David Savard and Arber Xhekaj train with their teammates this morning

This morning, on BPM Sports, Renaud Lavoie talked about the David Savard file. Asked when he would return to the game, the journalist said it wouldn’t be tonight.

In fact, the man who had not (as of this morning) yet begun working with his teammates on the ice still has a few days left on the sidelines.

How much longer?

According to the TVA Sports reporter and the BPM Sports contributor, it will be a good 10 days, or even two weeks, before he is able to return to the game.

But does this prevent him from returning to training with the others? As you know, no, it doesn’t prevent him from jumping on the ice with the rest of his teammates.

And that’s what he did this morning.

He’s not the only defenseman on the injured list, however. Arber Xhekaj, as reported by Luc Gélinas, was also present.

Another piece of good news.

As mentioned above, Savard is unlikely to play tonight. But will one pre-game morning skate (the duel is against the Kraken tonight) be enough for Xhekaj, whose return was expected last week?

Not necessarily.

You’d think Martin St-Louis, who has no shortage of resources on the blue line right now, would want to wait until he’s given a real workout before bringing the Sheriff back on the ice for a game.

It should also be noted that, at the time of writing, the Habs have not announced any personnel moves (injury, demotion, transaction, etc.) to make room on the 23-player roster.

Until proven otherwise, the Habs may not have a backup for tonight’s game.

Note that the Habs will be in Montreal until Friday, and will play Monday and Thursday at home. This will give them time for some real practice, which may help with the potential return of the two defensemen – and the congestion that will ensue.

Extension

Here are the trios in training.

As you can see, Juraj Slafkovsky is on the first line alongside the “old couple” of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Slaf said when he was drafted that he wanted to play with both guys.

Details to come…