Montreal Canadiens Paper Two Youngsters, NHL Refuses Barron

The Montreal Canadiens were able to paper Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen to the AHL, but had the NHL nix their plans for Justin Barron.

Although the Canadiens are not very likely to make the playoffs this season, the Laval Rocket are in prime position to make some noise again this year in the AHL Playoffs.

After a miserable start to the season, the Rocket have a 22-22-7 record and have been hot as of late, thrusting themselves out of the basement of the AHL standings and into a playoff spot in the North Division.

The Canadiens, who won’t be playing meaningful hockey this season, will likely want some of their youngsters to get in on some games this spring and gain some valuable experience.

Paper Candidates

In order for an NHL player to be eligible for the AHL Playoffs, the player needed to be on the AHL roster by the NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. today).

Reminder: A player must be on an @TheAHL roster at 3 ET today in order to be eligible to be sent down from the NHL any time thereafter for the rest of the season. #NHLTradeDeadline

— AHL Communications (@AHLPR) February 25, 2019

With the Canadiens only having four recall options until the end of the year, general manager Kent Hughes had to be selective.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen were “pappered” to the AHL today just before the NHL Trade Deadline to make them available for the Laval Rocket.

The term “to paper” would mean that an NHL team would demote a player only on paper, keeping them with the team, while they’re demoted and quickly recalled from the minors, all within a few minutes; making it solely a paper transaction. This is a common practice used with players who are exempt from the waiver process and can be demoted and recalled at will.

Initially, the Canadiens also wanted to paper Justin Barron, but, due to suffering an injury in Thursday night’s game against the L.A. Kings, the NHL refused the transaction; as you cannot demote injured players, even if it’s only on paper.

Not Eligible

Similarly to Barron’s situation, youngster Juraj Slafkovsky, whom many would have liked to see get some games in with the Rocket this season, was not eligible to be momentarily sent down to Laval due to being on the Montreal Canadiens’ Injured Reserve (IR).

An NHL team can only take a player off IR if they’re healthy and ready to play, and, unfortunately, injured players cannot be demoted, even if it’s a paper transaction.

Other players like Alex Belzile and Rem Pitlick were also be ineligible for the AHL Playoffs, as they’d had to have been put on waivers on Thursday at 2 p.m. in order to be eligible.

Both having played more than ten games since last going through waivers, Belzile and Pitlick would have had to go through waivers, unlike the youngsters above whom are waiver-exempt.

Because it takes 24 hours for the waiver process, placing a player on waivers at 2 p.m. and then clearing the next day at 2 p.m., it is now too late to send down either Pitlick or Belzile.

Who Could Join Later

There is some hope for reinforcements though, as Emil Heineman and some junior-level prospects with early playoff exits could also join the Rocket for another strong playoff push.

Due to Heineman not playing in North America this season, he would be eligible to join the Laval Rocket at any time after the end of the season in Sweden, which is expected to be between late March and late April; depending on Leksand’s success in the playoffs.

Other junior players who are on playoff-bound teams could still be reassigned to the Laval Rocket if their team’s playoff push were to end before the Laval Rocket’s last regular season game on April 14 or while the Rocket is in the playoffs.

Canadiens prospects Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney both joined the Laval Rocket last spring during their lengthy playoff run, with Roy even getting into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

This year could be very different for the Rocket, should they make the playoffs.

The Canadiens have many more CHL-based prospects that could join their ranks in case of an early playoff exit, like Owen Beck, Cedrick Guindon, Logan Mailloux and more.

One would hope that they all go on long, eventful playoff runs with their respective teams, but if the Rocket are still playing games, it could be a great experience for them to be around the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate for a little bit.

Needless to say, after a season where injuries to the Montreal Canadiens and their own roster have depleted their ranks, it could be fun for the Laval Rocket to get some reinforcements for a change.

*Unfortunately, NCAA-based prospects that will turn pro and sign their entry-level contracts, such as a Sean Farrell or Jayden Struble, won’t be eligible to do the same, due to officially signing their contracts after the NHL Trade Deadline.