Canadiens claim defender Kale Clague from Kings waivers

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It will be considered the first move on the list made by Jeff Gorton since taking over as the new executive vice president of hockey operations.

Author of the article:

Stu cowan • Montreal Gazette

In 33 career NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings, who drafted him in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft, Kale Clague has totals of 0-11-11.
In 33 career NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings, who drafted him in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft, Kale Clague has totals of 0-11-11. Photo by Ronald Martinez /fake images

The Canadiens announced Saturday afternoon that they have claimed defender Kale Clague outside of the Los Angeles Kings exemptions.

In 11 games with the Kings this season, Clague was 0-5-5 and was under-2. He also played five games for the AHL’s Ontario Reign, posting totals of 0-4-4 and a plus-2.

Clague, 23, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 177 pounds, was selected by the Kings in the second round (51 overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. The Regina native has played 33 NHL games in his career with totals of 0-11-11.

Clague represented Canada twice at the youth hockey world championships, winning a silver medal in 2017 and a gold medal in 2018.

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Claiming that Clague will become Jeff Gorton’s first roster move since taking over as the Canadiens’ new executive vice president of hockey operations.

Canadians have been decimated on the blue line this season. They have been without captain Shea Weber all season and it seems their career is probably over due to injuries. Joel Edmundson has not played a game all season due to a back injury and Jeff Petry did not travel to Nashville for Saturday’s game against the Predators. (7 pm, SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) due to an upper body injury. That’s three-quarters of the four “Clydesdales,” as assistant coach Luke Richardson called them, on defense from last season’s playoff run to the Stanley Cup final now missing. The only Clydesdale still in the lineup is Ben Chiarot.

Defender Sami Niku also did not travel to Nashville after testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, along with forward Brendan Gallagher. Both were quarantined for 10 days under the NHL COVID-19 protocol.

There was good news for the Canadiens on Saturday with coach Dominique Ducharme confirming that forward Mike Hoffman will return to the lineup after missing the last nine games with an upper body injury.

“I come to the court and I try to keep the energy positive,” said Hoffman, who is 4-3-7 in 13 games this season. “Obviously, it has been a difficult year and it is not very easy to play with him and return to the court the next day with a positive mentality. So I try to talk to the guys and try to keep the room lit as much as I can. “

Jake Allen will start in goal for the Canadiens against the Predators. He is 5-11-1 with an average of 2.96 goals against and a .907 save percentage. Defender Mattias Norlinder will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the Bell Center.

The Canadiens only performed an optional morning skating Saturday in Nashville.

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Reference-montrealgazette.com

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