Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Kirby Dach skated this morning

This morning, before the day’s training session, we saw Rafaël Harvey-Pinard skating.

Obviously, he did it solo, and he didn’t exactly skate for many minutes or at high intensity. But as far as we know, it’s a first for him since his operation.

It’s still many weeks before he’s back in the game, but he’s clearly heading in the right direction.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard skating this morning before his teammates, in sports tracksuit pic.twitter.com/DMpBEU1SKJ

– Guillaume Lefrançois (@glefrancoisLP) October 17, 2024

Then, in direct training, there were several issues to watch out for. One of them concerned Kirby Dach, who missed Wednesday’s practice for treatment.

Martin St-Louis’ comments yesterday that he didn’t know if Dach would be available for the game against the Kings added another layer of concern to the situation.

Even though Jeff Gorton tried to reassure people in the afternoon.

On the heels of the day’s training session, a few hours before the game against the Kings, Kirby Dach was present at training. This was very good news for the Habs.

Yes, Kirby’s on the team this morning

Yes, Kirby’s on the ice #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/1NzlfEPcEJ

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) October 17, 2024

Defensively, Jayden Struble (who is healthy) practiced with Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron, but the American looked overmatched. The “usual” early duos were seen: Hutson with Savard and Matheson with Guhle.

Offensively, Michael Pezzetta was too much.

Trios and duos at morning training.

Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky
Newhook-Dach-Armia
Anderson-Evans-Gallagher
Heineman-Dvorak-Kapanen
Pezzetta

Matheson-Guhle
Hutson-Savard
Xhekaj-Barron
Struble

Montembeault
Primeau

– J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontLNH) October 17, 2024