Montreal Canadiens News

Kahkonen allowed two goals on 21 shots in the Wild's loss to the Kings on Tuesday. Kahkonen wasn't very busy but Cal Petersen was terrific at the other end, handing Kahkonen his second straight loss. With Cam Talbot still sidelined, Kahkonen will make his fifth consecutive start on Thursday and enters play at 2-2-0 with a 2.22 GAA and .918 SV%.

Kahkonen allowed four goals on 35 shots in the Wild's 5-3 loss to the Sharks on Sunday. With Cam Talbot still sidelined, Kahkonen will make a second straight start. The young Finnish netminder has played well early-on, going 2-1-0 with a 2.27 GAA and .921 SV% in three appearances. On Tuesday he'll take on a Kings team that has been surprisingly good on offence so far, averaging 3.33 goals per game (7th in the NHL).

Kahkonen allowed four goals on 35 shots in the Wild's 5-3 loss to the Sharks on Sunday. With Cam Talbot still sidelined, Kahkonen will make a second straight start. The young Finnish netminder has played well early-on, going 2-1-0 with a 2.27 GAA and .921 SV% in three appearances. On Tuesday he'll take on a Kings team that has been surprisingly good on offence so far, averaging 3.33 goals per game (7th in the NHL).

Byron was hit by a Shea Weber shot late in Thursday's win in Vancouver. With Byron unavailable for Friday's practice, Michael Frolik skated in his spot on the fourth line.

Kahkonen went 3-1-1 with a 2.96 GAA and .913 SV% in his first five career NHL games in 2020. The 2014 fourth-round pick was really good in the AHL before getting promoted, going 25-6-3 with a 2.07 GAA and .927 SV%, so he’s certainly a capable backstop and makes for a solid spot start option vs. an offensively challenged Ducks team.

Dach underwent surgery to repair a fractured right wrist in late-December and is expected to miss 4-5 months. Dach is not expected to play this season unless he's ahead of his rehab schedule, so moving him to LTIR was an inevitable move. It provides the Blackhawks with salary cap relief.

After acquiring Anderson from the Blue Jackets, GM Marc Bergevin inked the rugged winger through the 2027 season. The deal leaves the Canadiens with ≈$5.37M in cap space heading into free agency. Anderson, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Carey Price are the only four skaters in Montreal currently signed through the 2024 season.

Anderson dealt with shoulder issues all throughout 2020, limiting him to just 26 games and four points (1G / 3A). In 2019, Anderson scored a career-high 27 goals with 20 assists (47 points) in 82 games. He was one of three players who had 20-plus goals and 200-plus hits in 2019--Alex Ovechkin and Blake Coleman were the other two, pretty good company. Anderson's rugged style of play is exactly what the Habs were in search of and he will pair nicely on the second line with Nick Suzuki.

Matheson has a massive contract, with six years left at $4.875M but the 26-year-old was brought in to replace Justin Schultz, who is a UFA. Matheson has tremendous mobility for a 6-foot-2 defenseman and heads to Pittsburgh with at least eight goals and 20 points in three consecutive seasons. Matheson fell out of favour in Florida in 2020 but should be a fine second or third pairing defenseman in Pittsburgh.