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Justin Barron

Predators Assign Kevin Gravel, Marc Del Gaizo To AHL

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The Nashville Predators have assigned defensemen Kevin Gravel and Marc Del Gaizo to the AHL. Del Gaizo passed through waivers on Thursday. The moves follow the arrival of new trade acquisition Justin Barron, who joined Nashville’s practice for the first time on Friday per NHL.com’s Brooks Bratten. Star defender Roman Josi also returned to team practice on Friday, one day after he was placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 10th.

Nashville will soon get to see what their blue-line looks like at full strength, after parting ways with Dante Fabbro and Alexandre Carrier, and sending Del Gaizo to the minors. Josi and Jeremy Lauzon will fill vacancies on the left-hand side, while Barron brings much-needed depth on the right.

The new look couldn’t come at a better time. Only two Predators defenders – Adam Wilsby (3) and Brady Skjei (2) – have recorded multiple points since the start of December. Josi will quickly address that lacking production, soon to return to his 23 points in 29 games this season. Nashville will hope that scoring can rub off on Barron and Lauzon, who each have just one point in 17 and 23 games respectively.

Meanwhile, Gravel will return to productive years in the minors. He serves as the Milwaukee Admirals’ captain, and has five points in 20 games this season, already halfway to his 10-point total from last year. Gravel will be joined by Del Gaizo, who played in just two AHL games before becoming an injury fill-in on the NHL roster. He hasn’t yet recorded any minor league scoring, but did post 34 points in 60 AHL games last year – a mark that led all Admirals defensemen.

Canadiens Acquire Alexandre Carrier

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The Canadiens and Predators have swapped blueliners before Thursday’s roster freeze.  Montreal has acquired Alexandre Carrier from Nashville in exchange for defenseman Justin Barron.  Both teams have announced the deal.

Carrier is in his seventh NHL season, all of which came with Nashville after they drafted him in the fourth round back in 2015.  He has gone from a depth defender to one counted on inside their top four.

However, the 28-year-old hasn’t been able to duplicate his 2021-22 performance that saw him land a spot on the All-Rookie Team.  That year, Carrier had 30 points and 124 blocks in 77 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night of ice time.  He only managed 29 points in the following two seasons and has seven in 28 outings this season while averaging just over 20 minutes per game.  Carrier is currently dealing with an upper-body injury but is believed to be ready to return to the lineup, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).

Carrier had a chance to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this past summer but instead elected to remain in Nashville, inking a three-year, $11.25MM deal that runs through the 2026-27 campaign.  With David Savard being a pending unrestricted free agent and a speculative trade candidate as a result, it stands to reason that Carrier will eventually take his role as the veteran option on the right side of Montreal’s back end, ensuring they’ll have one experienced player on that side beyond this season.

As for Barron, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Colorado back in 2020, going 25th overall.  It’s the second time in his career that he’s been on the move after he was the centerpiece of the package that the Canadiens acquired in exchange for winger Artturi Lehkonen back at the 2022 trade deadline.

At the time, Montreal was hoping that he’d become a key cog on their back end for years to come.  However, while Barron has shown flashes of being a capable NHL player, he has struggled with consistency.  Last season, despite a stint with AHL Laval, he collected seven goals and six assists in 48 games while averaging 18:38 per game and it appeared as if he’d turned a corner in his development.  That earned him a two-year, $2.3MM bridge deal this past summer.

Unfortunately for Barron and the Canadiens, that hasn’t been the case this season.  He has been a frequent healthy scratch over the first two-plus months of the year, only getting into 17 of 31 games.  In those outings, he has been limited to just one goal (without recording any assists) while his playing time has dropped to just 14:43 per game.

This move gives Nashville a younger player to try to turn into a full-time piece while saving the team $2.6MM on the salary cap.  Barron will also still have two years of team control when his deal expires while Carrier will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract is up.  With the Preds struggling much more than many expected this season, it will be interesting to see if GM Barry Trotz has any plans to quickly utilize those cap savings with the roster freeze approaching or if he’ll wait until the new year to try to add another piece to their roster.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Canadiens Activate Kaiden Guhle From Injured Reserve

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The Canadiens announced that Kaiden Guhle will be back in the lineup tonight against the Capitals. The defenseman will be activated from injured reserve, but with two open roster spots, no corresponding transaction is necessary. Justin Barron will also return after missing the last three games with an upper-body injury.

Guhle’s activation was prefaced yesterday by Logan Mailloux’s return to the minors. It wasn’t necessary to open up a roster spot, but Mailloux was going to be sitting in the press box once Guhle was ready to come back. That’s not the right move for the 21-year-old’s development away from the puck, so he’ll return to the AHL to improve his defensive game.

