HabsWorld.net --
The Canadiens will be without two of their top three centres for the foreseeable future as both Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais will miss the next 6-8 weeks with knee injuries.
Galchenyuk, Montreal’s top scorer this season, was injured on Sunday afternoon in a third period collision against Los Angeles. That allowed Desharnais to move up to his spot on the top line alongside Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov, which lasted all of a few periods as he was injured throwing a check last night against St. Louis.
The team has recalled right winger Sven Andrighetto from St. John’s of the AHL. Given that they were down to just 11 forwards with these two injuries, this should qualify as an emergency recall, assuming both were placed on injured reserve prior to announcing the call-up. This makes it so that he can play in ten games before needing to clear waivers again, independent of his four game stint with the Habs earlier this month.
The Habs did get a bit of good news on the injury front as well on Wednesday. Mark Barberio was sent to the IceCaps, clearing the way for Nathan Beaulieu to return to the lineup while Charles Hudon was activated off IR and sent to St. John’s.
Those moves, even with Andrighetto’s recall, free up a bit more cap space for Montreal. Given the space they have and the fact that both Desharnais and Galchenyuk are going to return, placing one or both on LTIR is an unlikely outcome.