Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Brendan Gallagher, Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen, Kaiden Guhle, Lukas Vejdemo, Paul Byron

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | MONTREAL, QC. — This is your one-stop destination for your Canadiens news capsule. Here are your Habs Headlines!

NEXT GAME: MTL @ TBL

The Montreal Canadiens three-game road trip before Christmas was postponed by the NHL due to concerns about cross-border travel. Canadiens games against the Islanders, Rangers and Devils will be rescheduled.

Currently, the Canadiens next game is scheduled for Tuesday December 28th at 7:00 p.m. ET. at the Amalie Arena.

Watch for our full game preview available on the afternoon of December 28th. Post-game we will publish a comprehensive game recap.

Be sure to bookmark AllHabs.net and visit often.

Shut down for Canadiens

On Monday the NHL announced that the Montreal Canadiens have paused all team activities, including practices, through December 26th. This is due to concerns about positive cases and the concern of COVID spread.

Three Canadiens players have been placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list including Mike Hoffman, Artturi Lehkonen and Laurent Dauphin. They are following league protocols and are being monitored closely by team doctors.

Guhle Named Captain

Montreal Canadiens prospect Kaiden Guhle was named captain of Team Canada for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old defenceman will be assisted by Jake Neighbours (STL) and Cole Perfetti (WPG) would be wear ‘A’s’ as alternate captains.

Guhle, the Canadiens 16th-overall selection in 2020, has recorded three goals, 15 assists in 20 games for the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings this season.

The World Junior Championship will run from December 26 – January 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.

More Gaming Options In Quebec

Just as NHL players were arriving in cities across North America for training camp, we told you that gaming options were increasing for sports fans. Since August 27th, Quebec has been offering single-game sports betting through Mise-o-jeu, the first sportsbook in the province.

Quebec’s foray into single-game sports betting has been a long time coming. Loto-Québec has already been in the sports betting industry with parlay betting, and they now accept single-game sports betting according to Sports Betting Dime.

Bill C-218 received royal assent this past summer opening the door to legalized single-game sports betting in Canada.

Forward Lines / Defence Pairs / Goalies

On Sunday, the Canadiens practiced at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. The team welcomed back Brendan Gallagher (COVID-19), Sami Niku (COVID-19) and Paul Byron (hip surgery).

In addition, three new arrivals from Laval took part in practice. The Canadiens recalled forwards Alex Belzile, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, and Lukas Vejdemo from the Rocket before practice.

These were the forward lines, defence pairings and goaltenders:

Mike Hoffman – Nick Suzuki – Jake Evans
Jonathan Drouin – Laurent Dauphin – Jesse Ylonen
Alex Belzile – Ryan Poehling – Cole Caufield
Michael Pezzetta – Lukas Vejdemo – Brendan Gallagher / Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Paul Byron (non-contact jersey)

Ben Chiarot – David Savard
Alexander Romanov – Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak – Kale Clague
Sami Niku – Chris Wideman

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

Injury Update

The Canadiens injury list remains filled as the league has put a pause on operations.

Here is the Canadiens current injury list:

⦁ Injured | Cedric Paquette (precautionary)
⦁ Non-roster | Mike Hoffman (COVID), Artturi Lehkonen (COVID), Laurent Dauphin (COVID)
⦁ IR | Joel Edmundson (back), Josh Anderson (shoulder), Tyler Toffoli (hand), Christian Dvorak (lower-body), Joel Armia (undisclosed), Mathieu Perreault (undisclosed)
⦁ LTIR | Paul Byron (hip), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)
⦁ SOIR | Josh Brook (knee), Joel Teasdale (knee)
⦁ NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance | Carey Price (knee)

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