The Canadiens suffered their first injury of the season before the players even hit the ice for the first time at training camp Thursday in Brossard.
The team announced Thursday morning that defenceman Kaiden Guhle had his appendix removed on Wednesday and will miss the start of training camp. Guhle will be re-evaluated in seven days.
Guhle was limited to 70 games last season because of injuries and played only 44 games the season before that.
The 59 players at training camp have been split into three teams. Teams 1 and 2 squared off in a scrimmage at 11:15 a.m. Thursday after Team 3 practised at 10 a.m..
The way the teams are set up shows the lines that head coach Martin St. Louis will use to start training camp.
When Thursday’s scrimmage started, Nick Suzuki was between Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky on Team 1, while Kirby Dach was between Alex Newhook and newcomer Patrik Laine on Team 2.
Team 3 has Joel Armia, Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher, along with Joshua Roy, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson.
Teams 2 and 3 will play in a scrimmage Friday morning at 11:15 a.m. after Team 1 practises at 10 a.m.
All practices and scrimmages at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard are open to the public.