With the Montreal Canadiens exiting the NHL playoffs, and the Laval Rocket just starting their run, it makes sense that the team sent forward Oliver Kapanen and goaltender Cayden Primeau to the AHL, which they made official on Saturday.
The Rocket play Game 3 of their second round series on Sunday. It will be their first home game of the playoffs after winning both games in Cleveland. They hold a 2-0 series lead in their best-of-five series.
The two players were some of the only NHL players eligible to be sent down from the NHL team. Kapanen was loaned to the SHL and already had a contract with the team which means he didn’t need to be papered at the NHL trade deadline.
Primeau was recalled due to the injury to Samuel Montembeault. Primeau will now join Jacob Fowler, who started Games 1 and 2, earning a shutout in the second game. Connor Hughes is still working his way from an injury, and Luke Cavallin will likely return to the Trois-Rivières Lions once the goaltender joins the team back in Laval.
Jakub Dobeš was papered along with Owen Beck, who had already been sent down and scored in Game 1, at the NHL trade deadline and was eligible but was not sent down.
Other waiver-ineligible players on the NHL roster would have needed to be papered at the Trade Deadline to be eligible for the AHL playoffs, but there isn’t much to gain from AHL playoff experience for most of them. Ivan Demidov was signed to an entry-level contract after the trade deadline and played an NHL game, making him ineligible.
This will be the third league that Kapanen will play playoff games in this season, joining the SHL and NHL.
