The Montreal Canadiens season got off to an awful start, and that was when the team was mostly healthy.
Well, they still haven’t seen Carey Price or Joel Edmundson play a game and Shea Weber will not play all season, but they were as healthy as they ever were when they started the season 0-5-0 with four goals scored.
Then injuries hit repeatedly and then an enormous Covid outbreak sidelined 22 skaters. It has resulted in an awful record (7-24-5) and no chance at a playoff berth as of early November.
While not many players were bringing offence early in the season, it was Josh Anderson who did lead the way. He had seven goals and 13 points in 25 games to begin the season, but then he was injured as well. He wasn’t near the top scorers in the league, but when your team can’t score, having someone like Anderson who was on pace for 20-25 goals made him a top six fixture.
On December 2nd he was hurt and his timeline for a return was scheduled at 8 weeks. That would have put him back in the lineup around the last few days of January.
It was a nice surprise to see he was a full participant in practice today and is in line to return to the lineup Monday night against the Arizona Coyotes. The game could be considered the basement bowl as both teams are sitting at the bottom of the NHL standings.
The Canadiens have already used 37 different players this season due to their injuries and Covid outbreak. Though the postseason is already out of reach, it is nice to see the team starting to get healthy once again.
Many fans would rather watch actual NHL players rather than the 12 players that should be in the minors but have been called up due to injuries and illnesses.
Anderson skated on a line with Nick Suzuki and Mike Hoffman at practice this morning, so he should be on the team’s first line Monday night.