The Canadian and the Rocket on hiatus for five days

Unsurprisingly, the Canadian announced a complete hiatus from his activities until January 6 inclusively, “as a preventive measure,” the team announced late Saturday afternoon.

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

The Laval Rocket, the Habs school club, will also be at a standstill during this period.

“With all the new cases that arise on a daily basis and for the health of all of our players and staff, we believe a break from activities is necessary at this point. This stoppage will give our players the time needed to get back to good health so that we can continue the season in a safe manner, ”said the Canadiens’ vice-president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, in a statement.

Since Christmas, the Canadian has put 13 names on the list of players governed by the COVID-19 protocol. Goalkeeper coach Eric Raymond has also been included.

These absences, in addition to the many injuries, meant that CH had to face the Florida Panthers with a truncated formation on Saturday. The team only had 18 players, instead of the usual 20.

Concretely, the break does not really affect the schedule of matches of the team. It is because the five meetings scheduled at the Bell Center from January 4 to 12 had already been postponed by the NHL, under the pretext that the Canadian must play behind closed doors. The team’s next game is scheduled for Jan. 12 in Boston against the Bruins. This will actually be the game that was to be played on March 20 in Boston, and which has been anticipated.

For the Rocket, on the other hand, this break means the postponement of three games, which were scheduled for January 5, 7 and 8 at Place Bell. These postponements are hardly surprising, because a good part of the Rocket workforce has been called in to reinforce the Habs.

In addition, some of these players were subsequently placed on the absentee list due to COVID-19. This is the case of defenders Louie Belpedio and Gianni Fairbrother, and forward Brandon Baddock. At the rate at which players are falling in battle, it is not impossible that more players will be added to this list in the coming days.

Outbreak in the locker room?

Two hours before Saturday’s match, we learned that Jake Evans and Alexander Romanov would in turn be absent. They are the sixth and seventh CH members added to the list of COVID-19-related absentees in the past four days. The others are Paul Byron, Cayden Primeau, Belpedio, Fairbrother and Baddock. For Byron, it was clarified that he did not have the virus, but that a member of his entourage did.

But the rest, there is obviously an outbreak in the locker room of the team.

“It’s in the locker room, yes, agreed Dominique Ducharme, the head coach of the Canadiens, before the meeting on Saturday. It can’t be somewhere else, we can’t go anywhere! To say that we have lost control… We cannot control it any more than we can wear our masks and do whatever is asked of us. ”

The more optimistic will note that this break will allow the other absent from the CH – those who are simply injured – to miss fewer matches than expected during their recovery. Forwards Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault were already on the sidelines, while Brendan Gallagher fell in action on Thursday, although Ducharme said his lower body injury is not serious. Veteran Paul Byron was approaching a return to the game before the holidays.

Still at the front, Laurent Dauphin, Artturi Lehkonen and Mike Hoffman have just concluded their isolation after being registered on the COVID-19 list, and will therefore have ample time to get back in shape.

In defense, Edmundson was also continuing his rehabilitation, as was goaltender Carey Price.