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David Savard

Evening Notes: Hughes, Savard, Sandin-Pellikka

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Star New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes told All-Star Game reporters, “I think I’m really close, hopefully I can come out of the break here and feel good, finish the year really strong.” Hughes has missed New Jersey’s last 10 games with an upper-body injury. The absences earned Hughes a spot on injured reserve ahead of the All-Star break, though that move was seemingly a paper transaction so the team could claim defenseman Nick DeSimone from the Calgary Flames.

This injury marks Hughes’ second long-term absence this season, with the star also missing five games earlier in the season with a shoulder injury. He’s been a force to be reckoned with when he is healthy, boasting 45 points through just 32 games. That ranks him second on the team in scoring, despite his absences, and fifth in the league in points per game. Hughes, 22, has done a lot to establish himself as the Devils’ franchise centerman of the future. Now, he just needs to prove he can stay healthy.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Montreal Canadiens aren’t planning on parting ways with defenseman David Savard, per team general manager Kent Hughes. Savard is in his third season with the Canadiens, joining the team via unrestricted free agency with a four-year, $14MM contract signed during the 2021 summer. It was the first time in Savard’s then 11-year career that he reached free agency and he made sure to return to his hometown team. Hughes isn’t looking to change that decision this Spring.
  • Top defense prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka has returned to the Skelleftea organization after sitting out with an undisclosed injury suffered during the 2024 World Junior Championships. Sandin-Pellikka has been a standout name for Skelleftea, ranking third among the team’s defenders in scoring despite missing 13 games this season. He’s boasting 13 points through 26 games, the most among any U20 defensemen in the SHL. The Red Wings selected Sandin-Pellikka with the 17th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Canadiens Notes: Savard, Lindström, Monahan

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On an extraordinarily young Montreal Canadiens blueline, veteran David Savard has played a crucial role. The defensive stability he provides on the ice has paved the way for Mike Matheson to play the best hockey of his career, and his 21:26 time-on-ice (including a team-leading 3:40 per game short-handed) has helped the Canadiens achieve a better-than-expected start. But despite how much value he is delivering to Montreal, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels writes in his most recent mailbag that the Canadiens are “going to have to seriously consider moving” Savard “in short order.”

The rationale behind trading Savard is twofold: first and foremost, he could very well return a premium draft pick or prospect due to his quality play, the fact that he’s a Stanley Cup-winning right-shot defenseman, and the fact that he’s affordable for the rest of this season and under team control for $3.5MM for 2024-25. Additionally, the emergence of Jayden Struble combined with the need to re-integrate Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj into the NHL lineup means trading Savard would clear room needed by those players. And it would also be useful with an eye to the team signing top prospect Lane Hutson after his NCAA season concludes. So while Savard is an extremely important defenseman for the Canadiens now, it appears his days in Montreal could be numbered.

Some other notes regarding the 24-time Stanley Cup Champions:

  • Since the Canadiens’ upcoming defensive logjam could very well cause David Savard to be traded, it also indicates that Gustav Lindström is unlikely to maintain his spot on the NHL roster with the Canadiens for much longer. According to Engels, the Canadiens are likely to waive or trade Lindström whenever Harris returns. The 25-year-old was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings this offseason and has scored four points in 14 games, averaging 15:16 time-on-ice per game. He has played four games for the AHL’s Laval Rocket this season and could soon become available to the rest of the NHL once again.
  • Up front, the number-one Canadiens trade candidate is center Sean Monahan. It must be said that a significant factor impacting Monahan’s trade future is his health, as the seven-time 20-plus goal scorer has suffered significant injuries in recent years. According to Engels, the Canadiens have not yet “concretely discussed an extension” with Monahan, and he could be one of the top forwards available on the market come trade deadline season.

Canadiens Activate David Savard Off Injured Reserve

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The Canadiens activated defenseman David Savard off injured reserve Sunday, per a team release. He will return to the lineup tonight against the Predators after a 22-game absence due to a hand fracture. To stay under the 23-player roster limit, the Canadiens assigned defenseman Mattias Norlinder to AHL Laval.

