Montreal Canadiens Will Look Much Different After Extended Christmas Break

The Montreal Canadiens were supposed to begin a three game road trip through the New York area today.

Their games that were scheduled for tonight against the New York Islanders, Wednesday night against the New York Rangers and Thursday versus the New Jersey Devils have all been cancelled.

With a large number of Covid-19 outbreaks affecting dressing rooms around the NHL, the league has banned all cross-border travel until after Christmas. It is kind of interesting that the Canadiens would still be playing had they been scheduled to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators this week.

However, they were supposed to travel to the United States and they will not be allowed to do so. The Canadiens have had two players, Artturi Lehkonen and Laurent Dauphin added to the Covid-19 protocol list in the past couple days and they have shut down all of their facilities as a precaution until after Christmas.

This has to be welcome news for the Canadiens players who now know they won’t be stuck in a New York area hotel for Christmas while their families are in Canada.

The Canadiens next game is now scheduled for Tuesday, December 28th. They are supposed to travel to Tampa Bay for that game so we will have to stay tuned and see if the border restrictions put in place by the league are adjusted.

No matter when that next game is played, the Canadiens will be a much different looking organization when we see them next.

The last time the team was on the ice, they appeared to be getting ready for a preseason game. Their practice lines included Dauphin centering a line with Jonathan Drouin and Jesse Ylonen. Alex Belzile joined a line with Ryan Poehling and Cole Caufield. The Habs fourth line was Michael Pezzetta, Lukas Vejdemo and Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

Including Poehling, that was seven forwards who didn’t make the team on opening night. The team’s defence is relatively healthy, at least compared to the forwards, and of course Carey Price is yet to play a game in goal.

However, this extended Christmas break should give time for a handful of players to heal up and get ready to join the team again.

Brendan Gallagher was back at practice but not really in full capacity after missing two weeks with Covid-19. With the team not scheduled to play a game now for more than a week, he should be ready to go when the Habs regroup after Christmas.

Sami Niku entered the protocol at the same time as Gallagher so he should be good to go for the Habs next game. Chris Wideman was away from the team to welcome his new child into the world so he will be back.

Mathieu Perreault and Joel Armia were placed on injured reserve late last week but will both be eligible to return to the lineup by December 28th.

It is possible, depending on his symptoms and what his status is in a couple days, that Lehkonen could also rejoin the team with Gallagher by December 28th.

Most importantly, Carey Price was scheduled to rejoin the team “around Christmas” according to the latest reports. With a bit of an extended break here, we could see Price back in the net next time the Habs are in action.

Getting a handful of forwards back, like Gallagher, Armia, Perreault and Lehkonen would allow the Habs to ice a team that looks like an NHL lineup. They could all return for the Canadiens next game.

Also, we won’t have to see many more games, if any at all, before Price is back in action as well.