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Joel Armia

Canadiens Recall Joel Armia, Place Arber Xhekaj On IR

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In preparation for tomorrow’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, the Montreal Canadiens announced they have recalled forward Joel Armia from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. In a corresponding move, the team has placed defenseman Arber Xhekaj on injured reserve, and it is retroactive to his last game on November 16th.

Notably failing to make the team out of training camp and being placed on waivers shortly thereafter, this will be Armia’s second call-up of the season. After receiving a promotion to the Canadiens on October 21st, Armia played in six games for Montreal and scored one goal in that time before being sent back down on November 12th.

While in Laval, Armia has been an effective point producer for the Rocket, scoring six goals and three assists in eight games, placing him seventh on the team in overall scoring, even while playing in about as half as many games as the rest of the roster. Nevertheless, with a relatively high salary of $3.4MM for this season and next, Armia should still largely factor as a sunk cost for the Canadiens on the remainder of the contract.

Xhekaj, on the other hand, is indicative of another growing trend with Montreal recently, making him the third player on the team to go on the injured reserve in the last several days. Fellow defenseman Jordan Harris, as well as forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard, have also gone down with injuries in recent days.

After a relatively strong start to the season given the talent level on the NHL roster, the play of the Canadiens has slipped dramatically over the last several weeks. Starting off the season with a 5-2-1 record, Montreal has slipped to last place in the Atlantic Division after going 3-7-1 in their next 11 games.

Montreal Canadiens Recall Gustav Lindström, Loan Joel Armia To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have recalled defenseman Gustav Lindström, according to a team announcement. In a corresponding move, the Canadiens loaned Joel Armia to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

The rationale behind these two roster moves is quite clear. The Canadiens were carrying only six defensemen, in large part thanks to the fact that they are carrying three goalies on their 23-man roster.

With defenseman Jordan Harris dealing with an injury and currently a game-time decision for tonight’s contest against the Vancouver Canucks, the Canadiens needed an extra defenseman on their roster to provide security in case Harris can’t play.

With David Savard injured, the state of the Canadiens’ defensive depth chart leaves Lindström as the team’s seventh defenseman. So the veteran has been elevated to the NHL roster, leaving the Rocket just before their game against the Manitoba Moose.

In order to recall Lindström the Canadiens needed to clear room on their roster, and to do so they’ve sent Armia to the AHL. Armia, who cleared waivers earlier this season, was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens’ win last night over the Boston Bruins. With four goals and five points for the Rocket this season, he’d be a major addition to the Laval lineup should he dress for any games.

Atlantic Notes: Ekman-Larsson, Sabres, Armia, DeBrusk

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When Vancouver decided to buy out Oliver Ekman-Larsson this summer, it was the richest buyout in NHL history.  It’s a move the blueliner didn’t see coming as he told Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription link) that he was surprised by their decision after his exit meetings and discussions with the team had been focused on his role with the Canucks for the 2023-24 campaign.  Ekman-Larsson elected to take a one-year deal with the Panthers this summer worth $2.5MM and with the injuries to both Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, they have leaned on him heavily so far as he is averaging more than 25 minutes a night through Florida’s first four games.  The last time he passed that threshold was back in 2014-15 with Arizona and while it’s unrealistic to think he’ll play that much the entire season, they’re certainly pleased with the early returns so far.

More from the Atlantic:

  • While Devon Levi and Zach Benson took part in Buffalo’s practice today, neither will be in uniform tonight against the Islanders, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. Both rookies are listed as day-to-day with lower-body injuries.  Neither have been placed on IR because of the short timelines for a return so they’re not able to bring replacements up from AHL Rochester.  With Levi unavailable, Eric Comrie will make his first start of the season for Buffalo.
  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that the Canadiens had re-engaged in trade talks around winger Joel Armia last week. The veteran cleared waivers earlier this month and was just recalled earlier today but won’t play tonight against Washington.  Armia has another season after this one left on his contract which carries a $3.4MM AAV.  Accordingly, it stands to reason that any trade involving him will be a swap of overpaid veterans in need of a change of scenery.
  • Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk will be a healthy scratch tonight against Los Angeles, the team announced (Twitter link). The scratching isn’t a performance-based one but rather a disciplinary one as he was late to a team meeting.  The 27-year-old has been held without a point through his first three games of the season, not quite the start he was hoping for in a contract year as he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time next summer.

