Montreal Canadiens Activate Corey Perry From Taxi Squad

Montreal Canadiens have activated Corey Perry from the taxi squad. This comes with little surprise as he was skating in place of the injured Joel Armia at practice yesterday.

Armia was injured at the end of a four point night when Vancouver Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers hit him with a head shot in the waning minutes of a blowout Habs victory.

Perry has spent the first five games of the season as an extra skater at practice. The other members of the taxi squad thus far include Michael Frolik, Ryan Poehling, Cale Fleury and Charlie Lindgren.

Perry signed a one-year contract with the Habs on the eve of training camp. He was placed on waivers two weeks ago in order to be eligible for the taxi squad. Thus far, he hasn’t counted against the Habs salary cap at all, but that of course changes with him joining the roster for tonight’s contest.

Last season, Perry played for the Dallas Stars. He scored five goals and 21 points in 57 regular season games but was much better in the postseason. The Stars went on a bit of a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Finals, with Perry scoring five goals and nine points in 27 postseason contests.

With Armia out of the lineup, Perry will skate on the third line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Tyler Toffoli. The line has been on fire in the past two games against the Canucks, so it will be interesting to see if Perry can step right in and keep that momentum going.

It is also notable that no one else was activated off of the taxi squad. Paul Byron was also shaken up in the last Habs game after being hit with a Shea Weber slap shot. With no one else called up, the Habs will either have Byron in the lineup tonight, or Victor Mete will have to dress as the 7th defenceman.

Game time for the rubber match in this three game set with the Canucks is 7:00 PM EST.