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Kaiden Guhle Out Tuesday; Will Be Reevaluated When Montreal Returns Home

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After a tough 9-2 loss today at the hands of the Washington Capitals, the Montreal Canadiens received some more bad news. Rookie defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who missed today’s game with a lower-body injury, has already been ruled out of Tuesday’s game in Nashville against the Predators, the team says. Guhle will be reevaluated when the team returns to Montreal after the Tuesday contest. The 20-year-old was injured during the third period of Thursday’s game against the Florida Panthers.

Losing Guhle is a tough break for the Canadiens, who have had a respectable bounce-back in the standings thus far as compared to last season, but have had their recent struggles, giving up 16 goals in their last two games, 20 in their last three. The 16th overall pick of the 2020 NHL draft, Guhle is known for his physical playstyle, throwing 72 hits and blocking 65 shots through 36 games. Though he’d be considered more of a stay-at-home defenseman, the rookie has contributed nicely on offense too, recording 14 points through those 36 games.

Oliver Kapanen Signs One-Year Extension In Finland

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  • Canadiens prospect Oliver Kapanen has signed a one-year extension with KalPa through the 2023-24 season, the Finnish team announced. The 19-year-old was a second-round pick by Montreal in 2021 (64th overall) and has seven goals and seven assists in 32 SM-liiga games this season.  He’s currently playing for Finland at the World Juniors where he has two points in three games so far.

Lower-Body Injury For Kaiden Guhle

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  • The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Kaiden Guhle will miss Saturday’s game against Washington due to a lower-body injury sustained late in Thursday’s loss to Florida. The 20-year-old sits third in the league for average ice time for a rookie, logging 20:46 per night while picking up 14 points in 36 games.  David Savard joined the team for practice today and could be activated off injured reserve although they’d have to free up a roster spot for that to happen.

Devante Smith-Pelly Announces Retirement

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NHL veteran and Stanley Cup Champion forward Devante Smith-Pelly announced his retirement from hockey today. The 30-year-old announced his choice via Instagram.

Drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round in 2010, Smith-Pelly broke into the NHL just two seasons after being drafted. He recorded 13 points in 49 games during his rookie season in 2011-12 with the Ducks.

He spent most of the following two seasons with their AHL affiliate at the time, the Norfolk Admirals, but was called up near the end of 2013-14 for the first of his two clutch playoff performances. Smith-Pelly recorded 10 points in 19 games down the stretch in Anaheim and notched five goals in 12 playoff games as the Ducks fell in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. He scored a last-minute goal in Game 6 of their first-round series against Dallas, tying the game and sending it to overtime, where Anaheim eventually won the series.

Smith-Pelly was a full-time NHLer the next few seasons but bounced around between the Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, and New Jersey Devils before finding a home with the Washington Capitals for 2017-18. It was there where Smith-Pelly achieved his dream of winning the Stanley Cup, equaling his regular-season goal total by scoring seven goals in 24 playoff games for Washington.

His last NHL games came in 2018-19, when he appeared in 54 games for Washington, scoring eight points. He spent the following three seasons playing in the KHL and AHL. In 2021-22, his last season of professional hockey, Smith-Pelly had eight points in 24 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

PHR wishes the best of luck to Smith-Pelly in his retirement and issues congratulations on a clutch, championship-winning career.

Montreal Canadiens Activate Brendan Gallagher

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The Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Brendan Gallagher will play tonight, meaning he has been activated off of injured reserve.

Gallagher has been out for most of December with a lower-body injury. Partly due to his absence from their lineup, the Canadiens have struggled recently, winning just three of their last ten games.

Although Gallagher’s production isn’t what it once was (he scored just 24 points last season and has eight in 22 games this year) he remains an active producer of scoring chances and the analytics community has largely viewed his play quite positively.

One of the Canadiens’ most passionate leaders, Montreal will be hoping that Gallagher’s’ return to health can help their scoring attack. Backed by the league’s worst power play, the Canadiens have scored just four goals in their last three games.