Montreal Canadiens Recall Joel Armia, Assign Filip Mešár To OHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced two roster moves: veteran forward Joel Armia has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, and 2022 first-round pick Filip Mešár has been assigned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.

With second-line center Kirby Dach now confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, the Canadiens had a need for an extra forward on their NHL roster. The player they have chosen to fill Dach’s spot is the veteran Armia, 30.

The owner of a $3.4MM cap hit through next season, Armia has had three consecutive difficult seasons in Montreal.

The six-foot-three, 216-pound former top prospect has at times been an impact player in Montreal (such as in 2019-20 when he scored 16 goals and 30 points in just 58 games) but his consistency has been sorely lacking.

With training camp battles for forward spots highly competitive in the Canadiens’ preseason, Armia failed to secure a role on the team’s season-opening roster and was sent to Laval after clearing waivers.

An opportunity to play a top-line role and reset his game in the minors seems to have been the right call for Armia, who has scored four goals and five points in four AHL games this season.

Now back on the Canadiens’ NHL roster, Armia is likely to receive fourth-line winger duty with either him or Michael Pezzetta sitting in the press box as the team’s spare forward.

As for Mešár, the 2022 26th overall pick heads back to Kitchener after failing to earn a regular role on a Rocket team flush with quality scoring-line winger options. He did score his first career AHL point in yesterday’s win over the Rochester Americans, but was playing as a fourth-line right-winger next to Riley McKay and Jan Myšák.

The Canadiens seem to believe that the best path forward for Mešár’s development is to play a major role in the OHL rather than a limited role in the AHL.

Mešár’s underwhelming debut season in the OHL last year (he scored 51 points in 52 games) indicates that he still has some unfinished business in that league, so the hope will be that he’ll have a highly productive (if not dominant) final season playing junior hockey.

Since two Laval forwards are now leaving the team’s lineup, these departures could pave the way for Canadiens prospect Jared Davidson to play an increased role for the Rocket. The 21-year-old 2022 fifth-round pick had an impressive training camp and preseason but has fallen victim to the numbers game in Laval and played just one game so far for the team.

With Armia and Mešár no longer in the picture and fellow prospect Emil Heineman out with an injury, the roadblocks to Davidson receiving a regular role in the AHL could now be cleared.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Montreal Canadiens To Assign Joel Armia To AHL, Recall Arber Xhekaj

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Although an official team announcement is pending at this time, CapFriendly reports that the Montreal Canadiens will send down forward Joel Armia to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, as well as recall defenseman Arber Xhekaj in a corresponding move.

In this move, it will be the first time since the 2015-16 season, then under contract with the Winnipeg Jets organization, that Armia will spend some time in the American Hockey League. Acquired from the Canadiens in 2018, Armia was actually included as a sweetener in a deal that would see Montreal absorb the contract of goaltender Steve Mason. After a couple of solid seasons in Montreal, mostly due to injuries, Armia’s production has continued to slip, losing him a spot on the roster for the foreseeable future.

On the positive side of the coin to this deal, the Canadiens will see the return of one of their more imposing defenseman from last season. Due to a shoulder injury in February that would derail the remainder of his season, Xhekaj would play in 51 total games, scoring five goals and eight assists. More importantly, given his style of play on the blue line, Xhekaj would throw a total of 159 hits during his rookie campaign, as well as nine fights.

With cap space being a bit of an afterthought this season in their rebuilding efforts, the Canadiens will accrue a $2.25MM buried penalty for sending Armia to the AHL. The new-look cast in Montreal will start their season off this evening against their long-time rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Waivers: 10/08/23

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Oct. 9: Four players on this list were claimed today: A.J. Greer (Calgary), John Ludvig (Pittsburgh), Ivan Prosvetov (Colorado), and Lassi Thomson (Ottawa). All others have cleared and are expected to be assigned to their team’s respective AHL affiliates, aside from Boyd, who PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports remains on the Coyotes’ active roster for now.

