Stu Cowan: As Allen returns to the Canadiens network, thoughts are with Price

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It was less than a week before the start of the regular season that the Canadiens announced that Carey Price would be entering the NHL / NHLPA player assistance program.

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General manager Marc Bergevin said last weekend that when he informed the rest of the players that Price would be leaving the team, he surprised them and caught them off guard, adding that he may have had a feeling of guilt for not being able to help him. before. reached that point.

The Canadiens started the season with five straight losses and are 5-13-2 heading into Wednesday’s game against the Capitals in Washington. (7 pm, SNE, SNO, SN1, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), the beginning of a three game road trip.

“Obviously, we miss him … he’s our best player, he’s the face of the franchise here,” Jake Allen said after Tuesday’s practice at Brossard when asked about his initial reaction to Price’s news. But immediately it was a shock, no doubt, to take in.

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“All that day we talked a little bit about everything internally,” Allen added. “Wow, we never saw any of this coming. We were with Carey the last few weeks. But I think we all quickly realized that it is important to him and it is important for us to support him and then I think we all understood that we will just give him his space and peace and we will do whatever he has to do to come back and he seems to be in very good shape. humor. I was chatting with him at the gym. Good mood and he’s working hard to get back and we can’t wait for that to happen. “

Price reunited with his teammates on November 9 after completing 30 days in the player assistance program related to substance use. He hasn’t skated since Monday, but continues to work out in the gym to get in shape while also recovering from off-season knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

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“He’s working on everything he has to do to get back into shape first, knee therapy second and things like that,” said head coach Dominique Ducharme. “It’s a day-to-day thing where sometimes you see really good improvement and sometimes it’s a little slower. He’s here every day working on it. “

Meanwhile, the Canadiens’ season continues and they got good news Tuesday when Allen was cleared to play after missing the last four games with a concussion. Allen will be in goal Wednesday night in Washington. He is 4-8-1 with an average of 2.78 goals against and a .905 save percentage without receiving much help from his teammates.

“I think it’s been a wall back there,” center Jake Evans said. “It was a rock back there. It gives the guys a lot of confidence. You know he’s going to make those big saves and do what he can to win. It has been great this year. We’ve definitely had times where we haven’t been helping him and we’d like to improve that. So it will be great to have him back. “

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Defender David Savard added about Allen: “I played against him in junior. I knew he’s a really good goalkeeper. Happy to have you back. I think he played very well for us. In front of him, I think we didn’t play very well at the beginning of the season, but he gave us the opportunity to stay in the games. So it’s fun to have him back and I think he’s been really looking forward to coming back last week, and it’s fun to have him back on the ice. “

The Canadiens also hope to have defender Joel Edmundson in the lineup for the first time this season. He practiced with his teammates for the second day in a row Tuesday, but has yet to be cleared for contact as he recovers from an undisclosed injury that has sidelined him since the start of training camp. There is a chance Edmundson could play next week. After practice Tuesday, it was announced that defender Brett Kulak would not be making this trip due to a lower body injury.

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No one has missed Edmundson more than his regular defensive partner Jeff Petry, who is 0-2-2 and under-4 after 20 games. After 20 games last season, Petry had totals of 6-12-18 and was over-11.

There’s no question that injuries have physically hurt the Canadiens, but what about the mental impact Price’s situation had on them, which Bergevin spoke about?

“Well obviously they care about the person first,” Ducharme said. “We had some bad news (days) in a row… so obviously it can have a mental impact on the guys. Having him back (now) we know that he is calm, he also has that confidence. So it’s good to have him around. That impact will be even greater when you return to the locker room, get dressed, go to the ice and start playing, for sure.

It is not known when that could happen.

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