The Montreal Canadiens are dealing with a little more uncertainty than they’d like to be carrying this close to opening night.
With one week left before the regular season begins, the club’s injured list has grown to three names: Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier and Jake Evans.
On the same day several teammates headed to Trois-Rivières for a matchup against the Senators, those three were left to skate on their own in Brossard instead.
Guhle’s situation offered at least one small positive. He skated publicly for the first time since camp opened, which is a step in the right direction. Even so, he still didn’t look to be going full speed, a sign that his recovery is moving along gradually.
The picture is murkier for Carrier and Evans. Both skated an hour before the rest of the group and did so separately from the regular players, which makes it clear something is going on with them.
Neither player had shown any obvious sign of injury in Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs, though Evans may have been the exception.
For now, there’s still no official update from the organization, so it remains too early to draw firm conclusions about their status. The situation, though, is definitely worth watching.
Guhle had minor surgery this summer, and the expectation was that he would be back in a four-to-five-week window.
That absence had already created a real opening for several young defensemen in the organization this week. And if Evans ends up missing regular-season games, the opportunity for Florian Xhekaj would get even bigger.
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