MHN Links: Canadiens GM search includes women, COVID ramp up, Bedard at WJHC

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme told reporters yesterday that he could have a trio of veterans back this weekend.

Forward Brendan Gallagher and defenceman Sami Niku could be back as early as Saturday according to the head coach. Both players tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 1st and have been in the league’s protocol ever since. They could be a welcome sight for the team when hated rivals the Boston Bruins roll into the Bell Centre for the first time in more than two years.

Defenceman Jeff Petry is getting close as well. Petry has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. He has been travelling and skating with the team. However he’s been skating with call-up Corey Schueneman as essentially an extra. Per the coach, he could also be back on Saturday.

Jake Evans was back at practice for the Montreal Canadiens yesterday. He missed Saturday night’s loss to the Blues with an undisclosed injury. Evans skated between Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia at practice.

Here are your MHN links for Tuesday, December 14th

Montreal Hockey Now

Still: Are the Habs repeating history when it comes to Cole Caufield? (MHN)

Canadiens

The Athletic is reporting that three women are candidates for the Montreal Canadiens GM job (Athletic)

Habs prospect Kaiden Guhle was officially named to the Canadian roster for the World Juniors. TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button dove into the potential captain’s game (TSN) (TSN)

The two remaining Canadiens prospects who will be at the World Juniors are Jan Mysak of the Czech Republic and Finland’s Oliver Kapanen. One who came up just short is Sherbrooke Phoenix forward Joshua Roy. The 2021 fifth-rounder has been on fire in the QMJHL so far this season with 45 points in 26 games. The Athletic looked into what has contributed to the Beauce native’s early offensive explosion (Athletic)

Canada Hockey Now

New Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Rutherford met the media for the first time yesterday (VHN)

The Calgary Flames games have been postponed through December 16th after six players tested positive for COVID (CHN)

Around the hockey world

Executive vice-president of the Montreal Canadiens Jeff Gorton hasn’t announced a rebuild. But with the team near the bottom of the standings, Habs fans will be keeping an eye on two Canadians who could go first overall in back-to-back drafts.

Kingston Frontenacs centreman Shane Wright (TSN)

And Regina Pats centreman Connor Bedard, who joined some historic company by making the team as a 16-year old (TSN)

TSN Senior Investigative Reporter Rick Westhead painted a grim picture of how the Omicron variant could lead to more empty stadium in Ontario and across the country (Twitter)

Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo is just one of several potential Olympians who are concerned about going to Beijing as the pandemic rages on (TSN)