Montreal Canadiens Place Forward On NHL Waivers

Shortly before 2 pm ET, the Montreal Canadiens announced they were placing forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard on waivers.

Harvey-Pinard, 25, was injured in the offseason while participating in a non-team event. That led to a broken leg, and a long recovery time that forced him to miss the start of the season. Once Harvey-Pinard seemed ready to play, the Canadiens loaned him to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on a long-term conditioning stint.

In five games with the Rocket, Harvey-Pinard managed just one goal.

That being said, recovering from a broken leg is quite the challenge, and as we saw from players such as Kirby Dach, missing a significant amount of time is always detrimental when it comes to producing at a regular rate.

Now that the conditioning loan is over, the Canadiens are attempting to sneak Harvey-Pinard through waivers so that he can join the Rocket, a team that has played well this season, but has taken a big step back since Joshua Roy was recalled to the NHL by the Habs.

Harvey-Pinard’s journey in Montreal started on the best possible note, as he quickly provided an important presence in the lineup in 2022-23, finishing the season with 14 goals and six assists in 34 games. The production was particularly impressive as half of it took place while Harvey-Pinard was on the fourth line, and we all know that’s far from a situation that’s conducive to scoring, let alone surviving in the NHL.

Injuries and inconsistency have plagued Harvey-Pinard ever since, as evidenced by his rather underwhelming scoring rate last year. Harvey-Pinard only scored two goals and eight assists in 45 games, effectively ruining any semblance of momentum he created the previous season.

It’s not too late for Harvey-Pinard to find his rhythm in the NHL, and though there’s always a risk when it comes to waiver claims, but it’s doubtful an NHL team will want to absorb his $1.1 million salary cap hit.

Should he clear waivers, a strong end of the season in Laval is in order for the hard-working winger.