After sustaining an injury in the pre-season that held him out of the Montreal Canadiens’ final few tune-up games, Michel Therrien announced today that his defenceman would not be ready to go for opening night on Thursday.
Head coach Michel Therrien confirms that defenseman Jeff Petry won’t play in the first game of the regular season due to injury.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 10, 2016
The injury doesn’t sound too serious, as Petry is not expected to miss much time, perhaps returning to the lineup as early as Saturday.
His absence opens the door for Mikhail Sergachev — the 18-year-old rookie defender taken ninth overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft — to get some NHL experience in the first game of the 2016-17 campaign.
That experience will come versus the Buffalo Sabres in their home opener, and it appears as though he will be paired with Alexei Emelin initially, based on consistent pairings in practice drills.
It also means that the Canadiens will not have to make any more roster decisions until Petry returns to the lineup, as he won’t take up one of the 23 roster spots while on the Injured Reserve list.
