Canadiens Reassign Marc Del Gaizo
Nov. 7: The Canadiens announced they’ve loaned Del Gaizo back to Laval. As expected, he did not draw into the lineup against the Devils and was only on hand for injury insurance.
Nov. 5: The Canadiens announced the recall of defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. With two open roster spots, the Habs don’t need to make a corresponding transaction.
Montreal has both of those roster spots because it’s only carrying six defensemen while Kaiden Guhle is on injured reserve. Del Gaizo was last summoned on Oct. 21 to serve as injury insurance while the Habs went on a lengthy road trip. He was rostered for four games but did not play in any of them before being returned to the AHL last week.
With the Canadiens traveling to New Jersey to play the Devils tomorrow, and Laval being off until Friday, there’s no harm done in adding Del Gaizo for the mini-trip since he won’t miss any time in the minors. He’ll presumptively be returned to the Rocket on Friday as long as Montreal’s top six defenders escape the game without an injury.
The left-shot defenseman is in his first season in the Montreal organization. He signed a one-year, two-way deal with a $475,000 guarantee after becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer. He was coming off a career-high 46 appearances with the Predators, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2019, but has yet to suit up for the Habs this year. In six games for Laval, the depth rearguard has one assist and a +2 rating.
The only harm done by recalling Del Gaizo is burning additional time off his waiver exemption. Montreal passed him through during training camp in September. After he cleared, he can remain on the Canadiens’ active roster for up to 30 nonconsecutive days or play in 10 games before he needs to clear waivers again to return to Laval. Today will mark his ninth day toward that count.
Canadiens Prospect Yevgeni Volokhin Signs KHL Extension
Montreal Canadiens goalie prospect Yevgeni Volokhin has signed a new three-year contract with his current club, Spartak Moscow of the KHL, covering this season and running through 2027-28. The 20-year-old was a 2023 fifth-round pick out of the MHL (Russia’s top junior hockey league) and has played pro hockey in each of the last two seasons. The 2023-24 MHL Goalie of the Year played in 28 KHL games during his age-19 season, posting a .901 save percentage despite playing behind a very poor team. He posted that save percentage alongside a 4-17-1 record.
Volokhin was traded to Spartak for monetary compensation in June, and has since been Moscow’s No. 3 goalie behind Dmitry Nikolayev and former Calgary Flame Artem Zagidulin. Volokhin saved 20 of 21 shots in his first KHL start of the season but struggled in his second. He has spent most of the season in the second-tier VHL, posting a .935 save percentage in 14 games. Due to this extension, the earliest the Canadiens will be able to sign Volokhin and get him to make his North American debut will be for the 2028-29 season. As Volokhin is a prospect under contract in Russia, the Canadiens will still hold the exclusive rights to sign him to an entry-level deal upon the expiry of his current contract with Spartak.
Canadiens Reassign David Reinbacher, William Trudeau
Oct. 31: Trudeau has cleared waivers and was assigned to Laval, the team announced.
Oct. 30: The Canadiens have made a pair of activations from season-opening injured reserve. Top defense prospect David Reinbacher has been cleared to play and will report to AHL Laval, the club announced. In a separate transaction, they placed defender William Trudeau on waivers for the purposes of assignment to Laval.
Reinbacher, still waiver-exempt, has been out since the early parts of the preseason after he fractured a metacarpal bone in his hand. He was initially expected to miss four weeks, and today’s news comes a few days after that initial timeline.
An opening-night job wasn’t entirely out of the question for Reinbacher, but it was a long shot after the Habs’ big summer splash brought Noah Dobson to Montreal via a sign-and-trade. The injury put the nail in the coffin for his chances. It was the second year in a row that the 2023 No. 5 overall pick sustained a significant injury in training camp. Last year brought surgery on his left knee that delayed his season debut with Laval until February. He managed two goals, three assists, and five points with a +5 rating in 10 games after his return.
