Canadiens Could Recall Top CHL Prospects Due To Emergency

The Montreal Canadiens find themselves in a rare emergency situation, giving them the option to call up some of their top CHL prospects like Owen Beck or Joshua Roy.

The Canadiens are on the verge of depleting both their roster and that of their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket and might need to look to their junior prospects for reinforcements.

Injuries to Jake Allen, Joel Armia, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Sean Monahan and Juraj Slafkovsky have forced the Canadiens to get creative.

Having already called up Jesse Ylönen last week, the Canadiens had to use emergency recalls on Cayden Primeau, Rem Pitlick and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard just to have 11 forwards and two goalies at every game.

With only 22 players on the roster, and five forwards injured until after the All-Star break, the conditions are now right for the Canadiens to take advantage of a small window of opportunity to give one of their top junior prospects some NHL games.

Emergency Basis

This kind of emergency recall is only possible in an emergency situation.

The MontrealCanadiens, who are currently using emergency conditions to recall Pitlick and Harvey-Pinard, have since lost Jonathan Drouin until after the All-Star break.

With Drouin out, the Canadiens only have 11 forwards on their roster, which provides them with the necessary condition for another emergency recall, according to section 13.12 of the NHL’s CBA,

“Emergency conditions shall be established when the playing strength of the Loaning Club, by reason of incapacitating injury or illness or by League suspension to its Players is reduced below the level of two (2) goalkeepers, six (6) defensemen and twelve (12) forwards. Proof of the existence of the emergency conditions including the incapacity shall be furnished to the Commissioner of the League upon request made by him.”

With the Canadiens already using two emergency recall slots on Pitlick and Harvey-Pinard, their next emergency recall, their third, allows them to bypass Laval, who have their own issues with injuries right now, and pluck a forward right out of junior.

This means that the Canadiens could recall any prospect currently signed to a valid NHL contract from their respective junior clubs to join them for a maximum of five games in a given season.

CHL-NHL Rule

The CHL-NHL agreement includes a clause that allows an NHL club to pluck a player out of junior on an emergency basis in a particular situation.

Specifically, if an NHL club has already proceeded to two emergency recalls for a given position (defenceman or forward), they would be eligible to recall a junior-based player should a third emergency recall be necessary.

Other teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets (Foudy), Calgary Flames (Baertschi) and Buffalo Sabres (Guhle) have used this option to get out of a tough bind on the injury front.

As explained above, the Montreal Canadiens are already at two emergency recalls and running with 11 forwards and only 22 players on their roster; cutting it extremely close.

Montreal currently has Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney with valid Entry-Level Contracts (ELC) in junior that would be viable options for the club to call on; and the experience could be an exciting one for both the player and the fans.