Injury Report: Paul Byron not travelling with Montreal Canadiens to Columbus

Paul Byron left last night’s game with an injury, and now it is revealed he will not be joining the Montreal Canadiens on their trip to Columbus.

The situation goes from bad to worse for Paul Byron and the Montreal Canadiens. The 29-year-old answered the call last night in the first period of their game against the Florida Panthers that saw him connect with a MacKenzie Weegar uppercut.

This was all in response to a hit Byron laid on Weegar back in January that left him injured while Byron was given a three-game suspension. And ironically, it looks as if the shoe is on the other foot.

The team chose not to practice today, but they are making the trip to Columbus ahead of their game against the Blue Jackets. It’ll be a highly intense match given how close both teams are in the standings and with Columbus having their game in hand this coming Sunday. Unfortunately, Paul Byron won’t be joining the team on the trip there as he will be staying in Montreal for further evaluations.

There’s no surprise to hear that this is the route the Habs were taking. Considering how he looked getting back up and his instant path to the dressing room, I doubt anyone believed there was even a sliver of possibility that Byron would come. However, this does shake the optimistic thought process that he was a little dinged and just needed the night off to recover.

The Habs will likely let the public no what the issue is when they have a definitive answer, but for now, all signs are pointing to a concussion.

After Columbus, the Montreal Canadiens will be in Winnipeg on Saturday to take on the Jets and be back at home on Tuesday against the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. Further news on Byron should be out by then, but it’ll be tough to gauge how long the Habs will go without Byron in the lineup.

This whole incident couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the Canadiens, and the next step for Claude Julien is to figure out who is going to step in his place. Does he give a permanent-replacing role to one of Dale Weise, Nicolas Deslauriers, Charles Hudon, or Matthew Peca? Or does he instead play another game of roster carousel and give each an opportunity?

If so, hopefully it doesn’t last too long. But as much as we want Byron back on the team, they’re doing the right thing to take as much time as possible.