Canadiens: Bad News At Practice

The Montreal Canadiens were back on the ice on Monday morning ahead of their tilt with the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. The Habs are still waiting for Ivan Demidov’s return after he played the first two games of the season with an injured ankle; Mike Matheson is out again, and Samuel Montembeault is day-to-day, but that list may grow soon.

Jake Evans had to leave the ice during practice and didn’t come back before the end. When Martin St-Louis spoke to the media, he said the pivot was being evaluated, and he couldn’t provide an update beyond that.

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While the Canadiens have shown they can survive injuries, they’ve been without Demidov for 15 games, Nick Suzuki has missed six, and Mike Matheson has already missed nine. Losing Evans, however, would be a big blow; he plays an integral part in the penalty kill and has a knack for adapting to pretty much anyone up and down the lineup.

He’s been playing with Chris Kreider and Josh Anderson lately (although Anderson missed the last game for personal reasons), and the three have been in a good sequence. Kreider has four points in his last five games, just like Anderson and Evans has three in the same time span.

Evans is about much more than points, and St-Louis knows he can rely on him for plenty of tricky missions; he has a 55.1% success rate in the faceoff department. If he can't play tomorrow, it will be interesting to see who fills in at center for him; will it be Alex Newhook? Kirby Dach or Owen Beck? The three have been playing well of late, but I think it's worth giving Beck a look at center; he’s defensively sound, and it would be worth seeing what he can accomplish at that key position, especially with a few veterans in a contract year.

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