Savard has played just five games this season, sustaining the fracture on October 23 late in a game against the Sabres. The 33-year-old has registered two assists and posted middling possession numbers in a short sample, controlling 44.7% of expected goals when paired with Mike Matheson, per MoneyPuck.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis is expected to reinstate Savard in a top-pairing role in his return to the lineup. Doing so will provide some relief for 22-year-old Justin Barron, who’s seen some tough assignments alongside Matheson in Savard’s absence and will now line up against slightly easier competition in a second-pairing role.

Savard is in his third season with the Habs after signing a four-year, $14MM contract as a free agent in 2021. The 2021 Stanley Cup champion with Tampa Bay has missed 20 games each in the past two seasons with various injuries, and he last played a full 82-game season in 2018-19 as a member of the Blue Jackets. Since signing in Montreal, Savard has served the rebuilding squad well, averaging 21:32 per game and logging six goals, 33 assists, and 39 points in 129 games.

Norlinder, who does not require waivers, heads back to the minors after a nearly three-week stint on the NHL roster. He did not appear in a game, however, instead sitting as a healthy scratch for nine straight contests. It’s puzzling not to see the 23-year-old inserted into the lineup after he had a strong training camp, although he’s sputtered out of the gate to start the season in Laval. In 14 games before the callup, Norlinder had just two points and a -15 rating. He’s played six NHL games since Montreal selected him 64th overall in the 2019 draft, all coming in the 2021-22 campaign. He will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer upon the conclusion of his entry-level contract, but he’s looking like a non-tender candidate and could find himself seeking a contract elsewhere.

Canadiens’ Mike Matheson Out Day-To-Day

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman Mike Matheson is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old suffered the apparent injury during the club’s 4-3 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets. Matheson has been on a tear to start the season with two goals and four assists in his first eight games of the campaign. Matheson dealt with several injuries last year in what was a shortened season for the Pointe-Claire, Quebec native. He dressed in just 48 games in 2022-23 registering eight goals and 26 assists and was a +7.

The Canadiens are already missing David Savard with a broken left hand and can ill afford to lose Matheson for any length of time after a surprising 5-2-1 start to their season. The Canadiens were expected to be in a transition year but have impressed thus far winning a lot of close games.

The severity of Matheson’s injury is unknown; however, early indicators are that his ailment isn’t of the serious variety. Matheson will travel with the Canadiens to Las Vegas today for their upcoming road trip, which indicates that he will likely play in the next week in one of the three games on the trip. Arpon Basu of The Athletic has tweeted that the team is saying that Matheson’s injury is nothing serious.

Matheson missed much of the Canadiens training camp with an injury that seemed to linger for longer than expected. This was also the case for several of the injuries he dealt with last year, including the abdominal strain that occurred at a morning skate and eventually caused him to miss the first month of the season.

While Matheson’s injury frequency must be of concern, his play on the ice is not. Since a difficult final season with the Florida Panthers, Matheson has been extremely responsible and creative with the puck which has led to him posting solid offensive numbers in recent years. And should the Canadiens’ assessment be correct, Matheson will return later this week to hopefully continue his solid start to the season.

Canadiens’ David Savard Out Six To Eight Weeks

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman David Savard will miss the next six to eight weeks with a fractured hand. Savard suffered the injury attempting to block a Tage Thompson slapshot in Montreal’s Monday night win against the Buffalo Sabres. The Canadiens have used an emergency recall on Gustav Lindstrom in light of Savard’s injury.

This is a major blow for Montreal, who has faced a significant injury in three of their first five games of the season. Savard becomes the fifth Hab to be sidelined, joining Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Chris Wideman, and Kaiden Guhle. These injuries have forced Montreal to take on a much different look than what they entered the season with, primarily on the blue line, where Justin Barron, Jordan Harris, and Lindstrom have been able to establish roles that weren’t previously there for them. Barron is taking particular advantage of the opportunity, netting two goals in three games through the early season, operating on Montreal’s top pair alongside Mike Matheson.

