Montreal Canadiens Claim Rem Pitlick Off Waivers

The Montreal Canadiens played their last game nearly two weeks ago, but when they did they only had 16 healthy skaters on their roster.

They are starting to get more healthy players back from the injured reserve and are also finally getting through their enormous bout with Covid that sidelined 22 players. They are going to need more healthy players heading into the future as they are finally back on the ice tonight when they face the Boston Bruins and the Laval Rocket play their first game in weeks tonight as well.

The Canadiens added a roster player this afternoon when they grabbed Rem Pitlick off waivers from the Minnesota Wild.

Pitlick was a depth winger for the Wild this season, but while they dealt with a few injuries themselves recently, prospect Matt Boldy showed to be NHL ready and pushed Pitlick down the depth chart of a very deep and talented Minnesota team. Pitlick’s primary role was as a third or fourth line winger, but he put up decent numbers in that role.

The 24 year old winger scored six goals and 11 points in 20 games for the Wild this season. That’s decent production for a young player that is on waivers.

In fact, Pitlick’s six goals put him just one behind Josh Anderson and Nick Suzuki for the team lead on the Canadiens right now.

The Ottawa, Ontario native was a third round pick of the Wild back in 2016 after scoring 89 points in 56 USHL games for the Muskegon Lumberjacks. That’s not quite Sean Farrell production but it isn’t bad. He also scored 108 points in 112 career NCAA games over three seasons at the University of Minnesota. He also scored eight goals in eight AHL games last season.

The Canadiens don’t need any more wingers if they are healthy, but they are not healthy at all right now and could use a skilled winger who is 24 years old to see if he fits any longer term than this season.