He’ll be looking to keep that production up and then some as he eyes his longest stint of hockey in North America yet. Reinbacher spent most of his post-draft year on loan to EHC Kloten of Switzerland’s National League before spending the final few weeks of the campaign with Laval. Accordingly, he only has 21 games of professional experience on this side of the Atlantic. He still has plenty of runway left at age 21, but staying healthy for the rest of the season will be crucial for his chances to make the jump to the NHL as hoped and expected for 2026-27.
As for Trudeau, the 23-year-old is entering his fourth professional season and has now lost his waiver-exempt status. He was held out of training camp with a pectoral muscle injury after re-signing with the Habs on a two-way deal over the summer. Drafted in the fourth round in 2021, the 6’1″ lefty has a 20-50–70 scoring line in 198 career games for Laval with a +16 rating. He’s not more than a depth call-up option at this stage and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.
Canadiens Reassign Joshua Roy, Marc Del Gaizo
The Canadiens announced that forward Joshua Roy and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo have been reassigned to AHL Laval. Their active roster count drops to 21 ahead of what’s a light stretch of games for the Habs, including a mostly home-game schedule through the beginning of November.
Roy, 22, is in the early stages of his third professional season. He was a fifth-round pick in 2021 and now finds himself in the final year of his entry-level contract, making him a restricted free agent next summer.
He and Del Gaizo were recalled together on Oct. 21 ahead of Montreal’s four-game Pacific Division road trip. The Habs were dealing with injuries to Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine at the time, although the former has since returned, intensifying the need for added roster depth on the swing. That trip concluded with an overtime win over the Kraken earlier this week, and the Habs have now decided they don’t need the extra roster depth for their upcoming homestand.
Roy played last week against the Flames but was then in the press box for three straight games. He saw just 7:58 of ice time in what was the 36th appearance of his NHL career and was held off the scoresheet aside from four hits. The 6’0″ winger now carries a 6-5–11 career scoring line with a -8 rating, on pace for 14 goals and 25 points in an 82-game season.
Before his recall, the Quebec native was off to a hot start in Laval with three tucks and an assist through four games. He’ll build on that now as he looks to build his resume in hopes of landing an opening-night job in 2026-27. He’s been a great scoring winger for the Habs’ top farm club, rattling off a 36-35–71 scoring line in 92 career AHL appearances.
Del Gaizo, 26, was signed by the Canadiens at the start of free agency after reaching Group VI UFA status. Since he’s been on the active roster for under 30 days since clearing waivers during the preseason, he doesn’t need waivers again for today’s demotion. He did not appear in any of the four games he was rostered for, so his career NHL games played total stays at 55. He had no points and a +2 rating in four outings for Laval so far this year.
Patrik Laine Out Three To Four Months
A tough start to the season for Canadiens winger Patrik Laine just got even tougher. The team announced that he has undergone surgery to repair a core muscle injury. As a result, he will miss the next three to four months.
This is Laine’s second season with Montreal after he was acquired from Columbus in the 2024 offseason. It’s also now the second straight season that he has sustained a significant injury early on. Last season, a preseason knee injury cost him a couple of months of action and this one could keep him out for twice as long.
While Laine got through training camp healthy this time, it didn’t take long for him to drop down the depth chart. While he started the year on Montreal’s second line, he was down to fourth-line minutes at five-on-five within a couple of weeks. As a result, he was limited to just one assist through five games while averaging just 12:36 per night, a career low in that regard. He didn’t accompany the team on their four-game Western road trip while getting a second opinion on his injury; clearly, that second opinion concurred with the first with him undergoing surgery soon after.
Last season, Laine made an immediate impact when he returned to the lineup, tallying 15 power play goals. In doing so, he was among the league leaders in that regard despite missing 29 games while he helped Montreal’s power play get closer to the middle of the pack. However, his playing time and effectiveness waned down the stretch and into the playoffs where he was injured partway through their series against Washington.
This is a contract year for Laine, who carries a cap charge of $8.7MM, tops among Canadiens forwards. It’s fair to say his hopes of a big payday next summer have taken another hit as he’ll now miss more than half the season; that, coupled with his struggles at full strength, don’t bode well for him on the open market. That said, because he should wind up missing 100 days because of this injury and has more than 400 career NHL appearances, Laine should be eligible for a one-year contract with performance incentives next summer. That might be the best route to go for him, one that would allow him to maximize his compensation should he stay healthy while providing the signing team – be it Montreal or someone else in free agency – with less risk in signing him.
