The Montreal Canadiens made a bit of a surprise addition on the cusp of training camp, but there were questions about whether he would even be healthy enough to participate.
Tanner Pearson was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks, along with a third round draft pick, for Casey DeSmith on Tuesday. It made sense that the Habs wanted to move out DeSmith, who they really didn’t need, but they don’t really need Pearson either.
The Canadiens are a young team that is looking to improve on their 28th place finish last season. However, they are not yet ready to compete with the best teams in the Atlantic Division. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are still well ahead of the Habs, so the Canadiens should be looking to play their young players as much as possible.
With the addition of Pearson, that becomes a little more difficult, but there were also questions about whether the newest Habs players is healthy or not. He played just 14 games last season, scoring one goal and five points in that time. He missed the rest of the season after suffering a wrist injury, and openly questioned the team’s doctors and how they handled his injury.
Pearson suffered a couple of setbacks along the way, including an infection, so there were questions as to whether or not he would be healthy to play in 2023-24.
Kent Hughes spoke with the media earlier today and he said Pearson would be a full participant in training camp tomorrow. He mentioned the wrist may not be totally 100% quite yet, but he is ready to hit the ice when the Canadiens do that for the first time on Thursday.
Kent Hughes on Tanner Pearson: "I can say that he's already passed his physical in Vancouver, he's been skating, the strength in his injured hand is at close to 80%. Is he at 100? No. But we expect he'll participate in camp starting tomorrow."
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) September 20, 2023
While this does mean a younger winger like Rafael Harvey-Pinard or Jesse Ylonen may get pushed further down the lineup, the Canadiens did move out an extra goalie in the trade. It is better to have an extra winger on the roster than an extra goaltender, and let’s face it, injuries are going to occur soon and when they do there is a trusted veteran in Pearson to fill the gap.
Also, he had one goal in 14 games before getting hurt last season. If Ylonen can’t outplay him for ice time, we shouldn’t be worried about losing Ylonen on waivers anyway.
There were plenty of questions about Pearson’s status immediately after he was traded, but he is definitely considered a healthy player at this time and gives the Habs a former Stanley Cup winner to help guide some of the young players in the organization this season.
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