Oct. 8: It’s expected to be a busy day on the waiver wire, as NHL teams are making their final adjustments to the roster they’ll bring into the start of the 2023-24 season. There have already been numerous notable names exposed to the waiver wire thus far this preseason, and that list could only expand today. All players from yesterday’s waiver wire have cleared.

Anaheim Ducks

D Lassi Thomson
G Alex Stalock
F Andrew Agozzino

Boston Bruins

F Patrick Brown
F A.J. Greer

Arizona Coyotes

F Travis Boyd
F Zach Sanford
G Ivan Prosvetov

Carolina Hurricanes

D Dylan Coghlan

Chicago Blackhawks

F Joey Anderson

Colorado Avalanche

F Riley Tufte

Dallas Stars

F Riley Damiani

Detroit Red Wings

F Zach Aston-Reese

Edmonton Oilers

F Raphael Lavoie
F Lane Pederson
D Ben Gleason

Florida Panthers

F Zac Dalpe
D John Ludvig
D Casey Fitzgerald

Los Angeles Kings

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Montreal Canadiens

F Joel Armia
D Gustav Lindström

Ottawa Senators

F Bokondji Imama

Pittsburgh Penguins

G Magnus Hellberg
F Colin White
D Mark Friedman
F Vinnie Hinostroza
F Radim Zohorna

St. Louis Blues
F Mackenzie MacEachern
D Calle Rosen
G Malcolm Subban
F Nathan Walker

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Zach Bogosian
F Gabriel Fortier

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Martin Jones
F Kyle Clifford
F Dylan Gambrell
D William Lagesson
D Maxime Lajoie

Vancouver Canucks

F Jack Studnicka
D Christian Wolanin

Vegas Golden Knights

F Grigori Denisenko

Winnipeg Jets

D Kyle Capobianco
G Collin Delia
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

The big surprise here out of Arizona regards Boyd. The versatile 30-year-old veteran doesn’t have an exorbitant contract (just $1.75MM through the end of the season) and has scored 69 points across the last two seasons.

He’s been something of a breakout player for the Coyotes as his 17-goal, 35-point 2022-23 was far and away his best season in his career, so it’s definitely a surprise to see him exposed on waivers.

For Anaheim, the move to waive Stalock likely means that Lukáš Dostál has won the Ducks’ backup goalie job behind John Gibson, as should Stalock clear the Ducks will have the option to send him down to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.

In Edmonton, it comes as a little bit of a surprise to see Lavioe waived. The 23-year-old power forward was drafted just outside of the 2019 first round, and took a real step forward in his development last season. He became a genuinely impactful AHLer, scoring 25 goals and 45 points. He’s a name to watch in terms of players with the potential to be claimed out of this group.

Anderson-Dolan finally made the NHL on an extended basis last season, and scored 12 points in 46 games. He even got some playoff action under his belt, but seeing as he was a near-point-per-game scorer in his last season in the AHL, it seems the Kings could prefer to have him start the season with the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

Rosen appears the likeliest candidate from the Blues’ group of waived players to be of interest to other teams, as he’s owed just a $762.5k cap hit this season and impressed in 49 games of NHL action last season. He scored 18 points in that span and could interest teams in need of some additional defensive help.

Out of Tampa is Bogosian, and it’s reported that the Lightning are hoping to put the veteran blueliner in a position to land on another team where he can play a bigger role than he’d be offered in Tampa. The 33-year-old won a Stanley Cup for the Lightning and it seems that the organization is looking to do right by the player while also turning to other options to staff their defense.

One of the biggest names on waivers comes out of Toronto, as Jones played in 48 games last season but now finds himself exposed to 31 other clubs. With an $875k cap hit, the veteran netminder could end up claimed by teams in need of instant goaltending support, such as the Lightning who don’t have much depth after the injury to superstar Andrei Vasilevskiy.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

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.