For Montreal, since they have over $4MM in cap space at the moment per PuckPedia, an LTIR placement wouldn’t make any sense for them. Since Laine is expected to return this season, the maximum amount of LTIR space they could amass is $3.82MM, not his full cap charge so, barring a rash of further injuries, don’t expect him to be moved to LTIR. As of yet, the Canadiens haven’t moved him to regular injured reserve although that is merely a formality for whenever they need to open up a roster spot.
Patrik Laine Seeking Second Opinion On Injury
Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine has struggled with injury issues throughout his NHL career, and unfortunately 2025-26 has been no different. The Canadiens announced on Saturday that Laine would be out with a lower-body injury on a day-to-day basis, and given that day-to-day designation, it appeared this Laine absence would be relatively straightforward. But today, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported that Laine “has gone for a second opinion on his lower-body injury,” and although he’s still listed as day-to-day, the report raises questions about whether he could be looking at a more extended absence.
It’s an important time for Laine and the future of his career as he nears the expiry of his $8.7MM AAV deal. Laine is set to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer, and there were times during his debut campaign where he looked like he’d found a long-term place to play with the Canadiens. He scored 20 goals and 33 points, and was particularly lethal on the power play, but injuries limited him to just 52 games. With Ivan Demidov almost certain to command a first-unit power play spot at some point down the line, and Zachary Bolduc‘s addition already moving Laine down to the second unit, it’s fair to question if the Canadiens have a place for Laine going into the future. He has gotten off to a slow start this season with just one point in five games, and a potentially longer-term absence could further complicate things. For a player who has at times looked like, and performed like, a star in the NHL, today’s report is an undoubtedly discouraging development.
Canadiens Recall Joshua Roy, Marc Del Gaizo; Reassign Owen Beck
The Canadiens announced they’ve recalled winger Joshua Roy and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from AHL Laval. Center Owen Beck was returned to Laval as one of the corresponding transactions. Montreal doesn’t have an open roster spot, though, so they must make a second move to keep their active roster at the 23-man maximum.
The roster shuffling in Montreal comes in the wake of a trio of injuries. Over the weekend, they announced defenseman Kaiden Guhle would miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury while also ruling forwards Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine out on a day-to-day basis. It would stand to reason that Guhle has or will land on injured reserve as the additional corresponding move.
Sending down Beck, a center, and replacing him with a winger in Roy could be a promising sign for Dach’s availability against the Flames on Wednesday. He’s on the ice at the team’s practice today, according to Marc Antoine Godin of Radio-Canada. Beck played in back-to-back games for the Habs after his recall on Saturday, but the 21-year-old averaged just 8:22 of ice time per game and recorded a minus-one rating and no points. It’s much of the same story for the 2022 second-round pick, who’s gotten a handful of recalls over the past few years but has never been given a particularly long leash. He’s averaged just 9:45 through 15 career NHL appearances, understandably only managing one assist. He’s posted underwhelming possession numbers (47.3 CF% in 58.8 oZS%) in those sheltered even-strength minutes but has been impactful on the dot, winning 53.7% of his faceoffs.
Beck is in his second full professional season. He had 44 points in 64 games for Laval as a rookie last year and had a goal and an assist through his first three games this season before getting recalled. There’s still hope that the 6’0″ pivot can be a long-term fixture down the middle for the Habs, and they won’t hesitate to let him continue to bake in the minors compared to logging limited NHL action.
As for Roy, the 22-year-old has a more established offensive track record in the NHL. A 2021 fifth-round pick, Roy has made 35 appearances for the Habs over the past two years with a 6-5–11 scoring line. Two-way play remains a concern for the skilled winger, but he’s more of a known commodity. He has earned a longer runway from head coach Martin St. Louis in the past, averaging 11:45 of ice time per game for his career while getting occasional power-play reps. He’s also off to a hot start in Laval with three goals and an assist through four games.
