When Ryan Poehling was checked and hit his head on the glass Wednesday night in Bathurst, he looked visibly shaken but he just carried on played and put on a great show. Fast forward 36 hours later though and we now know that he has been diagnosed with a concussion and will be sidelined indefinitely. This is a really bad news for the Canadiens, the youngster looked great in his last game and fans were already wondering if he'd managed to crack the opening night roster... But even worst is the fact that this is is second concussion already as he sustained one playing for St-Cloud last Spring.
Poehling isn't the only one who landed on the injured list though, it was also announced today that Michael McCarron would be sidelined for about 6 weeks because of a groin injury. Without disrespecting McCarron, that doesn't quite have the same impact. It's sad to say but the 2013 1st round pick has been plagued by injuries in the last few years and he doesn't really seem to figure in the team's plans anymore. He might just turn out to be a career AHLer.
As for Paul Byron, no word yet on what his ailment might be or how long he'll be out of commission for. Unfortunately, he seems to spend a lot of time on IR and that was part of the reason why he couldn't find his niche in Calgary and with plenty of suitors for roster spots this season, the timing couldn't be worst for him.
One man's misfortune is another's opportunity however and if Nick Suzuki's performance last night didn't guarantee him a roster spot for opening night, these injuries might boost his candidature even more. Suzuki will travel with the team to Ottawa tomorrow and will be in Brendan Gallagher's usual spot on Philip Danault's right wing alongside Tomas Tatar. If ever he had a chance to shine, this is it. Last night, Gallagher linked up very well with Domi and Lehkonen and should Suzuki click with his former line mates, well, this experiment might run a little longer.
For all the good things Jonathan Drouin said this summer he has yet to put his money where his mouth is and if he's not careful, he could soon fall out of the top 6. To be honest, he did seem to have a certain chemistry with Jesperi Kotkaniemi last season and it wouldn't be overly surprising to see him join the 2 Finns on the 3rd line (KK and Armia). How would he take it? Well, that remains to be seen but if he has in fact grown up and wants to improve, he needs to put his head down and get to work. And the sooner the better, training camp has already been going for a week and out of 7 preseason games, only 4 remain. Since he's not part of the trip to Ottawa tomorrow, this means that there's only 3 games left for him to impress.
Here's the players who will be going to Ottawa tomorrow:
Keith Kinkaid is slated to get the start and play the whole game, this will be his first game wearing the red, white and blue. I must admit I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. The game is scheduled to start at 19:30 and will be broadcasted on RDS and TSN 5. I'll be back with the breakdown of that game some time Sunday, until then, enjoy the game everyone!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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