Montreal Canadiens: Lukas Vejdemo Call Up Likely Bad News For Tomas Tatar

The Montreal Canadiens have made another emergency call up, this time bringing Lukas Vejdemo up from the Laval Rocket. This likely means Tomas Tatar won’t be playing tonight.

The Montreal Canadiens have been dealing with a shorthanded roster since the trade deadline. They shipped out veterans Ilya Kovalchuk, Nate Thompson, Matthew Peca and Nick Cousins, all within 24 hours of the deadline.

They were able to add a handful of picks for the upcoming NHL Draft in Montreal in June, but it left them with barely enough players to ice a team. Due to a couple of contradicting league rules, the Habs will be dealing with a shorthanded roster the rest of the season.

Had they called up players before the deadline, those players would not be eligible to play in the AHL playoffs this year because you need to be on an AHL roster at the time of the deadline to be able to play AHL playoffs. On the other hand, there is an odd rule that only allows a team to make four regular call ups from their minor league team following the trade deadline.

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This left the Habs with a minimum roster of 20 players after the deadline and only four call ups allowed for the final six weeks of the season. Then Xavier Ouellet got injured and they had to call up Karl Alzner on an emergency basis. It was an emergency because they did not have enough healthy players to ice a full lineup.

Then, Jonathan Drouin was injured and they called up Charles Hudon on an emergency basis. Last night, they called up Lukas Vejdemo on an emergency basis and though they didn’t mention whose roster spot he was taking, it is pretty obvious it will be Tomas Tatar’s.

Tatar is having a terrific season for the Canadiens, leading the team with 61 points in 68 games. He left the Habs last game early after taking a hit along the goal line and falling awkwardly into the end boards while facing the New York Islanders.

Tatar briefly returned to the game in the first period, but once the buzzer sounded to end that period, he was not seen again. It appeared he suffered a shoulder injury just by the way he hit the boards but it was of Cours announced as an upper body injury.

It is likely bad news for Tatar, but it is another opportunity for Vejdemo. The 24 year old was a third round pick of the Canadiens in 2015. He has nine goals and 19 points in 46 games for the Laval Rocket this season. He also appeared in four games for the Habs earlier in the year but failed to register a point.

With the Habs far from a playoff spot, it doesn’t hurt to get another look at a young player. Hopefully Tatar is not injured long term, but with the remaining games relatively meaningless, an opportunity for Vejdemo will be something interesting to watch tonight.