Montreal Canadiens: Chris Wideman Injury Clears Up Murky Defense Picture

The Montreal Canadiens played a lot of rookies on the blue line last season. Some of that was fully deserved, and a little bit of it was due to circumstance.

With veterans like Joel Edmundson missing significant time with injury and Mike Matheson also seeing an injury linger for a long period of time, there were openings for young players. Many of them looked great when they were given the chance.

Many nights Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic and Justin Barron formed a five pack of rookies patrolling the blue line at the same time. It was a rarity for an NHL team, but they more than held their own, meaning all five will compete for a regular role this season as well.

With Matheson healthy and David Savard also on the roster, there will not be room for everyone, especially with Gustav Lindstrom also joining the conversation after arriving as part of the Jeff Petry trade.

The team also has Chris Wideman under contract for another season. That gives them a total of nine defeners who played regularly in the NHL last season.

When it was announced Wideman is injured with a back injury and will be out indefinitely, it kind of freed up a logjam. It was difficult to imagine Wideman playing this season with the Laval Rocket, but it was also hard to find a spot for him in the every day lineup.

With him injured, it still leaves the Habs with eight NHL defensemen on their roster, and they could potentially choose to keep them all up, or waive and send down Lindstrom who was in and out of the Detroit Red Wings lineup last season.

If Wideman were healthy, we could have seen Barron sent down because he is the only right shot defenseman that is eligible to be sent down without waivers. That would not have been ideal if he showed he were ready for a full time NHL job this season.

It is never a good thing when a player gets injured, but Wideman’s ailment will free up some space on a crowded blue line for a deserving youngster to get more playing time.

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