Montreal Canadiens Send Cayden Primeau To AHL
Oct 18: The Canadiens have now swapped them back, recalling Schueneman and sending Primeau to the AHL.
Oct 17: The Montreal Canadiens won’t have Jake Allen available for tonight’s game as he is away from the team on parental leave, meaning it’s Sam Montembeault‘s net against the Pittsburgh Penguins. His backup will be Cayden Primeau, recalled from the minor leagues today. Corey Schueneman has been sent down to make room.
Montembeault allowed three goals on 29 shots in his first appearance of the season on Saturday night, losing to the Washington Capitals in the process. The 25-year-old netminder appeared 38 times for the Canadiens last season and is still looking for his first season with a save percentage over .900. He’s at .892 for his career, not quite what Montreal is looking for as Martin St. Louis and the rest of the squad tries to remain competitive.
In fact, Allen’s absence will shine a light on the position for the Canadiens, which remains quite thin with Carey Price out due to injury. Montembeault’s .892 is actually higher than Primeau’s .874 to this point in the NHL, though the latter’s is in just 18 appearances. The young netminder hasn’t been able to quite replicate the dominance he had at Northeastern, and was shelled for six goals on 38 shots in his AHL debut this season.
Primeau represents the only other goaltender in the organization signed to an NHL contract, meaning if someone suffers an injury, the team will have to scramble to find another option.
Canadiens Send Filip Mesar To Junior
10/16/22: Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek has issued an update on Mesar’s situation. As things currently stand, Mesar is sorting out IIHF transfer issues and is not expected to be available for selection to the Rangers’ lineup until Friday, when the team takes on the Sudbury Wolves.
10/15/22: It’s not very often that players drafted in the previous summer start the season in the minors as an 18-year-old. For those drafted out of the major junior ranks in Canada, it’s not even an option. But there are a handful of international players who were picked in July that have started this season in the AHL. That list shrunk by one today as the Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that they’ve loaned Filip Mesar to Kitchener of the OHL.
The 18-year-old was the 26th pick this summer after a decent showing in the Slovak Extraliga where he had eight goals and eight assists in 37 games while adding four more points in six playoff contests. Having played at a professional level the last two years, Mesar’s camp had indicated that his preference was to spend the year in the minors and not go to junior.
However, after seeing limited action on the fourth line with AHL Laval last night, Montreal has decided that the best opportunity for Mesar’s development will be to have him play big minutes in the OHL. As a result of the assignment, his three-year, entry-level deal will slide a season and still have three years left on it leading up to the 2023-24 campaign. His contract will also be credited off the Canadiens’ 50-contract limit which now stands at 45.
Montreal Canadiens Sign William Trudeau
The Montreal Canadiens have inked one of their prospects to a entry-level deal today, signing defenseman William Trudeau to a three-year contract. Per the team announcement, the contract carries a $857K AAV, and an $80K minors salary.
Trudeau was a fourth-round pick of the Canadiens at the 2021 draft, getting selected just outside the top 100 at 113. Trudeau has spent the past three seasons with the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders and has really stepped up his overall game in the past two seasons.
In his draft year, Trudeau scored 31 points in 40 games, and this past season he had a healthy 44 points in 68 games to go along with 11 points in 14 playoff games as the Islanders went on a run to the QMJHL Finals.
Now 20, Trudeau will have the chance to get his first taste of professional action with the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. Trudeau will join a Rocket blueline that’s looking a bit crowded, as he’ll be competing for prime ice time with Canadiens prospects such as Justin Barron and Mattias Norlinder, as well as veterans such as Madison Bowey and Otto Leskinen.
But with yesterday’s news that prospect Gianni Fairbrother would be out for the season with a knee injury, perhaps Trudeau’s path to a bigger role as an AHL rookie has gotten a bit clearer.
Minor Transactions: 10/13/22
The NHL season is fully underway, and quite a few teams are skating in their first games of the season tonight. As exciting as the action is around the NHL tonight, there’s still plenty going on around the hockey world and we’ll keep track of all those transactions here.
- The Montreal Canadiens were expected to assign 2021 first-round pick, Logan Mailloux, to his OHL club, the London Knights, when he recovered from injury. Today, the team did just that, sending Mailloux to the Knights. Mailloux hasn’t spent an extensive amount of time on the ice in the OHL, so this season will be important as he looks to establish himself as one of the Canadiens’ better options on what looks at the moment to be a crowded defensive pipeline.
- The New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, have signed defenseman Ben Harpur to a PTO, per a team announcement. Harpur, 27, is a veteran of over 150 NHL games and joins the Wolf Pack after signing a PTO with the Columbus Blue Jackets, a deal that did not result in a contract offer. The Rangers recently lost physical depth defenseman Jarred Tinordi on waivers to the Chicago Blackhawks, so perhaps this PTO is a chance for Harpur to prove he can fill Tinordi’s vacated role on the Rangers’ organizational depth chart.
Mike Matheson Placed On Injured Reserve
6:55 PM: The Canadiens have added some more detail on the nature of Matheson’s injury. Per a team announcement, Matheson will be out for eight weeks due to an abdominal muscle strain.
10:01 AM: The Montreal Canadiens have moved Mike Matheson to injured reserve, recalling Corey Schueneman in the process. Given that he had previously been listed as day-to-day but had an MRI yesterday to further evaluate a lower-body injury, his placement on IR is ominous, to say the least.
