The panel discusses the importance of veterans in Montreal The Montreal Canadiens have recalled Rafael Harvey-Pinard from Laval. When he was last up with the Canadiens, he averaged 12:38 last season. But now, things have changed and one has to wonder why this is occurring. Some say there are better players in Laval at the moment. Pinard hasn’t been ripping it up in Laval. He has 11 points in 24 games. He should have much better numbers. On most teams, that’s not good enough to get a promotion but my guess is this is just the latest in callups that will get a few games and then on to the next player. Injuries have forced the team into this for now but a trade [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/trades-are-happening-earlier-because-of-the-four-nations-tournament] could cure this problem long-term. Let’s see how he looks for approximately seven minutes a game. It’s hard to have any kind of impact that way. Martin St. Louis has been stingy with minutes for call-ups lately so I’m not expecting anything better. Maybe he will surprise me. In his last five AHL games, he had three assists. He’s been shooting a bit more lately so I’m guessing they are looking for some offensive push besides filling the minutes. Pinard did that once upon a time. Emil Heineman will be back in a few weeks and things will settle down at that point. For now, this is what the Canadiens will do to try and fill his spot in the lineup. They have a tough schedule coming up so any tinkering is good.