Savard’s long-term injury is another damper on the season. The 33-year-old has two points through Montreal’s five games this season; now in his third year with the club. Savard is signed through the 2024-25 season to a contract carrying an annual average value of $3.5MM. It’s the second-most expensive contract on Montreal’s blue line. Savard is a 740-game veteran of the NHL, playing his rookie season in 2011-12. Nearly 600 of those games came with the Columbus Blue Jackets, whom Savard spent a decade with, before joining the Tampa Bay Lightning for 14 games and a Stanley Cup run and then finding his way to Montreal. With Savard out of the lineup, the average age of Montreal’s defense drops to 23.9.

East Notes: Couturier, Van Riemsdyk, Milano, Canadiens

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Flyers center Sean Couturier had been skating for the last few weeks with the hopes of returning to the lineup before the end of the season.  Those plans have now changed as head coach John Tortorella told reporters, including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the 30-year-old has now been shut down for the season.  The good news for the Flyers is that Couturier hasn’t suffered a setback.  Instead, the team simply decided that there wasn’t much benefit to bringing him back for a few games and that it would be better for the veteran to simply focus on continuing to rehab the back injury that has sidelined him since training camp.  Suffice it to say, this was not the way anyone in the organization hoped that the first season of Couturier’s eight-year, $62MM contract was going to go.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk will miss at least a week due to an upper-body injury, notes Roman Stubbs of The Washington Post (Twitter link). The 31-year-old suffered the injury late in Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay.  While Washington has struggled a bit this year, this season has been a good one individually for van Riemsdyk as he has set career highs offensively with seven goals and 23 points while averaging over 19 minutes a night for only the second time.  That helped him earn a three-year, $9MM extension last month.
  • Still with Washington, winger Sonny Milano was a full participant in practice today and is trending towards playing tomorrow, relays Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has been a nice bargain for the Capitals this season, collecting 32 points in 58 games, a nice return on a league minimum contract.  He, too, has a three-year extension in hand already, one that will carry a $1.9MM AAV starting next season.
  • 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.

Injury Notes: Savard, Teravainen, Fiala

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The Montreal Canadiens announced David Savard would not play tonight. The veteran defenseman took warmup ahead of the Habs game against the Florida Panthers, but was ruled out after leaving the ice ahead of the rest of his teammates. The team tweeted out that Savard is dealing with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.

Savard plays a big role on the Canadiens blue line, as he is second on the team in average ice time. The 32 year old plays a top four role at even strength and is a key contributor to the team’s penalty killing unit as well. The Canadiens have dealt with a plethora of injuries this season, and Savard is just the next victim to the injury bug in Montreal.

  • Carolina Hurricanes winger Teuvo Teravainen will not play tonight, the team announced via Twitter. The 28 year old is not having his typical production, as he has scored 12 goals and 36 points in 63 games. The skilled Finnish forward is often closer to a point-per-game pace and with Max Pacioretty and Andrei Svechnikov out long term, the Hurricanes need a healthy and productive Teravainen as the playoffs approach. Luckily, he is out with an illness which means he should not miss a lot of time.
  • Los Angeles Kings winger Kevin Fiala is also out of the lineup tonight, per a tweet from the team. Fiala has fit in seamlessly in his first season with the Kings, scoring 22 goals and 70 points in 68 games so far this season. He has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Unfortunately, he is missing a key game as the Kings take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight and the teams are separated by just one point in the standings.

Montreal Canadiens Place David Savard On IR

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The Montreal Canadiens announced this evening that they have placed defenseman David Savard on IR retroactive to December 4th. No additional transaction was announced, however the team is carrying seven defensemen, having been without the veteran since December 3rd.

