+ points but has failed to come close to replicating that offensive success this year.

The call-ups are an interesting move by the Canadiens, they could have called up Rafael Harvey-Pinard who has already scored 20 points in 34 games this season in the NHL, but they elected to call up players who play supporting roles in Laval. The Rocket also play tomorrow night against the Toronto Marlies in AHL action and are pushing towards the playoffs. Removing Harvey-Pinard from the lineup would have been a significant blow to the Rocket’s chances of knocking off the best team in the AHL’s North Division.

Montreal Canadiens Loan Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Three Others To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have loaned four players to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, following yesterday’s 7-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs: Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, Corey Schueneman, and Cayden Primeau.

Schueneman and Primeau were each recalled yesterday, and the former skated just over 10 minutes in the Canadiens’ contest yesterday.

The 27-year-old undrafted Western Michigan product has scored 21 points in 59 AHL games this season and is one of the Rocket’s most important defenders.

Primeau, 23, backed up Sam Montembeault yesterday and has spent most of the season as Laval’s number-one netminder. He’s posted a .905 save percentage in 38 games and is hoping to lead the Rocket back to the Calder Cup playoffs, a tournament they made a deep run in last season.

The two more significant names to be sent down, though, are Ylonen and Harvey-Pinard since they have each made their mark on the Canadiens’ NHL roster this season. Both players received NHL opportunities due to the significant injury issues that sprang up in Montreal, and both players have shown well in that opportunity.

Harvey-Pinard especially has made a name for himself, scoring 14 goals in 34 games, including a hat trick at the Bell Center. He’s a 2019 seventh-round pick who went undrafted in two straight years before hearing his name called by his boyhood club. Harvey-Pinard’s emergence as an NHL option comes after spending parts of the last three seasons in Laval, including last year where he led them in scoring with 56 points in 69 games.

While it might come as a surprise to many Canadiens fans to see Harvey-Pinard sent down after such a hot start to his NHL career, the circumstances Laval currently finds themselves in can serve as an explanation. The Rocket are just a point ahead of the Cleveland Monsters for the Northeast Division’s final playoff spot, and the Monsters have a game in hand.

Laval has a crucial game against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins today, and perhaps the Canadiens organization deems allowing these players to play an important role in meaningful, late-season games to be a better developmental path than playing a few more potentially miserable NHL contests (like last night’s game) to finish out a lost Canadiens season.

The same logic applies to Ylonen, a speedy 2018 second-round pick who has scored a healthy 16 points in 37 games during his time in Montreal. The 23-year-old has scored 29 points in 36 games at the AHL level and is in his final year of waiver exemption.

Since the Canadiens are unlikely to entertain the possibility of losing him on waivers next season, this reassignment gives Ylonen possibly one last opportunity to make an impact at the AHL level before beginning his NHL career in earnest in the fall.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Canadiens Recall Corey Schueneman And Cayden Primeau

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Saturday: Both Schueneman and Primeau have been recalled, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).  They’re expected to be in uniform tonight against Toronto.

Friday: On their off-day, the Canadiens have made a pair of roster moves, announcing that they have assigned defenseman Corey Schueneman and goaltender Cayden Primeau to Laval of the AHL.

Schueneman got into 24 games last season but hasn’t seen anywhere near as much action at the top level this year.  The 27-year-old got into two games during this recall, bringing his season total to six appearances where he has an assist while averaging over 15 minutes a night.  Schueneman, a pending unrestricted free agent, has added 21 points in 58 contests with the Rocket.

As for Primeau, he has made one NHL appearance in each of his three recalls this season.  This most recent one didn’t go so well as he allowed five goals on just 21 shots in a loss to Detroit on Tuesday.  The 23-year-old has spent most of the year with Laval, notching a 3.07 GAA and a .906 SV% in 37 games.  He has two years remaining on a one-way contract and will require waivers to be sent to the AHL next season.

Both players were brought up earlier this month on emergency recalls with Jordan Harris and Jake Allen out with injuries.  Unless one or both are able to return for Saturday’s contest in Toronto, it’s possible that one or both of them will be recalled tomorrow.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard Returns To Practice In Non-Contact Jersey

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  • Montreal Canadiens forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard was seen on the ice wearing a non-contact jersey for practice, according to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. Harvey-Pinard, who was called up by the Canadiens on January 17, has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. The 24-year-old Quebec product has broken out since the callup, recording 14 goals and 19 points in 32 games while receiving top-six minutes.

Latest On Canadiens' Offseason Plans

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TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered some new developments on today’s Insider Trading program, developments specifically regarding the priorities of three teams in possession of multiple 2023 first-round picks: the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, and Montreal Canadiens.

The final team LeBrun referenced in his report is the Montreal Canadiens, who own the Florida Panthers’ unprotected first-round pick thanks to last year’s Ben Chiarot trade. LeBrun believes that the Canadiens “would listen” to offers to move the Panthers’ pick if offered the type of “hockey trade” like the one they completed at the 2022 draft, when they acquired Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks for the 13th and 66th overall picks. (Which they had acquired from the New York Islanders in exchange for young defenseman Alexander Romanov, serving as another example of a club dealing a mid-to-late first-rounder for young established NHL-ready talent)

The Dach acquisition worked out quite well for the Canadiens, with the 2019 third-overall pick revamping his game under coach Martin St. Louis and scoring a career-high 38 points in 58 games.

