The Montreal Canadiens are scrambling to find bodies for an NHL game tonight like most beer league teams around Canada this time of year.
It is one thing for a team names the Hat Trick Swayze’s or Jagr Bombs to be down a few guys for a Tuesday night game in December. But, the Montreal Canadiens?
Well, with nine players currently inactive due to being in Covid protocol, as well as a few others injured, the Habs are really digging deep to ice a lineup for tonight’s game in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.
Just two hours before puck drop, the team announced via twitter that they have called up two more players who are now eligible to play this evening. Louis Belpedio and Brandon Baddock were called up from the team’s newly instituted taxi squad to the main roster.
Louie Belpedio et Brandon Baddock ont été rappelés de l'escouade de réserve.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 28, 2021
Louie Belpedio and Brandon Baddock have been recalled from the taxi squad.
We are already expecting the NHL debuts of Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Corey Schueneman tonight. Both of those players have played well at the AHL level for the Laval Rocket this season and last year as well, but they were not expected to be playing games at the NHL level this season. The Habs roster problems is what gave those two players an NHL opportunity so soon.
But it sounds like they might not be the only two players making their Canadiens debuts this evening.
Belpedio has played four NHL games in the past with the Minnesota Wild. He signed as a free agent with the Canadiens last offseason and has been playing a big role for the Rocket so far this season. The 25 year old right shot defender has eight points in 24 games for Laval.
Baddock is a gritty, determined left winger who has scored two goals and six points in 23 AHL games this season. The 26 year old is a veteran of 218 AHL games, but is yet to play a game in the NHL.
The team has not announced whether Belpedio and Baddock will be in the lineup, but it is odd to see them called up from the taxi squad to the NHL roster this close to game time. You would hope it doesn’t mean there are more players about to join the Covid protocol, but these days, it could literally mean anything.
We will have to wait and see what the lines are in warmup, but this lineup could look an awful lot like Game 1 of the preseason and not a regular season game in December.