The Montreal Canadiens injuries have piled up mercilessly and their bout with Covid-19 just won’t seem to quit.
As a result, they have had to use 33 different skaters and three separate goaltenders already this season. They aren’t even halfway through the year and the team is likely to sell off several assets before the end of the season in trades so they could end up using well over 40 different players this season.
That certainly wasn’t the plan. But it is there reality for a number of NHL teams this season who need to keep searching for healthy bodies to fill out lineups.
The Canadiens will have another player making his Canadiens debut tonight when Rem Pitlick steps on the ice. He was picked up off waivers yesterday from the Minnesota Wild and he will step right onto a top six role. The 24 year old winger is going to be skating alongside Christian Dvorak and Jonathan Drouin on the team’s second line tonight when they face the Chicago Blackhawks.
I wouldn’t expect Pitlick to cement a role on this team as a top six winger long term, but if you are going to claim an offensive minded player off waivers, you may as well give him some offensive linemates to get a really good look at what he can do.
Pitlick scored 108 points in 112 career NCAA games for Minnesota, he also had 28 goals in 71 career AHL games and he put up 11 points in 20 games for the Wild this season.
There are certainly areas of his game that could use some work, I mean he was on waivers yesterday, but it will be interesting to see what he can do with a couple of offensive players on his line.
The Canadiens are barely averaging over two goals per game with 74 goals scored in 35 games this season. So, they could use all the help they can get offensively and maybe Pitlick can provide some of that.