Savard has been dealing with an upper-body injury apparently suffered during that December 3rd contest, and was originally considered day-to-day. On Tuesday of this week though, the Canadiens updated Savard’s status as being out two-to-three weeks. Placing Savard on IR now isn’t necessarily a bad sign as far as his recovery is concerned and could be a matter of giving the Canadiens some roster flexibility heading into the looming Christmas roster freeze, and perhaps indicates the team knows he won’t be back at least until things open up again.

Though some might say the Canadiens are performing above expectations this year, the team likely doesn’t see it that way and continues to fight for a playoff spot in the crowded Eastern Conference, now sitting at 14-15-2 after tonight’s loss. The team would certainly need to step it up a little to get into a Wild Card position, though that’s not unreasonable. However, getting back Savard, who is second on the team in average time-on-ice, only behind Mike Matheson, who’s played just nine games this season, will be key. Savard’s shutdown defense will be necessary considering the team, and its fairly inexperienced blueline, has struggled with keeping the puck out of their own net, ranking 23rd in the league in goals against.

Montreal Canadiens Release Injury Updates

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The Montreal Canadiens have updated several injury statuses, including one that fans of the team were dying to hear about. Cole Caufield will travel with the team and is available for tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators. For David Savard and Sean Monahan, things aren’t so positive. Both players will be out for two to three weeks. Mike Matheson and Jonathan Drouin are listed as day-to-day, though the latter will travel with the team to Ottawa.

Caufield’s status is the most encouraging after he took a huge hit from Trevor Lewis last night that looked like it might keep him out for a while. The young forward is off to a brilliant start to the season with 16 goals and 25 points in 28 games. His continued development under head coach Martin St. Louis is one of the biggest successes of the year for Montreal, and one that will likely lead to a huge extension at some point for the diminutive sniper.

Monahan’s injury, though, is terrible for the team. Not only was he playing excellent hockey, rebounding from hip surgery nicely, but he had become one of Montreal’s top trade chips. The pending free agent could be an excellent addition for a contending team looking for center depth, but he’ll have to stay healthy. A weeks-long absence doesn’t take him off the board but will certainly cause some hesitation in teams that might have been focusing in on him as a target.

Savard is back to playing big minutes for the club this season but still doesn’t have strong results. The 32-year-old is signed through 2024-25 and has eight points through 24 games this year. While he isn’t driving play for the Canadiens, the team doesn’t have the deepest group to choose from and will be icing quite a few young defensemen in his absence.

Injury Notes: Canadiens, Blues, Brodin

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The Montreal Canadiens will be without defenseman David Savard and forward Sean Monahan when they take on the Seattle Kraken tonight. Per the team, Savard is dealing with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. At the same time, Monahan has a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated when the team returns to Montreal after their road trip concludes tonight.

Savard is second among Canadiens defensemen this season in points (eight) and average time on ice (22:17). While his defensive play hasn’t been what it was during the end of his time in Columbus, he’s a vital minute-muncher on a youthful Montreal defense. His usage is the highest it’s been in more than five years, so it’ll be testing for the Habs rookies to see if they can handle some increased minutes in his absence. Monahan is also in the middle of a well-documented resurgence, sitting in fourth place on the Habs with 17 points in 25 games this year. He’s also been great in the faceoff circle, winning over 55% of his draws and leading the team in total faceoff wins (177).

  • While the St. Louis Blues are on their way to a convincing road win on Long Island, they did it without a pair of key players in winger Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Torey Krug. Buchenvich was out with a lower-body injury, while Krug missed the game with an upper-body injury. Head coach Craig Berube noted pre-game that both players need further evaluations before “knowing whether the injuries would be more short-term or long-term.”
  • Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason said today that although defenseman Jonas Brodin won’t make his return to the lineup tomorrow, the Swede looked “great” today and is close to returning. Brodin, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, has missed a combined five games this year with this injury and an earlier illness. While known for his defensive prowess, he’s still in the middle of a down year offensively, with just four assists in 19 games.

 

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