Gallagher should be an improvement over some of the forwards the Canadiens have been playing. Now healthy and back in the lineup, Gallagher will hope to get back to the level of production he showed a few years ago, such as in 2019-20 when he scored at a 60-point pace.

Sean Monahan Skates For First Time Since Injury; Paul Byron Progressing, Hasn't Skated

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  • The Montreal Canadiens provided some medical updates this afternoon. Of note, forward Sean Monahan, who has been out since December 5th with a lower-body injury, is progressing well and skated today for the first time since the injury. The first-year Canadien had been enjoying a strong bounce-back season with 17 points in his first 25 games. Getting Monahan back in the lineup will not only be good for Montreal’s own performance, but the three-time 30-goal scorer could fetch a relatively significant haul at the trade deadline, just months after Montreal acquired him along with a first-round pick from the Calgary Flames for salary cap purposes. Veteran forward Paul Byron, who has yet to play this season while dealing with hip surgery is still yet to skate, but is making progress, albeit slowly, off the ice. Byron, 33, is in the last year of a four-year, $13.6MM deal.

Latest On Brendan Gallagher

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  • The Montreal Canadiens are dealing with their own rash of injuries, currently missing veterans such as Brendan Gallagher, Mike Matheson, Sean Monahan, and David Savard. The Canadiens have said, via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, that Gallagher is the only one of that group that will be joining the team for their trip to Florida, meaning Montreal could be getting a crucial veteran leader back in their lineup in the near future.

Canadiens Recall Justin Barron

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The Canadiens have decided to get a look at one of their main acquisitions from the trade deadline last season as they announced the recall of defenseman Justin Barron from AHL Laval.

Montreal picked up the 21-year-old last season at the trade deadline from Colorado as part of the move that saw Artturi Lehkonen head to the Cup-winning Avalanche.  While Barron got into five games with the Canadiens last season, this will be his first taste of NHL action this year.  So far at the minor league level with the Rocket, he has seven goals and nine assists in 25 games.

With David Savard and Mike Matheson both injured, Montreal was only carrying six healthy blueliners prior to this recall.  Considering the Canadiens still have four games left on their season-long seven-game road trip, some injury insurance on the back end was needed and it will be Barron that gets the nod.

Montreal to Honor P.K. Subban With Pregame Ceremony January 12th Against Nashville

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  • The Montreal Canadiens will be paying homage to one of their greats later this season, honoring the recently-retired P.K. Subban in a pregame ceremony on January 12th before the team takes on another of Subban’s former teams, the Nashville Predators. The former Norris Trophy winner spent his first seven seasons with the Canadiens before an infamous 2016 trade sent him to Nashville in a one-for-one swap with Shea Weber. Three years later, Nashville dealt Subban to the New Jersey Devils where he finished out his career. Subban ultimately retired this summer after hitting the free agent market.

Montreal Canadiens Loan Rem Pitlick To AHL

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The Montreal Canadiens announced that they have loaned forward Rem Pitlick to the Laval Rocket, their AHL affiliate. In a related move, the team has also recalled forward Anthony Richard from Laval. Pitlick has bounced around between Montreal and Laval plenty this season, while this will be Richard’s first call-up since clearing waivers and being assigned to the Rocket back on October 5th.

Pitlick, 25, has done his best to ensure the shuffle hasn’t held him back too much this season. The forward has six points through nine games with Laval thus far, though he has just one point, a goal, in 14 games with Montreal. Still, the former Nashville Predators draft pick hasn’t been able to repeat his production from last season, where he had 15 goals and 22 assists over 66 games between Montreal and the Minnesota Wild.

Also a former Predators draft pick, Richard, who turns 26 on Tuesday, has dominated the AHL thus far this season, recording 31 points in 26 games, on pace to eclipse his previous career-high in the league of 47, recorded over 73 games back in 2018-19. Should he get into action for the Canadiens, it would be the Quebec native’s first action with the Canadiens and first NHL games since he played a single game with the Predators in 2019-20.

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