The Montreal Canadiens made a small roster change this afternoon as they gear up for the finale of their road trip.
Corey Schueneman was sent down from the big league roster to the Laval Rocket.
The left defenceman is a 26 year old who made his NHL debut this season and looked pretty comfortable at the sport’s highest level. He was not expected to play an NHL role this season, but the Habs dealt with many injuries and had to do well down their depth chart to fill out an NHL lineup on a few occasions.
However, Schueneman certainly opened a few eyes with his smooth skating and ability to get the puck from the defensive zone and into transition with ease. He got into the lineup for eight games, most recently on March 1st in a track meet against the Winnipeg Jets.
With few healthy defenders on the roster at the moment, this move signals that Jeff Petry must be healthy and ready to play. He has been dealing with an upper body injury and wore a non-contact jersey to practice most of this week.
The Canadiens are in Vancouver tonight to take on the Canucks in the final game of their road trip through western Canada. It started with an 8-4 loss to the Jets but the Habs rebounded to beat the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames in Alberta. They will now look to close out the trip with a 3-1-0 record before returning home to face the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
The Laval Rocket play three games in the next four nights as part of a busy March schedule. Schueneman has played 27 games with the Rocket so far this season and scored three goals and ten points.
It shouldn’t be long before Schueneman returns to the Canadiens. The Habs are sure to trade Ben Chiarot before the trade deadline that is 12 days away and could trade other pending free agents like Brett Kulak and Chris Wideman as well as Jeff Petry who asked out earlier this season.
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