Del Gaizo is elevated to give Montreal an extra defenseman for their four-game road trip through the Pacific Division that kicks off tomorrow. They played the last two games without one on the roster after Guhle’s injury. The 26-year-old is a safe option to stash as a No. 7 and has plenty of recent experience, making 46 of his 55 career NHL appearances with the Predators last season. He was a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer and signed a two-way deal with Montreal before clearing waivers during training camp on his way down to Laval. The 5’11” lefty has a 2-10–12 scoring line in the NHL with a -1 rating. He’s still looking for his first point in Laval through four games, but has a +2 rating. He can remain up for 30 days or play 10 games until he needs waivers again to head back down.
Canadiens Announce Multiple Injuries, Recall Owen Beck
While the Canadiens pulled off a comeback victory on Thursday against Nashville, it came at a cost as three players are now injured. The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Kaiden Guhle will miss four-to-six weeks with a lower-body injury while center Kirby Dach and winger Patrik Laine are day-to-day with lower-body injuries as well. In a corresponding move, center Owen Beck has been recalled from AHL Laval on an emergency basis.
Guhle had gotten off to a solid start to the season, playing alongside Lane Hutson on Montreal’s second pairing. He had a goal and an assist through the first five games while adding five blocks and 16 hits in a little over 19 minutes a night. Guhle has missed at least a dozen games due to injuries in each of his first three NHL campaigns and that streak will now be extended with this injury. After being scratched on Thursday, Arber Xhekaj will take Guhle’s place in the lineup while the Canadiens will likely recall a defenseman in the near future to give them a seventh option.
Dach, meanwhile, is working his way back from a knee injury that ended his 2024-25 campaign prematurely. After managing his usage in the preseason, the Canadiens have limited his minutes a bit early on as he’s logging just 14:29 per night where he has a goal and an assist while anchoring their third line. As for Laine, he’s off to a quiet start in his contract year with just one assist through his first five appearances while predominantly playing on the fourth line. That’s not an ideal start but now this day-to-day injury will give him a quick reset.
Beck was one of Montreal’s final training camp cuts for the second straight season after Oliver Kapanen beat him out for the final spot on the roster. He has played in three games with AHL Laval so far this season, picking up a goal and an assist. Beck had 44 points in 64 games with the Rocket in his rookie year while also getting into a dozen games with the Canadiens where he had one assist.
Evening Notes: Red Wings, Motte, Matheson
In today’s episode of The DFO Rundown, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period speculated that the Red Wings have been looking for offense, especially down the middle, and could be looking to move defensemen to make it happen. The Wings have top prospect Nate Danielson in the fold, however he is out indefinitely, after making a strong case to make the team. Detroit’s search for another top forward is nothing new, however, given that they are forced to lean on their young defensemen, trading one of them seems unlikely. Pagnotta affirmed this, noting that Travis Hamonic or Erik Gustafsson could be candidates, but their value is limited at this point.
One such young Red Wing defenseman that likely should be untouchable is Axel Sandin-Pellikka. In an article shared by NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika today, which was written by NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, the electric Swede is off to an impressive start, averaging 21 minutes a night. His three NHL games have already surpassed his AHL total, two with Grand Rapids last season, but the 20-year-old appears up to the challenge.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Journeyman Tyler Motte has been signed to a professional tryout with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, as announced by the team. Motte, 30, was unable to secure an NHL contract after being released from the Panthers in training camp. Originally drafted 121st overall by Chicago in 2013, the Michigan native carved out 455 games in the NHL, not appearing in the AHL since 2017-18. Now, Motte will look to earn a role with Charlotte in a bid to extend his career.
- In yesterday’s edition of Insider Trading, TSN’s Pierre Lebrun mentioned that Mike Matheson is at the forefront for Montreal. Given all their activity from Noah Dobson to Lane Hutson, Matheson was put off a bit, however now the team will look to lock up the pending UFA. Lebrun said that Matheson is interested in the possibility, but that he does not want a short-term deal. The 31-year-old took a step back last season after a 62-point explosion in 2023-24, but Montreal should expect a raise from his current $4.8MM value, as much as $7MM according to AFP Analytics.