Atlantic Notes: Harvey-Pinard, Armia, Acciari, Foligno

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Canadiens rookie winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard leads all NHL rookies in goals since being recalled a little over two months ago which is something that should definitely help this summer in restricted free agency.  However, it will be a new agency representing him as Quartexx announced (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old is now one of their clients.  He had previously been represented by CEM Hockey.  Harvey-Pinard has 14 goals and five assists in 32 games since being recalled and is already tied for fourth on Montreal in goals.  Even though he’s just finishing his entry-level contract, he will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Canadiens winger Joel Armia participated in practice today with a regular jersey, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has missed more than a month with an upper respiratory infection.  It has been a tough year for Armia who has been limited to just 37 games this season and has just seven points but it appears he’ll have a chance to at least get into a few more contests before their 2022-23 campaign comes to an end.
  • While Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari returned to practice today, head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link) that Acciari won’t play this weekend. The veteran missed Wednesday’s game against Florida with an undisclosed injury but Keefe clarified that it is a neck/whiplash injury.  The 31-year-old has three goals and 57 hits in 17 games since being acquired from St. Louis back in mid-February.
  • There is some optimism that Bruins winger Nick Foligno should be ready to return for the playoffs, notes Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). The 35-year-old has missed the last month due to a lower-body injury and is currently on injured reserve but not LTIR.  Foligno has had a bit of a bounce-back campaign, notching 10 goals and 16 assists in 60 games after recording just two goals and 11 helpers in 64 contests in 2021-22.

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

Injury Updates: Klingberg, Henrique, Blackwood, Ekman-Larsson, Armia, Mantha

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that defenseman John Klingberg is out with a lower-body injury. There was no word on whether his status was considered day-to-day or something longer, though the team noted that Nathan Beaulieu would be drawing into the lineup in Klingberg’s place. While this development won’t have any impact on the Ducks’ long-gone playoff hopes, it could have an impact on the trade deadline. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that this is not an instance of a team holding a player out of the lineup for trade-related reasons, as we have seen teams do with other blueliners such as Jakob Chychrun and Vladislav Gavrikov.

While Klingberg, 30, has had a nightmarish season in Anaheim (22 points in 48 games, down in scoring pace from 47 in 74 last season) he’s still a well-regarded offensive defenseman. Just last summer he earned a $7MM one-year deal, and it’s likely that there would be teams interested in acquiring him at the deadline. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta links Klingberg with the Edmonton Oilers’ search for defensive help at the deadline, and it’s likely that there would be more than just Edmonton looking to add him to their team. Assuming that’s the case, interested teams will likely want to monitor his health status closely due to this news. In addition to Klingberg, the Ducks also announced that Adam Henrique would be leaving the game with an injury, which could be another injury development with trade deadline implications.

  • New Jersey Devils netminder Mackenzie Blackwood is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, reports NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. Starter Vitek Vanecek will retain the lion’s share of Devils starts in Blackwood’s absence. Blackwood will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer and will hope to get this injury behind him and improve on his current .900 save percentage in order to put himself in the best position possible for summer contract negotiations.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have announced that defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been placed on injured reserve. It was previously reported that Ekman-Larsson would miss several weeks with an ankle injury, and now the Canucks have made that reality official on their roster, as they’ve placed Ekman-Larsson on the injured list. With him out, the Canucks are turning to Riley Stillman and Christian Wolanin on the left side of their defense, and will now have an extra spot on the 23-man roster to work with.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Joel Armia has left tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils. He left the bench relatively early in the first period, and at the moment it’s unclear the exact nature of what knocked him out of the game. Armia has had a difficult season, with just eleven points in 31 games. He’s had games where he’s looked quite good, but those games have been met with far longer stretches where he’s faded into the background of games. With the Canadiens already ravaged by injuries, they’ll have to hope that this new injury is a relatively minor one.
  • The Washington Capitals have announced that forward Anthony Mantha has an upper-body injury, and will not return to tonight’s game. It’s been a rough season for Mantha and a difficult adjustment in Washington overall. Mantha has scored nine goals and 24 points in 53 games this season and is being outscored by two of the team’s bargain-bin veteran signings, Erik Gustafsson and Marcus Johansson. Hopefully, this injury proves to be just a minor setback so Matha can quickly return to the ice and work towards ending his season on the right foot.

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