Matheson did appear at the Canadiens game last night, introduced to the crowd along with the other injured players (including Carey Price, who received a standing ovation) but does not appear close to getting back in the lineup. His absence, along with that of Joel Edmundson and others, left an incredibly inexperienced defensive group to try and slow down their rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
The kids were alright, with Montreal winning on a late third-period goal by Josh Anderson, but it is going to be a long season if players like Matheson can’t get healthy. Acquired in the trade that sent Jeff Petry to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 28-year-old was expected to bring some stability to the back end after a strong season in 2021-22.
Schueneman, 27, played 24 games for the Canadiens last season, making his NHL debut after working through years in the minor leagues. The undrafted defenseman had six points in those games and represents a nice depth piece for the team to lean on in Matheson’s absence. What it might mean, though, is that the team relies on their young group even more over the next little while, and continues to try and develop them at the NHL level.
Latest On Jonathan Drouin
- The Montreal Canadiens were without forward Jonathan Drouin for last night’s season-opening game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they may not be without him for much longer. On the Insider Trading program, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Drouin is at “90%” health and getting ready to return to action in the near future. The Canadiens are currently running Cole Caufield, Sean Monahan, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Rem Pitlick as their four left wingers, meaning it’s not immediately clear where Drouin fits into their lineup. But regardless of where he ultimately finds himself on the ice, getting him back to full health is undoubtedly good news for Montreal.
Gianni Fairbrother Suffers Knee Injury, Out For Regular Season
The Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, announced today that defenseman Gianni Fairbrother will be out for the entirety of the 2022-23 AHL season due to a knee injury. Fairbrother suffered that knee injury in a preseason contest against the Belleville Senators, and now faces a long road to recovery just as his season was about to begin.
Fairbrother, 22, was a third-round pick of the Canadiens at the 2019 draft, getting selected 77th overall. Fairbrother made a name for himself in his draft season as one of the more physical, intimidating defensemen in the WHL. The hard-hitting Fairbrother signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Canadiens last year and played in 25 games for the Rocket, scoring seven points to go along with 46 penalty minutes. This is unfortunate news for Fairbrother, but the hope will be that he can respond well to his recovery process and return in the fall of 2023 ready to have a competitive preseason and training camp.
Carey Price Discusses Injury Status
When Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was announced at tonight’s home opener, the standing ovation he received from the crowd was about the least surprising bit of news this evening. Price, who is one of, if not the best goaltender of his generation, has been a staple in the Canadiens lineup since his debut in 2007-08. His recent injury woes have forced him to take a step back from the game in order to try to return to full health not only on the ice, but off of it. Whether he is able to come back and play in the NHL again remains to be seen, but for now Montreal will have to proceed with Price on the sidelines.
Montreal Canadiens Recall Arber Xhekaj
Though it was already expected, the Montreal Canadiens have officially placed Paul Byron on long-term injured reserve and recalled Arber Xhekaj from the minor leagues. Byron is now out for at least 24 days, though his actual return is still completely indefinite.
The 33-year-old has been crushed by injuries the last several seasons, an unfortunate end to what was a pretty impressive story. Selected in the sixth round in 2007, he was an undersized offensive player from the QMJHL that needed to revamp his game to make it in the NHL. After several years grinding through the minor leagues in the Calgary Flames organization, he found a home and quickly became an NHL regular.
In 2016-17, he reached a career-high with 22 goals and 43 points, becoming a reliable even-strength scoring threat for the Canadiens. Overall, he has 98 goals and 208 points in 521 games. His contract, which carries a $3.4MM cap hit, will expire at the end of the season.
Xhekaj, meanwhile, has been the talk of training camp with the Canadiens. The 21-year-old undrafted defenseman is a mean, physical presence on the ice that seems to have absolutely no fear. The 6’4″ bruiser may not ever be a Norris candidate but with excellent skating ability and NHL size and strength, he quickly became a fan favorite in Montreal.
With the team focused on the future, young players like Xhekaj will get a great opportunity with the Canadiens this season. Byron’s contract gives the team a little more flexibility to work with, at least until he finds a way to get back on the ice.
Snapshots: Sprong, Dickinson, Mailloux
After converting his PTO into another NHL contract, Seattle Kraken winger Daniel Sprong isn’t able to be a full participant with the team just yet. According to The Seattle Times’ Kate Shefte, Sprong is dealing with work visa complications and is expected to rejoin the team within the next few days.
This does put Sprong’s availability for Seattle’s season opener on Wednesday in Anaheim in doubt. While Sprong was productive in terms of goals after joining the Kraken at the trade deadline last season, their added depth on the wing puts him squarely in a fourth-line role with everyone healthy. In his stead, Karson Kuhlman is expected to dress against Anaheim if Sprong can’t play.
- Similarly, new Chicago Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson is also battling visa issues after arriving from Vancouver. The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus reports that Dickinson will miss the team’s first two games of the season at the least, potentially missing three. Dickinson’s absence and his ability to be designated as a non-roster player in the meantime allowed them to claim defenseman Jarred Tinordi off waivers today without making a corresponding roster move.
- While Montreal Canadiens defense prospect Logan Mailloux will start the season on injured reserve, he won’t stay there for long. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels notes to expect Montreal to send him back to the OHL’s London Knights after he returns to practice. Mailloux is expected to play a full season in London after injuries and a lengthy suspension due to his sexual misconduct charge during his draft year in Sweden limited him to 12 games.