Montreal Canadiens: Joel Armia continuing on road to recovery

The Montreal Canadiens might just get another forward back from injury sooner than later. The veteran forward, Joel Armia, has been off the ice with an upper-body injury. He’s played a little bit in 2022-23, but this injury has kept him off the ice recently with a quick break after missing games early on as well.

However, from the sounds of it, the Montreal Canadiens may be able to get Armia back soon. He’ll jump back into the lineup and serve in a bottom-six role. He started the season away from the team, missing time and making his debut on October 29th against the St. Louis Blues.

Since then, he has missed three games with his upper-body injury. He may not have traveled to Columbus, but the return seems to be on the horizon. Armia has only logged seven games with the Canadiens, where he has yet to find his way onto the scoresheet. But, with the team’s bottom six weaknesses, he may still provide an “upgrade.”

Montreal Canadiens forward Joel Armia is nearing a return.

The 29-year-old winger has been with the Habs organization for the last five seasons, including the current one. He’s in the second season of a four-year contract extension that he signed before the 2021-22 season.

The new deal was worth $13.6 million and keeps him in Montreal through the 2024-25 season, barring any moves. Armia is scoreless in 2022-23, but he is coming off last year, where he played in 60 games for the Habs, picking up 14 total points.

Armia would score six times and add eight assists, being one of those bottom-six forwards who eat up some ice time and is more of a role player. He averaged 13:43 of ice time a night on average last season.

He should be able to return to the ice and help the Canadiens’ group of forwards, even if he’s not going to be the biggest difference-maker. Armia being healthy might mean that he could add some points to his scoring line on the season.

This might allow Armia to improve upon his trade value. There’s probably not much there right now, especially with two more years left on his contract, but who knows? At the very least, Armia adds some depth to the bottom of the Habs forward core.

As Armia nears a return, it likely means someone else will vacate the team’s roster to make room. It sounds like Armia’s quick absence from the team could end sooner than later. Hopefully, the production sees an uptick after he gets back to playing for the Habs.