Habs News: NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Mike Hoffman, Laurent Dauphin, Oliver Kapanen, Kaiden Guhle, Jan Mysak, Laval Rocket, Trois-Rivieres Lions
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens will resume their activities on Monday morning with practice at 10:30 am. Eastern time. Montreal has been on pause since December 19th practice at the Bell Sports Complex.
The Canadiens won their last game 3-2 over the Flyers on December 16th, before their next four matches being postponed. Following Monday’s practice, Montreal will travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning on Tuesday.
The Canadiens currently have Artturi Lehkonen, Laurent Dauphin, and Mike Hoffman on the league’s COVID protocol list. Dauphin and Hoffman took part in Montreal’s last practice before the forced break.
Several changes are expected on Monday as Dominique Ducharme will need to determine new combinations for the forward group. Brendan Gallagher and Cedric Paquette are expected to replace Dauphin and Hoffman’s roster spots.
Tampa Bay is currently going though a COVID outbreak in the dressing room. After head coach Jon Cooper entered the league’s protocol on December 21st, four additional players and one assistant coach were added to the list on Sunday. Two of the four players that will not be available for Tuesday’s match are the Lightning’s goalies.
Roster Relief
On Sunday, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League’s Player Association agreed to Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) exemptions that will allow for teams more flexibility to manage issues related to COVID.
The highlights of the changes:
- Teams are allowed to recall a goaltender when at least one goalie is not available to play in a game.
- Recalls are allowed if less than 12 forwards, six forwards, and two goalies available to play. The cap hit of each recalled player cannot exceed $1-million.
- As of Sunday and running until the All-Star Break, teams will have an option to carry a taxi squad of up to six players. The taxi squad is only to be used for teams to have players available to play. Last season, several teams (including Montreal) used the taxi squad to save dollars against the cap.
The NHL’s schedule maker has been occupied to reschedule the 50+ postponed games since the start of the season. There have been reports that the league is considering moving home games of Canadian-based teams to later in the season. The goal would be to increase the odds of Canadian teams being able to host fans at full capacity and minimize the impact to the hockey-related revenue.
World Juniors Begin
The IIHF World Junior Championship began on Sunday in Edmonton and Red Deer. All three of the Canadiens prospects were in action on the first day of competition. Oliver Kapanen, 2021 second round draft pick (64th overall), was held off the scoresheet, and took one shot on goal in 15:57 of ice time in Finland’s 3-1 win over Germany.
Kaiden Guhle, and Jan Mysak were opponents as Canada and Czechia faced each other on Sunday. Both players were pointless in Canada’s 6-3 win. Guhle, 2020 first round pick (16th overall), finished plus-1 in 19:53 of action, while Mysak, 2020 second round pick (48th overall), recorded two shots on goal, and minus-1 in 21:26 of ice time.
Rocket & Lions Resume Activities
The Rocket are scheduled to hit the ice on Monday afternoon for practice at Place Bell. Laval has been on Christmas holidays since the game versus Syracuse on December 18th was postponed due to the league COVID protocol. The AHL also cancelled this Wednesday’s game versus Syracuse as the Crunch are still affected by the league’s COVID protocol. Laval’s next game is scheduled for January 5th, when Springfield visits Place Bell as the Rocket continue their five-game homestand.
Trois-Rivieres’ game on Monday versus Adirondack was cancelled due to the ECHL’s Health and Safety Protocols. The game will be replaced with a visit from Maine on a date to be determined. On Sunday, forward Cedric Desruisseaux and defenceman Guillaume Beaudoin entered the ECHL’s COVID protocol list.
The Lions complete their five-game homestand with back-to-back matches against the Growlers on Wednesday and Thursday. In accordance to Quebec provincial regulations, there will be no fans at Colisee Videotron for those matches. Trois-Rivieres will then head on the road to face Maine on Friday and Adirondack on Sunday.
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By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
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