Canadiens Notebook: Ben Chiarot sits out before NHL trade deadline

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Veteran defenceman won't be in the lineup Tuesday night against Coyotes with head coach Martin St. Louis calling it a "management decision."

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It looks like Ben Chiarot has played his last game for the Canadiens — at least for this season.

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After Tuesday’s morning skate in Brossard, head coach Martin St. Louis announced that Chiarot won’t be in the lineup Tuesday night at the Bell Centre against the Arizona Coyotes (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), calling it a “management decision.”

General manager Kent Hughes has made it clear that Chiarot — who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer — will be traded before next Monday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline. Playing Chiarot in the three games the Canadiens have left before the trade deadline makes no sense because of the risk of injury and the fact Hughes should be able to get at least a first-round draft pick in exchange for the veteran defenceman.

There’s always the possibility Hughes could trade Chiarot and then re-sign him as a free agent during the summer.

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Veteran forward Paul Byron appreciates what Chiarot has brought to the Canadiens since signing a three-year, US$10.5-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $3.5 million as a free agent during the summer of 2019.

“Game in, game out, he brings stability to the team,” Byron said about the 30-year-old Chiarot. “He’s a hard guy to play against. People don’t realize how hard a big guy like that is. He pushes on you, he goes in the corners, he punishes you. He’s a guy that you win playoff series with. Everyone talks about analytics now and regular seasons and there’s a part of that in the game, for sure, finding good players. But once Game 1 of the playoffs starts, everyone knows the game changes.

“You need the guys you want to go to war with,” Byron added. “You need  guys that can wear teams down, wear good players down. By Game 4, Game 5, Game 6 when you get guys that don’t really want to go in the corners anymore, don’t want to get the puck first, that’s when the series starts to change. He’s been a great player for us. He’s taken a more offensive role on our team, more leadership. It’s been fun watching him kind of grow his game the last few years. We’ll see what happens with him. It’s been fun.”

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In 54 games this season, the 6-foot-3, 234-pound Chiarot has 7-11-18 totals and is minus-18 while averaging a team-high 23:33 of ice time. In his last nine games, Chiarot had 2-7-9 totals and was plus-8.

During last season’s playoffs, Chiarot was part of the four “Clydesdales” on defence — which is what assistant coach Luke Richardson called them — along with Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson as the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup final. Chiarot averaged a team-high 25:15 of ice time during the playoff run, while posting 1-1-2 totals and a minus-2 in 22 games. He also ranked third in the NHL in playoff hits with 88.

Rookie defenceman Corey Schueneman has also been impressed by Chiarot.

“I think it’s just little things,” Schueneman said. “How to be a pro. He brings it every game. He plays well every game, every shift. He’s a bigger guy, but he moves well, he plays physical. But he’s still an offensive threat. So I think just the little things, kind of making sure you manage your shifts well, making sure you manage the game well.

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“He never really seems to be too out of position and then offensively he’s always a threat,” Schueneman added. “He’s got a good shot, he moves well. Just being a good pro, bringing it every game, bringing it every shift. Just little things.”

Article content Opportunity for Schueneman

With Chiarot on the move to a new team, it should create an opportunity for Schueneman, who had 0-2-2 totals in nine games with the Canadiens before facing the Coyotes.

Schueneman was never selected at the NHL Draft after playing four seasons at Western Michigan University and signed with the Canadiens as a free agent last April. In 27 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket this season, the 26-year-old had 3-7-10 totals.

“In my eyes, if guys get moved and there’s an opportunity then I want to take it and make the most of it, just like this whole year,” the 6-foot, 196-pound Schueneman said. “My mindset in general is any chance I can, take the opportunity and run with it. We’ll see what happens.”

