Montreal Canadiens: Why Is Charles Hudon Yoyo-ing Between Laval Rocket and Habs?

By Ken MacMillan | Nov 18, 2019

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 23: Montreal Canadiens left wing Charles Hudon (54) waits for a faceoff during the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens preseason game on September 23, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Montreal Canadiens called up Charles Hudon for their game on Saturday. They sent him down immediately after the game. Then they called him up again on Sunday evening. Why are they shipping him back and forth?

The Montreal Canadiens drafted Charles Hudon in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Draft. He was an undersized winger for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but he showed terrific two-way play as a young player.

The Alma, Quebec native scored over a point per game pace before being drafted and then increased his point total by five in each of the next two seasons. Since turning pro, he has always been an offensive threat at the American Hockey League level, but hasn’t been able to bring that scoring to the National Hockey League yet.

Even as a rookie, Hudon scored 19 goals and 57 points in 75 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs. He followed that up with seasons of 57 and 53 points including 28 and 27 goals. Those are pretty impressive offensive numbers for a 20-22 year old winger.

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However, Hudon’s only full NHL season was the 2017-18 campaign where he scored ten goals and 30 points in 72 games. Last season, he really struggled. He had just three goals and five points in 32 games and was then made a frequent healthy scratch down the stretch.

Heading into that season, it was expected he would build on his 30 point season and become a solid two-way player in the bottom six. That didn’t happen. Instead, he was not an offensive threat at all from the fourth line for less than half the season and was a bystander the rest of the time.

Hudon had a decent training camp this year, but was placed on waivers for the first time in his career in September. A lot of players can sneak through waivers at that time of the year as teams need to cut their rosters back to 23 at the end of training camp and often can’t bring in another player from outside the organization without cutting someone they have developed and has played well at their own training camp.

So, Hudon went unclaimed and was sent to the Laval Rocket. Once again, he has proven to be a legitimate scoring threat at the AHL level. Only three players have scored more goals than Hudon so far in the AHL this season. It therefore came as no surprise that he was the one called up to play Saturday night when the Habs needed an extra forward.

Hudon played decent in that overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils, but was immediately sent down to the AHL after the game. Interestingly, he was called up once again last night in what appeared to be a head scratching move. That means he was called up Saturday afternoon, sent down Saturday night and called up again Sunday evening.

So, why the shuttling between the AHL and NHL for Hudon? Well, the way waivers works is a bit complicated, but the Habs are trying to extend how long Hudon will be exempt from needing to go back on waivers.

According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA, once a player passes through waivers, he does not need to go back on waivers until he has accumulated 30 days on an NHL roster or played ten NHL games. That means the Habs can have Hudon on their roster for a total of 29 days and still send him down to the Laval Rocket without exposing him to waivers.

Since Hudon was sent down Saturday night and not called up until after 5:00 PM EST on Sunday, he was technically not on the Habs roster on Sunday, saving him a day toward his waiver eligibility.

With Jonathan Drouin on injured reserve and Paul Byron not healthy enough to play Saturday night, the Habs need another forward around. Their next game is Tuesday night in Columbus and Hudon will join the team for practice tomorrow before traveling to Ohio. The Habs then head home to face the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night before being off for two days.

No matter how well Hudon plays in the next two games, I’d expect to see him “sent down” to the Laval Rocket on Wednesday night like he was Saturday night. He could then be “called up” on Thursday night and still practice with the team on Friday before they face the New York Rangers on Saturday.

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NHL teams never know when injuries might occur or when they might finally get a healthy roster. Taking advantage of a technicality in the CBA will allow them to have Hudon hang around a little longer this season, even if he ends up being the extra forward for a few games. It keeps a little depth on the roster and delays exposing him to waivers as far into the future as possible.