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Chris Wideman

Chris Wideman Announces Retirement

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Sep. 17: Wideman officially announced his retirement on Tuesday via a statement from the Canadiens.

April 16: Through a report from Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Presse, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman has announced his retirement from the NHL. Wideman, who is currently suffering from a back injury, has not played in a game since the 2022-23 NHL season, which has likely led to the retirement.

Originally drafted with the 100th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft, Wideman would spend the next four seasons with Miami University of Ohio hockey program. Over 195 games spent with the RedHawks, Wideman would score 12 goals and 95 points in total, helping lead his team to two trips to the Frozen Four, and one National Championship appearance.

Once his time in the NCAA came to an end, Wideman joined the Senators’ AHL affiliate at the time, the Binghamton Senators. Over the next three seasons, Wideman would skate in 208 regular season games with the AHL Senators, scoring 30 goals and 130 points overall.

Thanks to his offensive performance in the AHL, Wideman managed to make his debut in Ottawa during the 2015-16 season, putting together a six-goal 13-point rookie performance over 64 games. During his sophomore year, Wideman would reach career highs in nearly every category, scoring five goals and 17 points in 76 games.

The next three years would not be as kind to Wideman, as he was traded three times during the 2018-19 season. After brief stints with the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, Wideman would finish the season spent in the AHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

His down 2018-19 season correlated with an off-ice incident that took place in the back of an Uber vehicle. At the time, a video recording was released of Wideman and six of his teammates criticizing other players and members of the coaching staff leading to a public apology from the players.

After receiving limited experience from North American teams, Wideman experienced a career resurgence overseas. Signing a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL, Wideman scored nine goals and 41 points in only 59 games.

Due to his success in Russia, the Canadiens took a flyer on Wideman’s services, signing the defenseman to a one-year, $750K contract. Both the player and team were well rewarded, as Wideman took off for four goals and 27 points in 63 games.

Unfortunately, both last year and this season have been mired by injuries, with Wideman playing his last game a little over a year ago. Throughout his career, Wideman will finish his career with 20 goals and 78 points over 219 games played.

Injury Notes: Wideman, Kylington, Norris

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The Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Chris Wideman will be out indefinitely with a back injury. No further details have been provided.

This news comes as Montreal opens up its training camp with plenty of question marks surrounding its blue line. Including David Reinbacher, the Canadiens have nine different defenders competing for an NHL role. With Wideman out, the competition opens up more to young defenders like Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle, and Jordan Harris. But without details of what’s holding Wideman out, it’s unclear how long those roster spots will remain open. Wideman is on the second year of a two-year contract signed last summer, carrying a cap hit of $762.5K into the 2023-24 season.

Other injury notes:

  • The Calgary Flames announced that the team’s medical and fitness testing determined that defender Oliver Kylington is unable to participate in the opening day of training camp. No further details were provided, in an effort to maintain Kylington’s privacy. The defender appeared in a career-high 73 games in 2021-22, recording nine goals and 31 points.
  • Ottawa Senators forward Joshua Norris was seen wearing a non-contact jersey as the team opened camp. The forward has been rehabbing from shoulder surgery in January and reportedly “tweaked” something at a recent team practice. General manager Pierre Dorion said that Norris pushed off wanting to wear a non-contact jersey but the team wants to be extra cautious. However, Dorion also shared that if the regular season started tomorrow, Norris would be in the starting lineup. That’s encouraging to hear, as Norris was held out of all but eight games last season, after recording 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games during the 2021-22 campaign. Norris will likely slot into the Senators’ top-six when they open up the regular season, although continuing to see how he progresses from this shoulder injury will be worth monitoring.

Justin Barron To Return For Canadiens

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The Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has confirmed that defenseman Justin Barron will return to the lineup for the team tonight as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the same announcement, St.Louis mentions that defenseman Chris Wideman will sit.

Having not played since their March 2nd game against the Los Angeles Kings, Barron will return back to the blue line in his first full season with the Canadiens. Having split time between the Canadiens and their AHL affiliate Laval Rocket, Barron has remained on the big league roster since his call-up on December 27th, 2022. During his time in Laval, he was extremely productive, scoring 16 points in 25 games.

After being acquired in the deal that sent Artturi Lehkonen to the Colorado Avalanche last year, the former first-round pick has become a defenseman that the Canadiens would like to build around in the future. Although he has not yet scored on a consistent level in the NHL, he has seen growth in all levels of the game so far throughout his young career.

Canadian Notes: Price, Dermott, Wideman

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Rumors have swirled over the future of Carey Price’s career ever since the severity of his knee injury became apparent. Those rumors intensified today when Sportnet’s Eric Engels said Price was scheduled to speak with the media on October 24. However, Engels notes that this is not a retirement announcement as many people first thought when his media availability was reported.

Price and his $10.5MM cap hit remain on long-term injured reserve, and he’s not expected to play at all this season as he continues his recovery from his knee injury. Price played just five games last season after missing nearly the entire year, and he certainly won’t top that number in 2022-23. The future Hall of Fame goaltender still wants to resume his playing career if he can, and he does have four years remaining on his deal to make an improbable recovery.

