After his hard fall against the boards near the end of the game in St. Louis, Byron was given a therapy day on Wednesday in North Carolina. His status for the game against the Hurricanes on Thursday night is still unknown.
If he's unable to go, Charles Hudon could take his spot in the middle. Hudon previously played the position, most notably in the American Hockey League.
"We'll see how Paul is feeling in the morning. It isn't anything major, but we'll make a decision on whether or not he'll play after re-evaluating him," specified head coach Claude Julien, following Wednesday's practice at PNC Arena.
The Canadiens' bench boss featured Hudon on a line in between Max Pacioretty and Daniel Carr.
"It's one of the reasons why we put him at center at practice, to give him at least one skate at that position. He played center before. We've already seen him there during a game, so it's a possibility," indicated Julien, who is seeing his options up the middle cotinue to decrease as injuries occur.
"Unfortunately, we don't control those things. We try to do the best we can with the situation we find ourselves in," added Julien. "There's always Hudon, Jacob de la Rose and Alex Galchenyuk, who also played there. It's not that we don't have a solution, but we're trying to keep our lines that are working intact. We're trying to balance everything out."
If he's called upon to play center, Hudon is ready. He's always been prepared to handle any challenge thrown his way.
"Claude knows that I can play all over the place and step up in situations like these. We'll see. It looked like Paul was doing o.k. after the fall and we were happy to see him get up. But, I think everything's a challenge for me because I'm just in my first year in the NHL," mentioned Hudon.
At least he's already used to working alongside Pacioretty, a player that always talks to him on the ice.
"We talk a lot. Max always has something to tell me, whether it's positive or negative. He knows that I'm just trying to do the best things for him. I know he scores goals, so I'm doing my best to help him out. We talk a lot and we create a lot of chances, but the puck doesn't want to go in the net," confided Hudon.
While the 23-year-old isn't always satisfied with his numbers, he's still pleased with his game.
"I couldn't be more satisfied. I came into the league with a lot of desire, creating a lot of plays and a lot of offense. That's what I'm going to continue to do," mentioned Hudon.
Regardless of who will be in the lineup against the Hurricanes, the important thing is to have a strong presence in front of the net. That's something the Canadiens worked on during Wednesday's on-ice session.
"We have to find a way to get inside the faceoff circles. We aren't getting good scoring chances from our work down low, whether it's a player acting as a screen in front of the goaltender, guys going to the net or plays around the net. We worked on that. We're always looking to improve our team in order to get results," explained Julien.
And, it seems that his players are getting the message.
"At the start of the year, we were taking a lot of pucks to the net. We want to create more traffic. It's tough to score goals when there isn't anyone there to pick up the rebounds," concluded Hudon.
