A new chapter of the Montreal Canadiens season will begin Thursday night as the team prepares to face the New Jersey Devils at the Bell Centre without centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais, both out with knee injuries for 6-8 weeks. While the Canadiens remain first in the NHL with 37 points and are three clear in the Atlantic division over the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins, fans are wary of how the Canadiens will fare without their top scorer and their next best offensively skilled centerman. Shades of the previous season and how the team spiraled after Carey Price’s and Brendan Gallagher’s injuries are still fresh in many minds.


How the Canadiens attempt to move on without them will be endlessly dissected by the fans and media until they return back to the lineup. Does general manager Marc Bergevin panic and trade for help or will it be a constant rotation of various Ice Caps in the Canadiens lineup as they attempt to ride the injuries out? For the short term, Bergevin is likely to wait it out before going down the trade route where he would be working from a position of weakness and desperation. Much of how the Canadiens succeed over the next six to eight weeks will depend on Tomas Plekanec and if he can continue to elevate his level of play as well as Carey Price’s ability to hold down the fort.


Sven Andrighetto will be the first Ice Caps forward to get the opportunity to play with the Canadiens and attempt to help the team generate offense. It should come as no surprise that Andrighetto was recalled as Michael McCarron is still day to day with an injury and so he was not an option at center. Nikita Scherbak, the Canadiens most skilled forward prospect is also out for a week to ten days. Andrighetto has some experience playing center although it has been awhile since he has done so. He is also playing well in St. John’s as the team’s leading scorer and had five points in his last three games. Consistency has been Andrighetto’s achilles heel in the NHL as he has had some good spurts but has not been able to put and keep it all together over an extended period of time.


Charles Hudon might have been the most natural solution as he has just been taken off the injured list since recovering from his fractured sternum. The Canadiens decided though to immediately send him back to St. John’s in what is likely a conditioning stint. It will be interesting to monitor if Hudon lines up as a center with the Ice Caps in anticipation of the possibility of him doing so with the Canadiens. He has not played center since his first year in the AHL and testing him out in the minors is certainly a better idea than throwing him out cold in the NHL. I believe that it will not be long until Hudon and McCarron are both back in Montreal and contributing.


Considering that the prognosis for Desharnais and Galchenyuk is only to be out 6-8 weeks, it is doubtful that Bergevin will make a splash with a trade for a center. So far the names that are being thrown out as possibly available are depth players that will not replace the offence of losing Galchenyuk, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could be an interesting possibility as a future replacement for Tomas Plekanec but at what cost? There is no rush right now for Bergevin to mortgage the farm.


Carey Price will get the start in net for the Canadiens this evening. The Canadiens have been playing with fire at times this season by carrying the bare minimum of players and not calling up a spare body in order to save salary cap space. Today it may come back to bite them as Phillip Danault is ill and not at practice. He will likely be a gametime decision at best but the Canadiens would be smart to keep him away from the team and play 7 defensemen if absolutely necessary in order for germs not to spread. However, even that may not be possible as when it rains it pours:

Another missing in action is Greg Pateryn this morning.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) December 8, 2016

For now the Canadiens are saying that Pateryn is taking a therapy day and so there is still a good chance that he will be in the lineup tonight. Actual lines will likely only be revealed during the pregame warmup. The powerplay units will look like:

First power-play unit at #Hab morning skate: Pacioretty-Shaw-Radulov up front with Weber-Markov on the points.

— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) December 8, 2016

Second power-play unit at #Habs morning skate: Lehkonen-Plekanec-Gallagher up front, Petry and Beaulieu on the points.

— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) December 8, 2016

As for the Canadiens opponent for this evening, the Devils sit sixth in the Metropolitan division with 30 points, five back of the leading Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadiens cannot take their competition lightly as the Devils are coming in on a high having won their last two games. Cory Schneider will get the start in net for Devils while their roster features three former Canadiens: Mike Cammalleri, P.A. Parenteau and Devante Smith-Pelly. Cammalleri leads the Devils with nine goals while Parenteau, a bizarre cut from the New York Islanders training camp has found some success on the first line playing alongside Taylor Hall and Adam Henrique.


Five questions for tonight’s game:


1) Which former Canadiens will come back to bite them this evening: Cammalleri, Parenteau or Smith-Pelly?


2) Will the Canadiens power play be able to get going again after not scoring once in five opportunities in their last game against the Blues?


3) Who will step up to provide the offense for the Canadiens tonight?


4) Will Sven Andrighetto be able to step and fill some of the offensive void?


5) What will be the final score?


Puck drops at 7:30pm


Cheers & follow along!

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