Guhle, 22, had missed the last five games with an upper-body injury. He was off to a hot start on the scoresheet before exiting the lineup, scoring once and adding three assists with a +4 rating in five appearances. His 20 blocked shots still rank third on the team, but as possession metrics indicate, that’s more indicative of how much time he spent in his own end than anything else. Guhle had been given challenging even-strength deployment, but the Canadiens still only controlled 34.5% of shot attempts and 49.9% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength in the early going.

A left-shot, Guhle will return to his usual top-pairing role on his off side next to Mike Matheson. Barron, a 22-year-old righty with one goal in seven games this season, will comprise Montreal’s third pairing with Jayden Struble. Arber Xhekaj, a healthy scratch twice earlier this month, will sit in the press box to make way for Barron.

Guhle is in the final season of his entry-level contract. Over the offseason, he signed a six-year, $33.3MM extension that will pay him an average of $5.55MM per season starting in 2025-26.

Justin Barron Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury, No Supplemental Discipline For Jacob Trouba

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After a blowout loss to the New York Rangers last night, the Montreal Canadiens are suffering an additional loss on their blue line. The team announced earlier that defenseman Justin Barron is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is likely to be re-evaluated before the team’s next game against the St. Louis Blues.

Barron’s injury stems from a massive body check delivered by Rangers’ captain Jacob Trouba in the third period of last night’s contest which consequently ended Barron’s evening. The hit (Video Link) came with approximately 13 minutes remaining in the game with New York already holding a three-goal lead. Barron attempted to carry the puck into the offensive zone until he was immediately stopped in his tracks by Trouba.

It’s made clear in the video that Trouba came into contact with Barron’s head as a result of the hit which had a few members of the Canadiens’ organization seeking supplemental discipline for Trouba. Longtime veteran of Montreal, Brendan Gallagher, was publicly discomposed with the lack of penalty called on the play saying, “They had a clean hit on the ice, we have a hit to the head from a player that’s had multiple, multiple warnings. So, whether the league decides to do the right thing, whether he gets another pass, that’s up to them“.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported earlier that the league’s department of player safety won’t be issuing any supplemental discipline for Trouba. The league interpreted Barron’s chest as the main point of contact with the blow to the head being excused by Rule 48.1 of the NHL’s Official Rules which states: “whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not ’picked’ as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward“.

Canadiens Re-Sign Justin Barron To Two-Year Deal

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The Canadiens have re-signed defenseman Justin Barron, according to a team release, which states that the Canadian righty will receive a two-year, $2.3MM contract. He’ll cost $1.15MM against the cap through 2025-26.

After a trio of seasons with the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads, the Avalanche selected Barron 25th overall in 2020. He spent his post-draft season back with Halifax before inking his entry-level contract with Colorado in April 2021, finishing out the season with their AHL affiliate. He made his NHL debut for the Avs the following season but played just two games before he was sent to Montreal in a deal for winger Artturi Lehkonen.

The 22-year-old has steadily climbed up the Montreal depth chart since. He’s spent the slight majority of the last two seasons on the Canadiens roster but has still seen significant time with their AHL affiliate in Laval. That’s where he played the back half of last season, playing almost exclusively in the minors after being sent down in mid-January. He was, however, recalled for a seven-game stretch in April to finish the regular season in Montreal.

In 94 games with the Avs and Habs the past few years, the Halifax native has 12 goals, 18 assists and 30 points with a -8 rating while averaging 18:33 per night. He’s already held his own offensively while playing fringe top-four minutes and likely still has second-pairing upside long-term. Barron has solid possession numbers and has consistently had better shot attempt shares than the Habs’ team average.

All signs point to him being ready to graduate to full-time NHL usage next season, but he enters a tight competition for spots with other youngsters like Lane Hutson, Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj, who signed a slightly richer two-year deal earlier today. Notably, Barron’s $1.15MM cap hit is the maximum that can be stashed in the minors without incurring a penalty. However, sending him to Laval would require exposing him to waivers, and he’d likely get claimed.

Barron was Montreal’s last remaining unsigned RFA. He’ll be eligible for arbitration when his new deal expires.

Canadiens Notes: Reassignments, Offseason Plans, Slafkovsky, Caufield, Gorton

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The Canadiens trimmed their roster significantly today, assigning four players to AHL Laval. Defensemen Justin Barron, Logan Mailloux and Jayden Struble, as well as forward Joshua Roy, are headed down to the minors to finish the 2023-24 season. Laval, with two games remaining, is attempting to clinch a playoff berth in the North Division.

