Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price will be restarting rehab on his injured knee and remains out of the lineup indefinitely.
The decision to restart the rehab process came after Price met with the doctor who performed his surgery, who determined the move was necessary because Price was unable to continue working on his knee during the team’s Christmas break and extended COVID-19 pause earlier this month.
Price, 34, had knee surgery in July — only weeks after helping the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final. His recovery from the knee injury was paused for most of October after he entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program but he rejoined the team in November and has been working — both in the gym and on the ice — to get back to game shape ever since.
Head coach Dominque Ducharme said the team does not consider this to be a setback for Price.
In addition to Price, the Canadiens provided injury and availability updates on a number of players Monday.
• Josh Anderson is set to return to the lineup Monday against the Arizona Coyotes. The veteran forward has missed the past 11 games with an upper-body injury suffered in early December.
• Tyler Toffoli is nearing a return and is expected to appear in a game this week. The veteran winger is ahead of schedule after having surgery on his hand in mid-December, an injury that initially carried an eight-week recovery timeline.
• Veteran forward Paul Byron is nearing a return from off-season hip surgery and a recent stint in COVID-19 protocols.
• Goaltender Jake Allen had an MRI for his lower-body injury Monday and the results will help determine his timeline for a return. Allen was injured during last week’s game against the Bruins and has returned to Montreal.
• Brendan Gallagher remains one to two weeks away from returning from a lower-body injury suffered in late December but has resumed skating.
• Joel Edmundson has returned to Montreal after being away from the club following the death of his father. There is no timeline for him to return to the lineup.
• Forward Alex Belzile was placed on waivers and will be assigned to AHL Laval if he clears.
