When Phillip Danault left Thursday night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an injury, it appeared a very long streak owned by the Montreal Canadiens would be coming to an end. For the last 104 years, the Canadiens have always had at least one Quebec-born player in the lineup. With Danault out, there were no players born in Quebec left on the roster. The team has now made a move to rectify that.
The Habs have announced the call-up of Alex Belzile, who will take Michael Frolik's spot in the lineup Saturday night in another game against the Leafs. While there's no way of knowing whether this is the specific reason the Saint-Eloi native was brought up, the 29-year-old Belzile has never played a regular season game in the NHL. The only games he's ever played in the league were during last year's bubble playoffs when he suited up for six games with the Canadiens.
As for Danault, Montreal's head coach Domique Ducharme said he suffered a concussion and has returned to Montreal. The Habs are facing a lengthy list of injuries to key players including Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron and Shea Weber.
