Montreal Canadiens recall Owen Beck from the Peterborough Petes

Jan 27, 2023 - 11:31 PM

Facing an ever-growing mountain of injuries, the Montreal Canadiens used their emergency recall ability to add Owen Beck to their roster. With a solid 44 points in 37 games of OHL action this season, Beck will look to provide some of his high-standard defensive hockey while also being able to chip in on offense.

It has been somewhat of a whirlwind season for Beck, who was one of the final cuts from Habs camp before heading back to the Mississauga Steelheads. He was also one of the final cuts from Team Canada’s World Junior roster, yet ended up getting called up for that tournament as well. After the tournament, he was traded from the Steelheads to the Peterborough Petes, and now he’s heading straight to the top league in the world.

That slow start in Peterborough belies solid overall play, and they didn’t cough up a significant price to get him without good reason. It should be interesting to see what he brings at the NHL level, as he looked very close to being able to make the team out of camp before this season started.

The amount of emergency recalls the Canadiens have already proceeded with from the Laval Rocket made them eligible under the CBA to look to the CHL. The agreement between the CHL and NHL permits a maximum of five games for a junior player with their NHL club. With only two games before the All-Star break and then the bye week, it’s likely injured players will return well before Beck needs to play five games. It’s also possible he only plays Saturday’s game in Ottawa.

On Friday, three centres, Nick Suzuki , Kirby Dach, and Christian Dvorak missed practice. Dvorak also missed part of Thursday’s game.