Canadiens Notebook: offseason keeps getting worse for Habs

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This hasn’t been a good offseason for the Canadiens.

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Since losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final three months ago, the Canadiens have learned that captain Shea Weber will not play this season due to injuries and that his career may be over. Phillip Danault went to the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent and fellow center Jesperi Kotkaniemi went to the Carolina Hurricanes on an offer sheet.

Paul Byron underwent hip surgery in the off-season and is expected to be out until January.

Mike Hoffman, who signed as a free agent, suffered a lower body injury while preparing for training camp. Hoffman was on the ice Thursday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard with a member of the team’s training staff, but he was skating very cautiously and is not expected to be ready to play for another couple of weeks.

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Cédric Paquette, another free agency signing, also skated with a member of the training staff on Thursday while recovering from a groin injury and there is a chance he will be ready for the first game of the season next Wednesday in the afternoon. night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

Joel Edmundson is expected to be out for another 2-3 weeks with an undisclosed injury that has kept him out since the start of training camp. His fellow defender Sami Niku is still recovering from a concussion.

On Thursday, goalie Carey Price voluntarily entered the NHL / NHLPA player assistance program and will be absent for a minimum of 30 days.

That means Jake Allen will be the Canadiens’ number one goalkeeper when they start the season with Samuel Montembeault as a likely backup after being claimed by the Waivers from the Florida Panthers last Saturday.

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“I think picking Samuel on waivers today gives us a safety valve that I’m glad I did because otherwise I think other teams would have seen the news and I don’t think anyone moved the goalkeepers to replace Carey Price “General manager Marc said. Bergevin said Thursday.

The Canadiens also have goalkeeper Cayden Primeau.

“We have good goalkeepers here and we will work with them,” said head coach Dominique Ducharme. “We will need everyone to play every night to make up for that loss. This is how you handle it, as a group. No one will replace Carey Price. “

Null leadership

Weber and Price were two of the Canadiens’ key leaders and it will be very difficult to replace them both on and off the ice.

No player will wear the “C” this season in Weber’s absence. Brendan Gallagher will wear an “A” on his sweater for each game, while other players will take turns joining him as alternate captain.

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“I think we have a good group,” Bergevin said when asked about the team’s leadership. “With Weby here for five years, I think he left a legacy among his teammates, how to be a good professional, how to put his team ahead of anything else.

“Carey will be back, I think, and we have guys who have already been through the grind,” added the general manager. “Yes, we have leadership in this group and I think they will rise to the occasion once again.”

The times they Are a changing

Bergevin played 20 NHL seasons as a defender, beginning in 1984-85 with the Chicago Blackhawks, during a period when playing in pain, either physical or mental, was expected.

“I think now the guys are more willing (to ask for help),” Bergevin said. “There is no stigma as back then it might have been seen as weak, which was wrong. But it was probably the way we were built and now it’s more outdoors and I think it will be better for everyone, not just hockey, I think it’s all major sports. I sincerely believe that it is also present in all areas of life.

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“In the pandemic, many people went through different problems,” added the GM. “It has been difficult for many people and not because you are an athlete (it is different). I’m sure some people find it very difficult. If that’s the case, we encourage people to come out because of the problems they have. “

Family affair

Ducharme said he will go head-to-head with every player on the team before the start of the regular season.

“Sometimes in families there are people who don’t get along or there are frictions and things like that,” Ducharme said when asked if the Canadiens were both a family and a team. “I think we are a very close family and they care about each other, their well-being and the way the boys play. They don’t care who scores, they don’t care who gets a star and how the guys are succeeding and playing etc, but also how they are doing off the court and everyone is very close. “

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