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Corey Schueneman

Avalanche Assign Corey Schueneman To Minors

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The Avalanche have sent left-shot defenseman Corey Schueneman back to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, per a team release. Doing so frees up a roster spot for the Avs, who now have 21 out of the maximum 23 players on the NHL roster and have exactly $2MM remaining in their LTIR pool.

Colorado signed Schueneman to a one-year, two-way contract when free agency opened on July 1. The undrafted defender spent most of last season in the minors but saw seven games of NHL ice with the Canadiens in the back half of 2022-23. Those appearances brought his NHL total to 31 after he appeared in 24 games on the injury-decimated blueline for the Canadiens in 2021-22.

Schueneman did not make the Avs’ opening night roster this year, clearing waivers almost a week before rosters were due. The 28-year-old played just two games for the Eagles before getting a recall to the NHL roster last weekend to serve as extra depth on a three-game road trip on the East Coast. He didn’t get into a game during his recall, though, instead serving as a healthy scratch for all three contests against the Islanders, Penguins and Sabres.

Over his 31 NHL contests, all with the Canadiens, Schueneman has two goals and five assists for seven points. He’s averaged 16:10 per game and struggled to control possession relative to his teammates, posting an even-strength Corsi share of 45.1% and a relative Corsi share of -2.3% despite receiving favorable offensive zone usage. He did post a respectable 23 points and +13 rating in 62 contests with AHL Laval last season.

Schueneman, who’s due a guaranteed salary of $450K this season, is slated for UFA status in 2024.

Avalanche Recall Corey Schueneman

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The Avalanche have decided to bring up some defensive depth as they announced (Twitter link) the recall of blueliner Corey Schueneman from AHL Colorado.

The 27-year-old is in his first season with the Avs after signing a one-year, two-way deal with them in free agency back in July.  He has played in two games so far in the minors with the Eagles and has yet to hit the scoresheet.  Prior to that, he had an assist in two preseason contests.

Schueneman has seen NHL action in each of the last two seasons, both with Montreal.  Between those years, he has suited up 31 times, picking up two goals and five assists while logging a little over 16 minutes per night.  He spent the bulk of his time those years in the minors with AHL Laval, notching 34 points in 94 contests.

With the Avalanche viewing Kurtis MacDermid (who can play the back end and on the wing) as a forward, they’ve basically been carrying the minimum of six defensemen so it’s not surprising that they’ve opted to bring up some insurance now as they embark on a three-game road trip.  Colorado had two open roster spots so no corresponding move needed to be made to add Schueneman to their roster while they will be dipping into their LTIR pool using Pavel Francouz’s money to afford him under the salary cap.

Avalanche Signs Five Players To Two-Way Deals

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Earlier today, Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland indicated that there were “a few depth deals in the hopper”.  Those deals are now in place as the team announced the signings of defensemen Jack Ahcan and Corey Schueneman, forward Riley Tufte and Chris Wagner, and goaltender Arvid Holm to two-way contracts.  Ahcan’s deal is a two-year agreement while the other four are one-year pacts.  Financial deals for most of the deals aren’t yet known but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Schueneman’s deal is for $775K in the NHL, $400K in the minors, and has a guarantee of $450K. CapFriendly later reported Tufte’s deal is worth $775K in the NHL and $375K in the minors, with $425K guaranteed.

Speaking of Schueneman, he comes over to Colorado after spending the past three seasons in Montreal’s system.  Last season, the 27-year-old spent the bulk of the year with AHL Laval, picking up 23 points in 62 games.  He also got into seven games with the Canadiens, tallying an assist.  Schueneman did play in 24 games with Montreal in 2021-22 while logging over 16 minutes per game.  As a result, he’s likely to position himself to be one of the top recalls from the Eagles next season and could push for the seventh spot on the back end in training camp.

As for Ahcan, the 26-year-old picked up 36 points in 68 games with AHL Providence last season, good for second on their team among blueliners.  He has nine career NHL appearances under his belt with Boston between 2020-21 and 2021-22.  He also could push to be in the mix to be an early recall from the Eagles in 2023-24.

Up front, Tufte spent most of last year with AHL Texas, recording 19 goals and 16 assists in 63 games.  The 25-year-old also got into three games with Dallas, logging just under eight minutes per game.  Tufte has a total of 13 NHL appearances under his belt with one goal to his name.  The 6’6 winger figures to be a recall option for a fourth line spot at some point next season.

As for Wagner, the 32-year-old has spent the last five seasons in Boston’s organization with a good chunk of that time coming at the NHL level.  However, over the past two seasons, Wagner has mostly been relegated to time in the minors.  Last season, he had 19 goals and 12 assists in 62 games with Providence.  For his career, the veteran has 63 points and over 1,000 hits in 360 career NHL appearances.  While he has spent most of the last two years in the minors, at least part of that was for cap reasons as he carried a $1.35MM AAV on his last deal.  Now being at or close to the minimum, Wagner could push for a spot on the fourth line in training camp.

Holm, meanwhile, has yet to see any NHL action and has spent the past two seasons with Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate in Manitoba.  The 24-year-old had a successful season in 2022-23 with the Moose, recording a 2.67 GAA along with a .911 SV% in 35 games but was non-tendered yesterday by the Jets.  He’ll likely serve as the backup to Justus Annunen with the Eagles next season.

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.

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.

Montreal Canadiens Issue Injury Updates

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While the Montreal Canadiens have been better than many might have expected this season — they started off pretty well and are ahead of six teams in the standings, double-digit points out of the fight for the best chance at Connor Bedard — injuries have absolutely decimated whatever chance they may have had at staying on the periphery of the playoff chase.