Roy’s reassignment confirms he’s been cleared to return from an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup since mid-March. The 2021 fifth-round pick has quickly risen up the professional ranks, posting four goals and nine points in 23 games during his first couple of NHL stints this year. The 20-year-old was among Laval’s most effective per-game producers before being called up to the Habs, impressing in his rookie season with 13 goals and 32 points in 40 games.

Mailloux, selected in the late first round in 2021, made his NHL debut last night against the Red Wings, posting an assist and a +1 rating in 21:14 of ice time. He leads Laval defenders and is third on the team in scoring with 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games, his first in the professional ranks.

Barron and Struble both spent significant time on the NHL roster this season but weren’t exactly full-timers, seeing extended stints in the minors as well. The 22-year-old Barron’s season was a more even split, skating in a career-high 48 NHL games but failing to eclipse last year’s career-high of 15 points. He knocked on the door of playing top-four minutes, averaging 18:38 per game, and posted strong relative possession numbers. While he hasn’t impressed much in Laval with 11 points and a -5 rating in 30 games, his major-league showing was strong enough to keep him in consideration for an opening-night job on next season’s roster.

Like Mailloux and Roy, Struble is in his first full professional season. The 22-year-old has been on the NHL roster exclusively since November, aside from a brief reassignment to Laval on March 8 to make him eligible for minor-league playoff action. He became a bottom-pairing mainstay on the Habs’ blue line, notching 10 points in 56 games with a -3 rating while averaging 16:07 per game. He was similarly strong in limited action with Laval early this season, posting six points and a +4 rating with 29 PIMs in 12 games before heading up to Montreal.

Other updates coming from the Habs’ front office in today’s end-of-season availability:

  • GM Kent Hughes made apparent to reporters today that adding on offense will be his off-season priority. The Fourth Period reports he may leverage the organization’s surplus of young defensemen to get it done rather than gunning for a top-six scoring forward on the free agent market. Eight defensemen on the NHL roster for last night’s game are already under contract for next season, not including Barron and Arber Xhekaj, who are pending RFAs. Hughes also confirmed that he doesn’t intend on taking advantage of the two buyout windows this summer to open up some cap space or part ways with a veteran (via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels). The club will have no buyouts on the books next season, with Karl Alzner’s expiring this summer. A likely candidate would have been center Christian Dvorak, who was limited to nine points in 30 games this season with a pectoral injury and has one season left at a $4.45MM cap hit with an eight-team no-trade list.
  • Sophomore winger Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 20th goal of the season last night, awarding him a $250K performance bonus. That will be applied to next season’s books as a dead cap charge, PuckPedia reports, as Montreal had already exhausted the performance bonus pool awarded to them by Carey Price’s LTIR placement. Slafkovsky also informed reporters today he intends to represent Slovakia at the 2024 World Championship next month.
  • Joining Slafkovsky at the Worlds will be star goal-scorer Cole Caufield, who’s accepted an invitation from Team USA GM Bill Guerin to play at the tournament. Caufield largely fell short of expectations this season, limited to 28 goals in 82 games after sniping 26 in only 46 contests last year. The 2019 first-round pick still finished second on the team in scoring behind Nick Suzuki, however, and has a long runway to rebound with seven years remaining on his contract with a $7.85MM cap hit.
  • Habs executive VP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton was expected to draw some interest for any current or future GM vacancies that may arise this offseason, but he told reporters today, including TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, that he plans on sticking in Montreal. He was hired in November 2021 after the team relieved former GM Marc Bergevin of his duties, serving as interim GM for a few months before appointing Hughes in the role. Before joining the Habs, Gorton was the GM of the Rangers for six seasons and oversaw most of their late-2010s retool.

Canadiens Recall Justin Barron, Announce Injury Updates

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The Canadiens will be without a pair of defensemen for their game tonight against Toronto.  The team announced (Twitter link) that Kaiden Guhle is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury while Arber Xhekaj is also out with an upper-body injury; he is undergoing further evaluation to determine how long he might be out.  In a corresponding move, blueliner Justin Barron was recalled from AHL Laval on an emergency basis which means he won’t count against their post-deadline four-recall limit.

Guhle, who was injured early in Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay, is once again playing a big role on Montreal’s back end this season.  Through 70 games, he has six goals and 16 assists along with 178 blocked shots and 141 hits.  The 22-year-old sophomore leads the Canadiens in blocks and sits second among their blueliners in ATOI, logging a little under 21 minutes a night.

