The Canadiens got both some good news and bad news on the injury front today. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Mike Hoffman will be activated off injured reserve and suit up tonight against Los Angeles. The veteran has five goals and three assists through his first 16 games of the season and will at least give Montreal 12 healthy forwards to use after finishing up their road trip with only 11 healthy ones.
Meanwhile, defenseman Mike Matheson will be unavailable tonight due to an undisclosed injury. He left practice early on Friday and while he took part in the morning skate, he obviously isn’t healthy enough to play. The 28-year-old has six points in his first nine games with Montreal while logging a team-high 24:25 per night on the back end.
More from Montreal:
- To make roster room for Hoffman’s activation, the Canadiens moved winger Brendan Gallagher to injured reserve. The veteran has missed the last four games due to a lower-body injury and is expected to miss at least a few more days before being cleared to return. Montreal was eligible to back-date the placement and if they did so, Gallagher could be activated at any time.
- Center Sean Monahan is still sporting a walking boot, notes Marc-Antoine Godin of The Athletic (Twitter link). He was able to play through his foot injury for a few games but left Monday’s game early and hasn’t skated since then. There’s no timetable for his return. Monahan figures to be one of the more prominent middlemen available at the trade deadline after putting up 17 points in his first 25 games so it’s likely that Montreal will play things safe with the injury and not rush him back.