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It’s been ages since the Canadiens have played any kind of meaningful hockey, but their farm team, the Laval Rocket is involved in quite a battle to qualify for the playoffs. In order to help Jean-François Houle’s men make it, the Habs sent down Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, Corey Schueneman and Cayden Primeau to Laval on Sunday morning. With their ongoing injury concerns though, that left a couple of holes in the line-up and today, they announced that Joel Teasdale and Frederic Allard had been called up on an emergency basis. Tomorrow’s game against the Islanders will therefore be Teasdale’s baptism of fire in the NHL. The 24-year-old undrafted player hasn’t had an easy road to the NHL. He’s faced a lot of adversity with multiple knee injuries, but the organization felt it was time to reward him for his good season in Laval. The winger has put up 38 points in 57 games with the Rocket this year and he’s earned this opportunity. Teasdale is currently in a contract year and will be a RFA at the conclusion of this season.
Meanwhile, both Harvey-Pinard and Ylonen scored in the return to Laval yesterday and they seem pumped to be playing for a playoffs spot. With just two games left for the Canadiens, both players have already showed what they can do in the NHL and it’s no doubt beneficial for the organization to have them help the Rocket to get into the playoffs. Cayden Primeau also had a solid night shutting out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-0.
As for head coach Martin St-Louis, he was approached by Team Canada to be part of the coaching staff at the World Championships, but he cut short the discussion as he’s been away from his wife and family for months now and doesn’t feel like delaying the reunion by yet another month. When the season wraps up on Friday, we should hear which players have received invites from their respective country. Nick Suzuki refused to participate last year, feeling he needed time to heal, we’ll see if he feels differently this time around. Mike Matheson will also more than likely be receiving a call from Team Canada, while Joel Armia and Jordan Harris may very well be called upon by Finland and the USA respectively.
Yesterday, Juraj Slafkovsky skated for the first time since January and speaking to the media, he said he would be 100% by the start of training camp. As for Arber Xhekaj, he also spoke to the journalists and while he said he didn’t want to change his style of play, he seems to want to pick his battles better, to avoid unnecessary injuries.
Finally, the NHL teams announced their nominees for the Bill Masterton Trophy yesterday and the Canadiens put forward Alex Belzile for the honor. Each year, the award is presented to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey and having played over 400 games in the AHL and the ECHL before making his NHL debut in May 2021, Belzile is nothing if not perseverant.
The Canadiens will be back in action tomorrow night as they’ll take on the desperate Islanders in New York. Lou Lamoriello’s team is currently involved in a battle to make the playoffs with the Panthers and the Penguins and tomorrow’s game will be a must-win for them. It remains to be seen if St-Louis will manage to motivate his men to match the new yorkers’ desperation or if the Habs will be an easy prey once more as they were Saturday in Toronto.
Martin St-Louis répond aux questions des médias après l’entraînement de mardi au Complexe sportif Bell.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 11, 2023
Martin St-Louis is addressing the media after Tuesday’s practice at the Bell Sports Complex.#GoHabsGo https://t.co/y7eOG3SLGs