Canadiens Extend Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes
11:53 a.m.: Montreal has officially announced the deals. They’re both five-year extensions, per Eric Engels of Sportsnet.
9:33 a.m.: The Canadiens are closing in on contract extensions for front office cornerstones Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Gorton, the team’s president of hockey operations, and Hughes, their general manager, were in the final years of their current deals.
Gorton and Hughes are both in the early stages of their fourth full season in Montreal. Gorton was the first of the duo to be brought into the organization, stepping in as the top hockey decision-maker in the organization in November 2021 after the club fired previous GM Marc Bergevin. He was the interim GM as well for a few months before hiring Hughes later that season.
They inherited a sticky situation – a club in the early stages of a rebuild despite coming off a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2021. Hughes immediately got to work accumulating assets, trading away veterans Tyler Toffoli, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, and Artturi Lehkonen in the handful of weeks between his hiring and the 2022 trade deadline. The following offseason saw them retool further, acquiring Kirby Dach but surrendering Alexander Romanov in a three-team deal while also swapping aging puck-moving blueliners Jeff Petry and Mike Matheson for each other.
Things have been quieter on the trade front since, but they’ve been busy drafting hopeful franchise cornerstones in the first round – Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in 2022 and Ivan Demidov fifth overall in 2024 being the ones so far to establish themselves as NHLers. Their depth picks have already reached heights as well, with 2022 second-rounder Lane Hutson coming off a Calder Trophy and now a fresh eight-year extension. Even with those names aging out, they boast a universally recognized top-five prospect pool and still retain a good amount of draft capital moving forward.
While still early in the life of Montreal’s young core, initial indications are that Gorton and Hughes have pulled off an accelerated rebuild. They have blue-chip prospects at every position – particularly with goaltender Jacob Fowler working his way up from a 2023 third-round pick to being the reigning NCAA Goalie of the Year – and are coming off their first playoff berth since their Cup Final loss.
Undoubtedly, Gorton and Hughes’ asset management has opened the door for Montreal’s playoff window to begin as quickly as it did. In the past few years, they’ve pulled off one of the more impressive asset flips in recent memory – acquiring a first-round pick to take on Sean Monahan‘s contract from the Flames before acquiring another from the Jets when they traded him to Winnipeg two years later. They began conservatively and targeted with their additions last year, acquiring high-priced winger Patrik Laine for barely any assets and upgrading their blue line by swapping youngster Justin Barron for the more experienced Alexandre Carrier a few weeks into the season. Only after reaching the postseason has Montreal really pressed the gas on their rebuild, making one of the biggest deals of last summer with the Noah Dobson sign-and-trade.
In all of that, they’ve also assembled one of the more enviable salary cap pictures in the NHL. Amid rapidly rising market values for players and an aggressively rising cap for the next few years, Montreal has no cap hits above $10MM on its roster while having the vast majority of its core signed through the remainder of the decade. Up front, there’s captain Nick Suzuki at a $7.875MM cap hit through 2029-30, Cole Caufield at $7.8MM through 2030-31, and Slafkovsky at $7.6MM through 2032-33. Their defense has Dobson at $9.5MM through 2032-33, Hutson at $8.85MM starting next season through 2033-34, and Kaiden Guhle at $5.55MM through 2030-31. At present, the only RFAs who will really cash in over the next few years are Zachary Bolduc next summer and Demidov in 2027.
Of course, they still have to finish the job. Montreal’s forward depth remains a concern, particularly in the second-line center slot. That’s a question they’ve been looking to answer long-term since assuming their posts. Nothing about their track record suggests it’ll be a rushed decision, nor does it have to be with multiple core contributors not even at their 23rd birthday yet.
With all that in mind, it’s no surprise that the Canadiens are moving quickly to get these deals done early in the season. Gorton had received interest from other clubs looking to fill GM vacancies last summer, including the Islanders, but the Habs denied him permission to interview.
He’s a seasoned executive, spending previous tenures at the helm of the Bruins and Rangers. For Hughes, though, it’s quite a success story. This post is his first front-office job at any level after working on the other side of the coin as a player agent for Quartexx, a career he held since 1998.