Montreal Canadiens: Shea Weber and Nicolas Deslauriers take the ice

The Montreal Canadiens still have a number of players on injured reserve, and two of them in Shea Weber and Nicolas Deslauriers took to the ice.

Similar to last season, the Montreal Canadiens have players sitting out due to injuries. Paul Byron and Andrew Shaw recovered just in time to make their debuts with the team last week while the likes of David Schlemko, Shea Weber, Nicolas Deslauriers, and Jacob de La Rose remain on the sidelines.

Weber’s conditioned is well-known so far. The veteran required surgery in his foot and knee that shortened his 2017/18 campaign and extended his eventual return into this season. Deslauriers had a procedure himself after a fight in the preseason against the New Jersey Devils resulted in a facial fracture. But there is good news, or bittersweet depending on how you put it, around both situations.

To start, Deslauriers was on the ice with the other players expected to be healthy scratches tonight including Tomas Plekanec, Karl Alzner, and Nikita Scherbak. The 27-year-old was wearing a full cage as he recovers from the surgery and according to Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette, is 10-14 days away from being ready to return.

Seeing as how the Habs sit perfectly at 23 players on the main roster, this will be an issue. But not too much of an issue to cause any grey hairs to sprout. Aside from his boost in offensive production the season before, Deslauriers could easily pass through waivers despite being a nice addition to a team’s bottom-nine.

Weber was out there as well. The newly appointed captain was skating for about 10 minutes on his own ahead of the optional on-ice meeting. He’s still expected to miss another two months of play, but it is reassuring to see a positive milestone for Weber as he continues down the path to recovery and an eventual season debut with the Montreal Canadiens.

But similar to Deslauriers, decisions will need to be made once that day comes. The same goes for Schlemko and de La Rose. Marc Bergevin may have to get creative to ensure everything fits well as far as the team goes and the cap structure.