As for Xhekaj, he broke camp with the Canadiens but was sent to Laval for seven weeks midseason before being recalled in late January where he has been a regular in the lineup since then.  The 23-year-old has three goals and seven assists along with 125 hits and a team-high 81 penalty minutes in 44 games with Montreal in just under 16 minutes a night while he added 11 points in 17 contests with the Rocket.

Barron, meanwhile, has split the season between the NHL and AHL.  He has played in 41 games with Montreal (a career-high) and has a dozen points to his credit while averaging a little less than 19 minutes per contest.  However, the 22-year-old has spent most of the second half of the year in the minors and hasn’t been as impactful as expected although he still has 11 points in 30 AHL contests.

Mitchell Stephens Clears Waivers, Canadiens Send Justin Barron Down

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1/23: Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Stephens went unclaimed on waivers, and will now report to Laval.

1/22: The Montreal Canadiens have placed forward Mitchell Stephens on waivers and loaned defenseman Justin Barron to the AHL’s Laval Rockets. Stephens started the season in Laval, clearing waivers ahead of the season’s start. He scored 12 points in 16 AHL games before joining Montreal on December 1st. Meanwhile, Barron is slated for his first stint with Laval, after playing in 41 of Montreal’s 46 games this season. The 22-year-old defenseman has managed 12 points in that stretch, a step down from the 15 points he recorded in 39 games with Montreal last season. Barron also recorded 16 points in 25 AHL games last year.

While Stephens has already cleared waivers once this season, his depth has proven valuable throughout his eight-year professional career. Stephens was originally drafted 33rd overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, just a few picks before the Carolina Hurricanes drafted Sebastian Aho. He made his professional debut in the following year, playing five AHL games at the end of the 2015-16 season. He returned to juniors in the following season, but played his first full pro season in 2017-18, scoring 41 points in 70 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. That year’s scoring remains Stephens’ career-high, although he matched it in 68 games during Laval’s 2022-23 season. The 26-year-old forward has only played in 95 career NHL games, recording 16 points and 22 penalty minutes. He’s also recorded 219 career AHL games and 137 points.

Hockey Canada Releases Initial 2023 World Championship Roster

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Hockey Canada has released the initial complement of 20 players that will represent their country at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships next week in Finland.

It’s a more experienced roster than their American counterparts released, at least in terms of current NHL caliber. In net, they’re likely the most well-set team in the tournament, with projected rookie sensation Devon Levi sharing the crease with Montreal Canadien Sam Montembeault, who had a strong season in a tandem role with Jake Allen.

While 2023 presumptive first-overall selection Connor Bedard won’t join the team, likely to avoid risking injuries prier to his rookie season in the NHL, projected second-overall pick Adam Fantilli will. After capturing the Hobey Baker award in what’s likely his only season at the University of Michigan, Fantilli will join seasoned NHL veterans such as Milan Lucic, Scott Laughton, and Tyler Toffoli as Canada goes for gold at the Worlds.

Their defense is highlighted by MacKenzie Weegar. Although he had a tough season in Calgary, he’s not far removed from being a top 20 defender in the world and should make a significant impact at the tournament. Youngsters Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Justin Barron will also get a chance to shine for the Canadians.

The full 20-player roster is as follows:

F Cody Glass
F Jack McBain
F Milan Lucic
F Peyton Krebs
F Scott Laughton
F Jack Quinn
F Jake Neighbours
F Lawson Crouse
F Tyler Toffoli
F Sammy Blais
F Joe Veleno
F Adam Fantilli

D Pierre-Olivier Joseph
D Justin Barron
D MacKenzie Weegar
D Tyler Myers
D Ethan Bear
D Jake Walman

G Devon Levi
G Sam Montembeault

Justin Barron To Return For Canadiens

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The Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has confirmed that defenseman Justin Barron will return to the lineup for the team tonight as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the same announcement, St.Louis mentions that defenseman Chris Wideman will sit.

Having not played since their March 2nd game against the Los Angeles Kings, Barron will return back to the blue line in his first full season with the Canadiens. Having split time between the Canadiens and their AHL affiliate Laval Rocket, Barron has remained on the big league roster since his call-up on December 27th, 2022. During his time in Laval, he was extremely productive, scoring 16 points in 25 games.

After being acquired in the deal that sent Artturi Lehkonen to the Colorado Avalanche last year, the former first-round pick has become a defenseman that the Canadiens would like to build around in the future. Although he has not yet scored on a consistent level in the NHL, he has seen growth in all levels of the game so far throughout his young career.

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