Canadiens Place Artturi Lehkonen On IR, Recall Sven Andrighetto
The Montreal Canadiens announced that they have placed left winger Artturi Lehkonen on injured reserve with an upper body injury, meaning he will miss at least a week of action. The issue likely occurred on Saturday night where the Finnish forward did not play a single shift in the third period against Philadelphia. In a corresponding move, the team announced the recall of right winger Sven Andrighetto from St. John’s of the AHL.
Lehkonen, a 2013 2nd round pick (55th overall) of the Canadiens, made the opening roster out of training camp and has played in all 12 of their games so far this season, bouncing from the first to third lines. He has two goals and an assist so far this season with 27 shots on goal, which ranks tied for eighth league-wide among rookies.
As for Andrighetto, he made the team out of camp but was placed on waivers in mid-October and went unclaimed. He’s off to a strong start in the minors this year with five goals and six assists in ten games. The Swiss winger has 56 NHL games under his belt in his career – including 44 last season – with nine goals and eleven assists.
[Related: Canadiens Depth Chart]
Snapshots: Injury Updates, Andrighetto, Tkachuk, Gerbe
The Buffalo Sabres have had a tough couple days, with Jack Eichel, Kyle Okposo, and Dmitry Kulikov missing the team’s home opener versus the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens beat them soundly 4-1 and Evander Kane left the game with what’s believed to be a rib injury. While Eichel is out long-term with a high ankle sprain, there is some good news for Sabres fans as Okposo and Kulikov both skated this morning with the team. The Sabres have not called up anyone from the AHL yet, as they don’t play until Sunday. They’ll let their farm team open the season with a full roster before plucking some players.
Down in Tampa Bay, rugged right winger Ryan Callahan is taking part in Lightning practice. Callahan has yet to play this season after hip surgery in June. We reported on Thursday that Callahan is expected to return by early November. Callahan was wearing a full-contact jersey, so he appears to be on track to do so.
- In anticipation of Jeff Petry returning the lineup, the Montreal Canadiens have placed Swiss forward Sven Andrighetto on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to the AHL, according to Elliotte Friedman. The former third round pick had 17 points in 44 NHL games last season, and has posted 110 points in 150 AHL games.
- Calgary Flames first round pick Matthew Tkachuk had an interesting first game in the NHL. He was held pointless, took a penalty, and earned a -1 rating, but appeared to get under the skin of the Edmonton Oilers. He slew-footed Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson, injuring him “for a while”. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector tweeted that he would be surprised if one of the Flames veteran leaders like captain Mark Giordano or Matt Stajan didn’t talk to Tkachuk about the slew-foot.
- After terminating his contract with the New York Rangers, dimunitive forward Nathan Gerbe has signed a three-year contract with Genève-Servette HC in the Swiss League. Gerbe had previously signed a contract with Genève-Servette in June before dissolving the contract to sign with the Rangers on July 1st.
Habs Notes: Andrighetto, Muller, Draft Pick
After news broke that Montreal Canadiens inked Sven Andrighetto to a one-year, $650,000 dollar deal yesterday, details of the contract came fast and furious. It’s a one-way deal that will see the forward reach arbitration next summer if he plays in at least 10 games this season. For the Canadiens, he represents the first of eight upcoming restricted free agents who played for their team this year. With Andrighetto’s 17 points in 44 games, he was arguably the most important RFA they had; the trio of Darren Dietz, Joel Hanley and Mark Barberio on the back end look like the next priority.
More from the Habs:
- After bringing Kirk Muller back as an associate coach earlier this month, the former Montreal great will again face criticism about his inability to speak French. When asked if he thought a Montreal coach needed to be able to speak the language, legendary Hab Guy Lafleur responded: “To me it’s not the question of French, English, Russian or whatever. If you’re behind the bench, you have to do the job and you have to do it right, and make sure the players are playing at their potential and at their best.“
- On the matter of P.K. Subban and his reported poor dressing room presence, Lafleur related a story: “I was right beside the dressing room one night with Yvan Cournoyer and P.K. was outside screaming and dangling, and Yvan looks at me and says: ‘It wouldn’t have worked out in our days. Somebody would have smacked him with a stick.'” Though Subban continues to be brought up in trade scenarios, TSN’s Darren Dreger recently squashed some rumors, reporting one GM was told “flat out” that he would not be traded.
- As noted this morning, Elliotte Friedman recently reported that the Canadiens are trying to move up from their slot at ninth overall in this year’s Entry Draft. Moving up to get a player like Pierre-Luc Dubois would surely ignite a fan base that had to suffer through a disappointing season after the injury to Carey Price. Dubois could go as early as fourth in the draft, meaning that the Canadiens would have part with some big pieces to secure the Quebec native.