The Montreal Canadiens have assigned Victor Mete to the Laval Rocket. The move comes a few days after Karl Alzner was placed on waivers, and Shea Weber made his season debut.
Les Canadiens ont annoncé aujourd’hui que le défenseur Victor Mete a été cédé au Rocket de Laval dans la Ligue américaine.
Canadiens assign defenseman Victor Mete to the AHL’s Laval Rocket.#GoHabsGo— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 29, 2018
Mete has four assists in 23 games this season, and had seven assists in 49 games last year. He also played six games with Team Canada at the World Juniors, earning three assists.
He is an option to go down as the Canadiens get healthy on defence as he has been passed on the depth chart by Brett Kulak and a recovering Noah Juulsen. Only Mete and Juulsen will not require waivers to the AHL, and Kulak – still eligible to be sent back without waivers – has earned his spot with his play thus far.
This leaves the Canadiens with seven healthy defencemen including Weber, Kulak, Jeff Petry, Jordie Benn, David Schlemko, Mike Reilly, and Xavier Ouellet.
Mete, 20, will join the Laval Rocket where he should be expected to get a lot of playing time, and gain some confidence.
This transaction opens up a spot on the Canadiens roster and could mean that Paul Byron is close to returning to the team after an injury.
In a corresponding move, the Rocket have released defenceman Ryan Sproul from his try out.