Canadiens Recall Corey Schueneman

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The Montreal Canadiens announced today that Corey Schueneman has been called up to the NHL. The 27-year-old defenseman has played most of this season with the Laval Rocket, but has already suited up for four NHL games with the Canadiens this season as well. He has one assist in those four games and had two goals and six points in 24 NHL games last season.

With the Rocket, Schueneman has carved out a big role over the past two seasons, playing 58 AHL games this season and scoring five goals and 21 points. The 6-foot and 196 pound defender is a pending unrestricted free agent, and will get a short audition in the NHL to show someone he can be a reliable depth option for them next season.

This move signals bad news for defenseman Jordan Harris who appears to be just the latest Canadiens player to suffer an injury. Harris missed practice today, and though there was no official update on his status, the Canadiens would not need Schueneman if Harris was healthy. It is also important to note Schueneman was recalled on an emergency basis, which means the Canadiens do not have enough healthy defensemen for Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Defensemen Kaiden Guhle, David Savard and Arber Xhekaj are already out of the Canadiens lineup with injuries and Harris appears to be the next blue liner to join that list. It opens the door for Schueneman who is looking for a contract for next season.

Juraj Slafkovsky Won't Return This Season

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Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson took to the ice for practice today, per the Times Herald’s Bill Hoppe, as he continues his recovery from an upper-body injury. Thompson was initially injured during a game on March 24 and played the Sabres’ next contest before aggravating the injury, missing the three games since.

Thompson’s return to practice is a lifeline for the Sabres, who are still barely hanging in the Eastern Conference playoff race and have, arguably, their most important game in a decade tomorrow against the Florida Panthers. Per CapFriendly, Thompson is listed as a game-time decision. Thompson’s 44 goals still rank sixth in the league, and his 89 points lead the team. His impact in such a crucial game could be immeasurable, and if at all possible, he’ll be suiting up Tuesday night.

  • On the other side of the coin, the Florida Panthers could again be without goalie Sergei Bobrovsky against the Sabres as he continues to deal with a rather nasty illness, per Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards. He did not practice today and, like Thompson, is expected to be a game-time decision. The 34-year-old netminder has been sidelined for the past three games, but he’s been relieved well by Alex Lyon, who’s allowed just four goals in Bobrovsky’s absence.
  • In addition to news earlier today about Alex Belzile and Sean Monahan, rookie Juraj Slafkovsky is also officially done for the year due to a lower-body injury, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Slafkovsky was issued a three-month recovery timeline in mid-January, putting any potential return right at the end of the regular season, so the news isn’t entirely unexpected. He finished his rookie campaign with 10 points in 39 games.

Sean Monahan, Alex Belzile Out For Season

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Injury news continues to pile up for the Montreal Canadiens, who announced Monday that forwards Alex Belzile (link) and Sean Monahan (link) have been shut down for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.

Belzile’s campaign comes to an end after sustaining a fractured leg in Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The minor-league veteran had played in every game for Montreal since being recalled from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on February 9, a testament to how injuries have ravaged Montreal’s forward depth this year. He finishes the season with career highs in points and games played, recording 14 in 31. The 31-year-old also scored 26 points in 31 games with Laval, where he served as captain. He’s slated for unrestricted free agency in July.

Monahan’s groin surgery shows he sustained a separate injury on top of the foot injury that had kept him out of the lineup since December 5. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that Monahan’s groin surgery happened “sometime in the last few days,” and his recovery timeline is six to eight weeks. He’s expected to fully recover in time for training camp next season.

Also set for free agency this offseason, Monahan was productive in the early goings of the season, showing flashes of top-six upside once again. With 17 points in 25 games, he’ll find a home in the NHL again next season, whether with Montreal or somewhere else. Injury concerns remain, though, likely limiting his earning potential on any new contract.

Armia To Return, Harvey-Pinard And Savard Out Saturday

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  • The Canadiens announced that winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard won’t play tonight due to a minor injury. The rookie has impressed since being recalled in January, picking up 14 goals, 55 hits, and 55 blocks in 32 games.  Winger Joel Armia will return after missing more than a month with an upper respiratory infection.  Meanwhile, blueliner David Savard will miss his second straight game due to a lower-body injury.

Harvey-Pinard Changes Agents, Armia Returns To Full Practice

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Canadiens rookie winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard leads all NHL rookies in goals since being recalled a little over two months ago which is something that should definitely help this summer in restricted free agency.  However, it will be a new agency representing him as Quartexx announced (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old is now one of their clients.  He had previously been represented by CEM Hockey.  Harvey-Pinard has 14 goals and five assists in 32 games since being recalled and is already tied for fourth on Montreal in goals.  Even though he’s just finishing his entry-level contract, he will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer.

  • Canadiens winger Joel Armia participated in practice today with a regular jersey, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has missed more than a month with an upper respiratory infection.  It has been a tough year for Armia who has been limited to just 37 games this season and has just seven points but it appears he’ll have a chance to at least get into a few more contests before their 2022-23 campaign comes to an end.

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