With his LTI conditioning loan wrapping up on Friday, news was expected today when it came to Rafael Harvey-Pinard. The Habs activated him off LTIR and then placed him on waivers to assign him to Laval.
Harvey-Pinard made a strong impression in 2022-23, scoring 14 goals and adding six assists in 34 games following a midseason recall and it looked as if he might be a longer-term fixture in their bottom six. That helped secure him a two-year, $2.2 million one-way contract that offseason.
But things didn’t go as planned for the 25-year-old last season. Harvey-Pinard dealt with three separate lower-body injuries, costing him 37 games in total. Meanwhile, when he was in Montreal’s lineup, he struggled considerably, tallying just two goals and eight assists in 45 outings. Notably, his shots on goal total dropped by more than half despite playing in 11 more games than the year before.
That had Harvey-Pinard seemingly on the bubble for a roster spot heading into the season. However, he didn’t even get a chance to push for a spot in training camp after he broke his leg during offseason training, one that kept him out of the lineup until a week and a half ago when he was assigned to Laval on that conditioning stint.
Harvey-Pinard didn’t manage to do much offensively with the Rocket, scoring just once in those five outings and not really showing enough to seriously be considered for NHL playing time. While the Canadiens have an open roster spot and simply could have activated him and kept him as a healthy scratch, they’ll instead try to send him through to get consistent minutes with the Rocket.
Given his one-way contract and seven-figure price tag, it would be a bit surprising for a team to claim Harvey-Pinard. Either way, his contract will be coming off Montreal’s books as the cap hit is fully buriable in the minors, cutting their LTIR overage basically in half to around $1.1 million. If and when that amount gets cleared later on in the season, Montreal can then start trying to bank cap space to avoid or reduce any potential bonus overage penalty heading into 2025-26.