“I just try and take it day by day,” he added. “It’s not a long-term thing that I’m thinking. It’s just where am I going to be tomorrow and how can I help the team? Just try and play the best I can. (Marty St. Louis’s) been great. He’s been very helpful. Same with Luke (Richardson). Luke’s been here the whole time and been very helpful. Marty came and, obviously, the boys are playing well now and we’re stringing along some wins. The better I play, maybe the more minutes I get and the more confidence I gain. I think Marty touched on that the other day. He’s right on. The better I can play, the more I can play. I’m all for it.”

Article content Article content Pitlick a great pickup

Rem Pitlick is turning out to be a great find after the Canadiens claimed him on waivers from the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 12.

The 24-year-old forward had 6-10-16 totals in 23 games before facing the Coyotes and has been used in all situations, including the power play and penalty-killing, while also being able to play centre or wing.

The Canadiens also found a diamond in the rough when they claimed Paul Byron on waivers from the Calgary Flames before the start of the 2015-16 season.

“We haven’t really talked too much personally about the waiver situation,” Byron said when asked about his relationship with Pitlick. “There’s not really much to say to him, really. He’s making the most of his opportunity. He’s working really hard, he’s playing great. He’s got a lot of confidence in himself and he’s just someone like myself who needed an opportunity and we’ve been able to give that here with all the injuries we had.

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“The way the season was going to come in and play in the top six, power play, stuff like that, he’s done a great job for our team,” Byron added. “It’s fun watching him play. He reminds me a lot of myself in the situation and I hope he keeps playing well and continues to get better, kind of like I did.”

Pitlick is playing on a one-year contract worth US$917,831 and can become a restricted free agent this summer.

Article content Seven-game segments

When St. Louis replaced Dominique Ducharme as head coach on Feb. 9, the Canadiens had an 8-30-7 record.

St. Louis decided to break the rest of the season into seven-game segments — the equivalent of a playoff series — and wanted his players to win every series.

The Canadiens went 4-3-0 in the first seven games and 4-2-1 in the second seven games before starting a new seven-game segment against the Coyotes.

“I liked it a lot,” Byron said about St. Louis’s plan. “It gave our team something to play for at a time where you look up in the standings you see a lot of games left and you don’t see yourself too close to the playoff picture. So it kind of put everyone in that mentality of every game kind of matters. Making it matter, making it important, making small games that otherwise might seem trivial at the time, make them important to the team.

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“We kind of did the same thing back when I was in Calgary with Bob Hartley and in a season like this it just makes it funner at the end,” Byron added. “It makes the team compete harder, it gives you something to play for and we’re seeing the results now. You can see our team just looks way different than we did a few weeks ago and it’s just a great way to kind of get everyone involved in the game, night in, night out. It’s worked pretty well.”

Article content Poehling placed on injured reserve

The Canadiens announced Tuesday morning that forward Ryan Poehling has been placed on the injured-reserve list with an upper-body injury and that Jesse Ylönen has been called up from the Rocket.

Poehling was injured during Sunday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Flyers in Philadelphia. In 45 games this season, he has 5-7-12 totals.

Ylönen has 12-15-27 totals in 40 games with the Rocket. In seven games earlier this season with the Canadiens, he had 1-1-2 totals.

Tyler Pitlick, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade on Feb. 14, practised with his new Canadiens teammates for the first time Tuesday morning after being sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Tyler and Rem are cousins.

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Jonathan Drouin (wrist) and Christian Dvorak (upper body) both practised Tuesday morning but haven’t been given the green light yet to play.

Josh Anderson, Artturi Lehkonen and Brett Kulak all skipped Tuesday’s morning practice, receiving treatments instead.

Sam Montembeault will start in goal against the Coyotes, but when St. Louis was asked what the rest of his lineup will look like he said: “Honestly, I really don’t know who we’re going with tonight.”

There will be some game-time decisions.

Article content What’s next?

Tuesday’s game against the Coyotes is the first of six straight at home for the Canadiens.

The Dallas Stars will visit the Bell Centre on Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m., SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

Next week, the Boston Bruins will be the visitors on Monday (7 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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