Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens Ben Chiarot On Injured Reserve. Will Trade Value Be Hurt?
Just prior to their game against the Buffalo Sabres Sunday afternoon, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had placed defenseman Ben Chiarot on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Chiarot left Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets briefly in the second period but was able to return and play 22:57 in the loss.
The Canadiens have placed defenseman Ben Chiarot on the injured reserve list (lower-body).
The club also recalled defenseman Corey Schueneman from the Laval Rocket. Schueneman will dress today against the Sabres.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 13, 2022
Ironically, on the 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night In Canada, Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned the NHL Trade rumours surrounding the Montreal Canadiens rearguard. Friedman said that when Chiarot was injured and left the game Saturday, he wondered if the threat of Chiarot getting injured could accelerate their pursuit of the 6-foot-3, 234-pound, 30-year-old defenseman?
“There was something that happened in that game that made me wonder if we’re going to see some traction pick up,” Friedman opined. “Ben Chiarot temporarily left the game; he did come back, and anytime you have a player with as much interest as he has, you always worry about something like this, and does that mean the action’s going to pick up?
Among the interested teams, St. Louis, Carolina, Florida, Rangers, Los Angeles, and Calgary, both of them, too, might have interest in Tyler Toffoli. So we’ll see where this goes but I think already you’re going to see a few more calls made on an already popular player.”
In addition to Toffoli and Chiarot, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry has been a constant on the NHL trade rumor circuit after reportedly asking for a trade from the Canadiens back in December.
Chiarot has five goals and nine points in 44 games this season. The Montreal Canadiens impending unrestricted free agent joins forward Christian Dvorak (upper-body), forward Mathieu Perrault (lower-body), defenseman Joel Edmundson (back), forward Jonathan Drouin (wrist), goalie Jake Allen (lower-body), and defenseman Xavier Ouellet.