Montreal Canadiens Extend Chris Wideman

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The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms with veteran defenseman Chris Wideman on a two-year contract extension that will keep him in town through the 2023-24 season. Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports that the deal will pay Wideman $750K in 2022-23 and $775K in 2023-24.

For a player like Wideman, a two-year deal must seem like a long-term contract. The 32-year-old has played under one-year contracts for most of his career, including this season when he earned the minimum of $750K at the NHL level. Even that was a step up from his last few years playing in the AHL and KHL, where it appeared for a short time like Wideman’s NHL career was over.

Not so, after coming back with 27 points in 64 games for the Canadiens in 2021-22 and showing that he still has a place on an NHL roster. While he’ll never be the best option in his own end or against top opponents, Wideman is still a strong puck-mover that can take advantage of easier matchups and contribute to the powerplay. For a Montreal team that is heading into a rebuild, a two-year term gives them a reliable specialist to plug into the lineup on a regular basis, and one that desperately wanted to continue with the organization that gave him a second chance at the NHL.

The interesting part of a deal like this is what it might mean for some of the other veteran defensemen on Montreal’s roster. While Wideman isn’t exactly going to replace Jeff Petry, bringing him back does suggest that there might be other changes coming. With younger options like Jordan Harris, Alexander Romanov, Justin Barron, Kaiden Guhle, and Mattias Norlinder all expected to challenge for playing time, it’s hard to know how many spots will even be open.

Chris Wideman Suspended One Game

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The Department of Player Safety has issued the second suspension of 2022, banning Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman for one game. The head-butting incident that earned Wideman a suspension came in the third period of last night’s game against Erik Haula of the Boston Bruins. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that Wideman’s helmet makes clear, intentional, and direct contact with Haula’s face and head. This is not an occasion where two players accidentally or inadvertently collide in a scrum. Rather, this is an unacceptable and intentional head-butt delivered to an opponent’s face with some force. 

Notably, Wideman has not been fined or suspended previously, leading to a bit of leniency on behalf of the DoPS. Haula also did not suffer a serious injury like some other suspendable plays, meaning a one-game ban was always the likely outcome for the Canadiens defenseman.

This incident will be included on Wideman’s record moving forward, however, meaning any further supplementary discipline could come with a higher penalty. For now, he’ll forfeit $3,750 and have to miss Montreal’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks this evening.

Chris Wideman To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The Montreal Canadiens are already down more than half their roster due to injuries and illnesses but are about to lose someone else. Chris Wideman will have a hearing today with the Department of Player Safety regarding the incident with Boston Bruins forward Erik Haula last night.

In a scrum during the third period of a 5-1 blowout, while both players were being restrained by officials, Wideman appeared to deliver a head-butt to Haula’s face. He ended up with two penalties on the play, though both were listed for actions against Brandon Carlo, not Haula.

Recently, the 32-year-old Wideman was actually listed as a potential All-Star candidate by writers from NHL.com, after his relatively strong start to the season. The veteran defenseman returned after a year in the KHL to record nine points in 23 games for the Canadiens so far, but still only plays under 15 minutes a night for the struggling club. If he receives a suspension, he’ll be taken out of a lineup that is already missing wide swaths of talent, including seven players that are in the COVID protocol.

Goaltender Jake Allen also suffered an injury last night, leading to several Canadiens transactions. Cayden Primeau has been recalled from the taxi squad under emergency conditions, while Michael McNiven is up from Laval to take his spot on the taxi. Brandon Baddock and Louis Belpedio have been loaned back to Laval, while Kale Clague has exited the protocol and will rejoin the team.

Why The 2022 Trade Deadline Could Be A Seller’s Market

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The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is not exactly imminent. The delayed March 21 date this season is 11 weeks away and a lot can change in that amount of time. However, the end of the holiday trade freeze is the unofficial start to trade season leading up to the deadline. In the first few months of the season there have been ten trades completed, but outside of the Jack Eichel deal there have been very few moves of any substance. That may not change any time soon either.

An active trade deadline requires there to be identifiable buyers and sellers and they must be willing and able to deal. Buyers should not be an issue this season; the eight teams currently in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference may be locked in, as nearly 100 percentage points separate the eighth and ninth team in the conference standings, while the Western Conference includes 13 teams with .500+ records. Therein begins the sellers problem though. Only three teams out west look like potential sellers right now, while there could be more teams willing to sell in the east but many are in a rebuild and don’t have much to offer, while others are merely lacking impact rentals. There are also a number of fringe teams that probably should be sellers, but are close enough to a playoff berth that would mean so much to their players and fan base that they may hold out.

