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Who should the Montreal Canadiens slot in for Paul Byron?

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 15: Charles Hudon #54 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his second period goal with teammate Matthew Peca #63 against the Detroit Red Wings during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 15: Charles Hudon #54 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his second period goal with teammate Matthew Peca #63 against the Detroit Red Wings during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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With Paul Byron out of the lineup for three games, the Montreal Canadiens will need to choose between one of Matthew Peca or Charles Hudon to fill the void.

Tuesday’s 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers was magic for the Montreal Canadiens. However, there is always a hint of darkness in a fairly lit room, and that darkness revolved around Paul Byron and his hit on Mackenzie Weegar.

The call took place during the second period of the game when the score was 1-1 thanks to Mike Hoffman scoring his 22nd of the season and Shea Weber capitalizing on a powerplay opportunity. The hit took place on another man advantage for the Habs starting with Byron in the neutral zone in possession of the puck.

Byron chipped the puck into the offensive zone and went after it, along with Weegar, as it slid along the boards to the right corner. Weegar got to the puck first rimming it behind the net and Byron lays the hit. It didn’t look good right off the bat as Byron appears to launch himself up making contact with Weegar’s head in the process.

It was announced that the 29-year-old would be getting a hearing from NHL Player Safety for the infraction and was later given a three-game suspension, the first of his career. The video speaks for itself, but it also didn’t help that Weegar left the game with an upper-body injury.

Not much else to say about it, the Montreal Canadiens will have to make do without Byron for the length of the suspension. Byron did, however, take to Twitter making a statement on the situation and also apologizing to Weegar.

"I accept and respect the decision made by the department of player safety. I would like to make it clear I had no intention of causing injury or finishing my check through MacKenzie Weegar‘s head. I think my history and the way I conduct myself on the ice show(s) a lack of intent to injure other players. Despite the lack of intention, I have to accept responsibility for  my hit and realize the resut of the hit was to the head and cause injury. I would like to sincerly apologize for my hit and wish MacKenzie all the best and hope he is ok. I’ve learnt a lesson through this and will make sure any future hits result in a clean and legal fashion."

So, who takes Byron’s spot? The choices are limited as it’ll be between one of Matthew Peca or Charles Hudon.

Peca was signed to a two-year deal over the summer and initially thought to be the team’s fourth-line centre. The season started out that way, but the work and confidence of Michael Chaput and Kenny Agostino from the coaching staff has left Peca in the press box for some time, despite the speed and skill he brings to the lineup.

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The same can be said for Hudon who can’t find a way on the ice on a regular basis.

Byron’s suspension will carry on through the team’s matches against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philidelphia Flyers, and Arizona Coyotes. Given the first two are back-to-backs, Claude Julien could easily give one game to Peca and the next to Hudon (or vice versa).

Odds are Peca gets the first swing at it playing on the right side of Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Ignoring reality for a moment, Hudon would be the better fit based on player style. Peca is more of a playmaker and puck distributor off the wall which may conflict with Kotkaniemi, but the young centre has been shooting more to get scoring chances on net. Additionally, we saw how effective Jonathan Drouin and Max Domi could be together who are thought to be playmakers first and goal-scorers second.

Hudon is a shooter and can let pucks fly off the rush. The downside here is, and this is where we come back to reality, he misses the net a lot. The 24-year-old has a total of 62 shot attempts in 24 games played, and only 37 of them have needed to be stopped by a goaltender.

Next. A plan for Alzner. dark

Perhaps it’s continued bad luck from last season, or maybe this is Hudon’s thing. Either way, a battle is going to begin to stand in front of the other make the most of this chance on the third line.

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