Snapshots: Price, Girard, Kane, Devils

Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price has been out with a “minor” lower-body injury since Montreal’s Nov. 2 game against the Minnesota Wild. Two weeks later, Price hasn’t returned to the lineup. Last Tuesday, it was announced that he would sit out two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as his injury wasn’t healing as suspected. Then he proceeded to sit out of practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the team didn’t practice Sunday. That led Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan to suggest that things don’t seem to be adding up in Montreal.

The scribe writes that this no longer seems like a “minor” injury at all and questions whether it ever was. When Cowan asked Canadiens’ coach Claude Julien about whether there was an update on Price’s condition, his response was, “No.”

No one has said what the specific injury is that Price has sustained and the goalie insists that it has nothing to do with the right knee injury in November two years ago that was also held secret for a large chunk of the season. Cowan suggests the lack of information the team has given out can only lead to speculation, suggesting that maybe the team might be looking to trade Price before his eight year, $84MM extension kicks in next year.

• Mike Chambers of the Denver Post tweets that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard is in the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings, meaning that he officially has entered into Year 1 of his entry-level deal. He played five games for the Nashville Predators, and after being dealt to Colorado in the Matt Duchene trade, has played five games for the Avalanche. He would have had to be returned to his junior team before he played in his 10th game had the team wanted to avoid burning the first year of his entry-level deal.
• The Athletic’s Craig Custance (subscription required) did a Q&A on Buffalo Sabres winger Evander Kane and the forward was quick to say that he is well aware of the trade speculation that surrounds him and rather than block it out, he just chooses to focus on his on-ice play. “It’s not going to do you any good or help your case or your team. For me, I just embrace it. I enjoy it. It’s something that you have to be aware of,” Kane said.
• Andrew Gross of The Record writes that the New Jersey Devils have shaken up their lines in practice today, which are expected to go into effect in their game Monday against Minnesota Wild. There will be several changes, but Pavel Zacha, who was a healthy scratch for four of the last five games, is expected to move into the top six, while Adam Henrique is expected to move down to the fourth line.