The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek notes another wrinkle that could limit sellers: five teams are currently operating with an interim GM. The Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks have hired new heads of their respective front offices in Jeff Gorton and Jim Rutherford, but neither has in turn hired his GM yet and seem unlikely to make major moves independently. This could take Gorton’s Canadiens, one of the most obvious sellers on paper, off the market. Rutherford’s Canucks hope to be in the playoff race, but he has already vowed that the team will either sell or stand pat this season and the longer it takes to hire a GM, the more likely it will be the latter. The Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks are all operating with temporary GMs, all of whom have limited experience. Chicago and Anaheim fired their most recent GMs and have internal replacements for the time being, while San Jose GM Doug Wilson is currently away from the team for medical reasons. As Duhatschek points out, the likes of Kyle Davidson, Jeff Solomon, and Joe Will are not only new to the GM position, but lack the relationships around the league to make impact moves. So while the Blackhawks look like bona fide sellers and the Sharks and possibly the Ducks could get to that point, will they actually be willing to make trades?

The Seattle Kraken also fall into a category all their own. The NHL’s newest team was just put together in its entirety this off-season. Although they struggled mightily all season and do possess a number of expiring contracts, it remains to be seen if GM Ron Francis is ready to blow it up.

On top of all of this, the rental market among potential sellers is not strong. Of the top 20 impending UFA’s in per-game scoring this season, zero are on teams with sub-.500 records and just three are on teams not currently in a playoff spot. Expand that to the top 50, and only ten players are on sub-.500 teams: Phil Kessel, Travis Boyd, and Johan Larsson for Arizona, Vinnie Hinostroza for Buffalo, Chris Wideman for Montreal, P.K. Subban for New Jersey, Tyler Ennis for Ottawa, and Calle Jarnkrok, Colin Blackwell, and Mark Giordano for Seattle. Even if valuable defensemen like Ben Chiarot and Colin Miller or even a future Hall of Fame goaltender like Marc-Andre Fleury are considered, it’s not exactly an inspiring list for teams adding at the deadline. More importantly, it’s a short list for a potentially large group of buyers.

For those teams looking to make a meaningful trade this season, the conundrum is when to make a move. On one hand, with a small group of exciting targets it may be beneficial to make a trade early and possibly avoid the high prices of deadline bidding wars. On the other hand, the pool of sellers could also expand closer to the deadline and prices could drop if there is a flood of supply to meet the demand. Until that happens though – if it even does – there will be few moves to make early on and quite possibly right up to the deadline. Serious contenders should be prepared to pay up or sit tight this season.

Montreal Canadiens Add Five Players To COVID Protocol

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Dec 29: After getting in one game last night, the Canadiens have placed two more in the COVID protocol today. Paul Byron and Cayden Primeau are both now unavailable and join the rest of the absences in the protocol. Byron was closing in on a return from injury and Primeau was expected to play this weekend with Allen unavailable. McNiven will now likely be recalled to backup Sam Montembeault.

Dec 27: The Montreal Canadiens have added another five players to the COVID protocol today, recalling a handful of replacements in the process. Jake Allen, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson, Jeff Petry, and Chris Wideman have entered the protocol, along with goaltending coach Eric Raymond. The team has recalled Cayden Primeau and Corey Schueneman to the active roster, while also bringing up Brandon Baddock, Gianni Fairbrother, Cam Hillis, and Michael McNiven to the taxi squad. The team will travel to Florida where they are currently scheduled to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night.

The new five will join Laurent Dauphin, Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen, and Tyler Toffoli, who were already in the protocol. The team also has almost countless injuries, meaning it’s not quite the full Montreal experience heading to face the Lightning. In a lost season for the Canadiens, nearly everything that could have gone wrong has, and they find themselves near the very bottom of the league standings.

If the games are played as scheduled, the team will no longer have to play short after the league amended the salary cap and emergency exception rules yesterday. Still, these recalls bring them close to the organizational limit; Primeau and McNiven were the only two other goaltenders in the organization signed to NHL contracts.

Injury Notes: Rust, Kase, Wideman

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Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed today that right winger Bryan Rust won’t play Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens. When talking about Rust’s injury, Sullivan said that “[Rust’s] continuing to be evaluated… I do not have an answer for you about if he will be on our upcoming road trip.” Rust was a late, unexpected scratch for Friday night’s game against the Islanders after suffering a lower-body injury during warmups. Rust has two goals and seven assists through 12 games this season, which has been a tough one for him so far with a variety of injuries and COVID concerns. It will be concerning if Rust doesn’t appear for Pittsburgh on their upcoming road trip, which ends on December 10th and includes stops against the red-hot Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Washington Capitals.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • Forward Ondrej Kase won’t play for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night against Anaheim due to an upper-body injury, head coach Sheldon Keefe said today. Kase missed Toronto’s last game on their Western California swing, a 4-1 win against San Jose. He had an assist in 13:52 worth of ice time against their first California game against Los Angeles. Kase’s netted five goals and three assists through his first 21 games as a Maple Leaf after playing just three games last season due to injury. The one-time 20-goal scorer has looked good, but injuries remain a concern for the embattled Czech winger.
  • Per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, defenseman Chris Wideman is out with an injury for the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night game versus Pittsburgh. Forward Michael Pezzetta will draw back into the lineup after the team had iced 11 forwards and seven defensemen in their last contest. Wideman, who’d signed a one-year, league-minimum deal with Montreal this past offseason to return to the league after a good season abroad in Russia, leads Canadiens defensemen in points with eight.

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