Canadiens' Eller replaced by Andrighetto Saturday; Galchenyuk remains at wing
Montreal Canadiens center Lars Eller sustained an upper-body injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night and will be unable to play Saturday night against the Dallas Stars, according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA.
Eller has logged difficult defensive minutes for the Canadiens, and will undergo an MRI on Monday, Lavoie reports. He's doubtful for Montreal's game on Tuesday, and presumably could be more than day-to-day depending on the results of his MRI on Tuesday.
To replace Eller in the lineup on Saturday, the Canadiens recalled forward Sven Andrighetto from the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League. The Swiss born Andrighetto, a third-round pick of the Canadiens at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, is set to make his NHL debut.
Andrighetto won't just be debuting though, he'll be playing in a pretty prominent spot in the Canadiens' lineup:
#canadiens Sven Andrighetto will play at center on the third line. #tvasports
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) December 6, 2014
This has to be a frustrating decision for Canadiens fans, who would surely like to see bluechip 20-year-old forward Alex Galchenyuk, a natural center, given a shot to play in the middle of the ice.
Andrighetto is a natural RW and has played C for about 30 games in his career. Galchenyuk is a natural C.
— Andrew Berkshire (@AndrewBerkshire) December 6, 2014
Galchenyuk has spent the majority of this season playing the left wing on a potent secondary scoring line with Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher. While the American-born forward has been productive and effective on the wing this season, he's still projected to be a top-line center going forward.
It would seem that Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien is missing a prime opportunity to experiment with playing Galchenyuk at center, a position at which he can potentially provide significantly more on-ice value to Montreal over the long-term.