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Corey Schueneman

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.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Corey Schueneman

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The Montreal Canadiens don’t need a qualifying offer for Corey Schueneman, as the minor league veteran has agreed to a one-year, two-way contract extension for 2022-23. The deal will pay him $750K at the NHL level and offers a hefty minor league guarantee of $350K.

Schueneman, 26, surprised many by climbing all the way to the NHL this season for Montreal, registering six points in 24 games at the highest level. The undrafted defenseman out of Western Michigan University had been playing exclusively in the minor leagues for the past few seasons, including time in the ECHL with the Kansas City Mavericks.

After showing he could handle himself–at least as an injury replacement–this new deal offers a nice raise even if he’s limited to time with the Laval Rocket once again. Schueneman only earned $175K in the AHL last season, but will now enjoy a $275K salary and an even bigger guarantee.

It also seems likely that he’ll get a handful of games with the big club once again, even if he isn’t expected to be a regular right away. Montreal moved out Alexander Romanov at the draft and could be shipping Jeff Petry somewhere this offseason. Depending on what they do in free agency and how their young players respond in training camp, there could be minutes available for players like Schueneman.

Montreal Canadiens Issue Several Injury Updates

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The Montreal Canadiens are on fire. The team has won four in a row under new head coach Martin St. Louis, with Cole Caufield looking reborn. The team is still dead last in the Eastern Conference, but they’ve now passed the Arizona Coyotes and are at least showing some fight for the future. With that in mind, the team has issued several updates on their injured players, starting with Carey Price.

Price is “doing better” in his off-ice rehab, but he’s still not ready to return to the ice just yet. The 34-year-old goaltender has been out all year for various reasons and may end up missing the entire year. The Canadiens aren’t rushing anything in their franchise goaltender’s rehabilitation, knowing that there’s not really any benefit in getting him back into games this season.

Corey Schueneman has been cleared from the COVID protocol and returned to practice today. He was joined by several other teammates that have been dealing with injuries. Joel Armia was at practice, is listed as day-to-day, but won’t play on Saturday night. Mathieu Perreault was a full participant in practice and is also listed as day-to-day. Josh Anderson meanwhile has been cleared to play tomorrow against Ottawa.

The two big ones are Joel Edmundson and Jake Allen, who have been out for quite some time–or in the former’s case, the entire season. Edmundson was on the ice for the first time with teammates, and will travel with the group to Ottawa. He won’t play, but it’s great to see Edmundson back on the ice at all after the nightmare season he has gone through. Allen was also on the ice and is “progressing” though there is no clear timeline on his return. Nor for Paul Byron, who is dealing with an upper-body injury and has no timeline for a return.

Canadiens Place Corey Schueneman In COVID Protocol

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Most of the Canadiens went through COVID protocol in late December when the team was at one point down more than 20 players.  However, a handful of them didn’t contract the virus at that time and one of the ones who didn’t – defenseman Corey Schueneman, has been placed in COVID protocol, per a team announcement (Twitter link).

The 26-year-old was recently recalled to Montreal to take the place of injured defenseman Ben Chiarot and played a career-high 21:24 in Thursday’s victory over St. Louis while being one of two defenders to see time in overtime.  Schueneman was likely set to be the one going back down to the minors with Chiarot expected to return on Sunday and this placement will create the roster spot needed to bring the veteran off injured reserve.

Worth noting is that just before being recalled to the Canadiens, Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Laval had a COVID outbreak of their own that has resulted in seven players being added to protocol.  Schueneman will have to miss at least the next five days as a result of the placement, one that could be longer if he’s symptomatic.

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