The Canadian | Justin Barron in Laval, Mitchell Stephens on waivers

The Canadian transferred defender Justin Barron to the Laval Rocket this Monday afternoon and submitted the name of forward Mitchell Stephens to waivers.

This is pretty surprising news either way.

With the imminent return of Tanner Pearson to the lineup, it was predictable that a personnel move would be announced. However, removing two players, especially these two, raises some questions.

Justin Barron first. The arrival of Pearson could lead one to believe that an attacker would leave for Laval. Joshua Roy, for example, does not have to go through waivers. Obviously, on the organizational side, we want to see more from the Quebec winger. We therefore turned to the defense to remove a name from the list without running any risk.

Barron, in fact, has been struggling for some time. After spending several weeks on the second pairing, he was left out for three straight games last week. Upon his return, he was transferred to the third duo. Again Monday morning, in training, he was skating to the right of Jordan Harris.

In his second full season in the NHL, he is still struggling to find his feet. At the end of training camp last fall, he narrowly avoided the ax, watching the first three games of the schedule from the press box. His offensive qualities are obvious (12 points in 41 games).

However, defensively, he remains messy, particularly in his zone. In this regard, the Canadian acts with him as she did with Arber Xhekaj, who has just played 17 games with the Rocket, where he specifically had to work on his defensive deficiencies. We can even wonder if Xhekaj will not meet Barron on the orange line of the metro to join the Canadian. However, no recall has yet been announced.

Stephens, for his part, is one of the few healthy center players with NHL experience the organization is counting on. Since his recall from the minor leagues on December 2, he has played 23 games, obtaining three points and having a differential of +2. He also won 55.6% of his faceoffs.

If no team claims him on waivers, he will join the Laval Rocket.

Unless the Habs announce that they have acquired a new player by Tuesday, the list of internal replacements is not long. That being said, veterans Philippe Maillet and Lias Andersson are on nice streaks, respectively, of 15 points in 11 games and 9 points in 6 games.

The Canadian will play his next two duels at home, first against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, then against the New York Islanders on Thursday.

Monahan still absent

Forward Sean Monahan did not participate in the Canadian’s training on Monday, instead taking advantage of a day of treatments.

The 29-year-old Ontarian also skipped his turn last Tuesday, during the club’s last full training session. In the meantime, Monahan played in all three games for the Habs, accumulating six assists.

For his part, forward Tanner Pearson (upper body) trained again with his teammates. He has not played since December 9, against the Buffalo Sabres.