Beyond the long-term, likely career-ending injury to Carey Price that has landed him on long-term injured reserve, the Canadiens have a whopping seven players on injured reserve and two in addition to Price on the long-term injured list. The players on those injured lists are star winger Cole Caufield, first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, veteran Brendan Gallagher, talented rookie Kaiden Guhle, Sean Monahan, Jake Evans, Chris Wideman, Paul Byron, and Arber Xhekaj.

In addition to the players on the injured lists, there’s also Joel Edmundson, who remains on the active roster but hasn’t played in a month due to injury, leaving the Canadiens further depleted on their back end.

While these injuries have led to some interesting revelations, such as the impressive play of rookie Rafael Harvey-Pinard, they are also quite the frustration for a team looking to use the 2022-23 season as a valuable year of player development.

Today, the Canadiens announced some injury updates on a few important players. Firstly, the Canadiens announced that Xhekaj will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery next week.

Xhekaj seemed to injure his shoulder during a fight with Edmonton Oilers rookie Vincent Desharnais, and that injury will now end what has been an exciting rookie season for the defenseman.

The undrafted blueliner has worked his way up to be quite the rookie surprise in the NHL, playing with the kind of physicality and snarl that made him an instant fan favorite for those who frequent the Bell Center.

He flashed some more skill and talent beyond just his physicality than one might expect, and his injury means the Canadiens’ blueline and player development mission has been dealt a serious blow.

The one potential positive to note is that the Canadiens’ organizational apathy to whether they win or lose games for the rest of the season (coach Martin St. Louis has continually stressed the importance of player development over bottom-line results) has afforded them the freedom to make decisions that are in the best interest of their players’ long-term health.

Whereas a team in a Stanley Cup chase might hope that Xhekaj play through an injury in order to give their team the best chance at winning it all, the Canadiens can afford to let players such as Caufield and Xhekaj get a head start on their recoveries, which is definitely useful.

The second injury update the team issued is related to another breakout young talent: Kirby Dach. The team announced that Dach will not travel with the team to California, and will be out with a lower-body injury. Dach has been out since February 14th, with his absence first attributed to a non-COVID illness. The team then discovered that Dach’s illness symptoms were actually consistent with the effects of a lower-body injury, meaning now the team has yet another injury to manage.

Dach has flown past the career-highs in scoring he set as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, and was making some major steps forward in his game under St. Louis’ tutelage. The Canadiens announced that Dach was out indefinitely with the injury, meaning the team will have to hope that he’s not another player whose season will be cut short.

Another injury update the team issued was that veteran forward Joel Armia is out day-to-day with an upper respiratory infection. Armia, who hasn’t played since February 21st, hasn’t yet been placed on injured reserve, leaving hope that he can overcome this infection and return to the ice relatively quickly.

A final injury update the team issued regards Edmundson, who as mentioned has not played in a month. The team announced that Edmundson will travel to California, and is expected to be at practice Monday as he nears a return. At this point, Edmundson’s return to the ice may be too late for him to figure in teams’ trade deadline plans, but he should bolster a Canadiens’ back-end that has looked quite a bit thinner due to injuries.

The Canadiens sent defenseman Corey Schueneman back to the AHL’s Laval Rocket last night, lending to the belief that Edmundson is nearing a return to the ice. Shueneman played four games for the Canadiens during this call-up, registering one assist and averaging 15:48 TOI.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Canadiens Recall Corey Schueneman

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With the Canadiens carrying just six healthy defensemen on their roster and Justin Barron leaving Thursday’s game early due to injury, they’ve brought up an extra rearguard as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports (Twitter link) that Corey Schueneman has been recalled.

It’s the third recall of the season for the 27-year-old who was brought up for a pair of short stints in October although he didn’t get into any NHL appearances during that time.  Schueneman has suited up in 43 games with AHL Laval this season, picking up five goals and 13 assists.  Schueneman does have some NHL experience under his belt, however, as he got into 24 games with the Canadiens last season where he picked up six points and 40 blocked shots while averaging 16:36 per night.

Early indications are that Barron should be able to play tonight against Toronto so Schueneman, a pending unrestricted free agent, is likely just being added to the roster as an insurance policy at this point.  To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Arber Xhekaj was placed on injured reserve.  He’s out indefinitely after sustaining an upper-body injury last weekend.  The team announced (Twitter link) that he’ll see a specialist next week with an update to come at that time.

Corey Schueneman Assigned To AHL

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It’s not often that you see a team send their extra defenseman down to the minor leagues before heading out on a road trip, unless of course, they are getting someone back from injury. That’s why there was instant excitement among Montreal Canadiens fans when the team announced that Corey Schueneman has been assigned to the Laval Rocket of the AHL.

The team is about to head out on the road and with them will be both Joel Armia and Joel Edmundson, though there still isn’t a concrete timeline on when they’ll be in the lineup. Neither player appears on the active roster currently, though Edmundson does not have an injured reserve designation any longer. The Canadiens will play in Buffalo tomorrow to kick off a four-game road trip where it seems likely that one, if not both, will return.

Edmundson, 29, has become something of a fan favorite in Montreal thanks to his stability and physicality on defense. He was an integral part of the team’s unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 but has been in and out of the lineup ever since due to injury. Last season he managed to play in just 24 games, and his return on the upcoming road trip will be his season debut for 2022-23.

While this season may not be about winning a championship, you can bet that Montreal still wants to have Edmundson in the lineup around their young defensemen as much as possible. A Stanley Cup winner in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues, he can help them make the transition to the NHL while providing a reliable model to emulate on the defensive end. Edmundson was named an alternate captain before the season began, and is signed through 2023-24.

Mike Matheson Placed On Injured Reserve

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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.

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