MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens have been given the green light to resume practice. A session will be held at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard at 6:45 p.m. Monday.

The Canadiens' season was put on hold last week, just minutes from the start of the warm-up period for a scheduled duel against the Oilers.

General manager Marc Bergevin confirmed a player had been infected with a variant case of COVID-19.

Joel Armia and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were listed as unavailable due to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol on Monday night, and it's now known that either Armia or Kotkaniemi was the player infected with the coronavirus variant. 

The NHL decided to stop the show and close the training center until March 29.

Bergevin added that the NHL's decision, made in conjunction with public health, to suspend the Habs' activities was made as a preventative measure. He noted that several players had had close contact with the infected person, and that the league preferred to err on the side of caution to avoid any possible transmission on the ice during a game.

Players will resume action on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers at the Bell Centre.

On Monday, the NHL announced a series of changes to the Canadiens’ schedule. In all, 10 games have been rescheduled:

  • Edmonton vs Montreal - March 30 at 7 p.m. (formerly March 22)
  • Ottawa vs Montreal - April 17 at 4 p.m. (formerly March 28)
  • Montreal vs Edmonton - April 21 at 8 p.m. (formerly April 20)
  • Montreal vs Calgary - April 23 at 7 p.m. (formerly April 22)
  • Montreal vs Ottawa - May 5 at 7 p.m. (formerly March 30)
  • Montreal vs Toronto - May 6 at 7 p.m. (formerly May 7)
  • Edmonton vs Montreal - May 10 at 5:30 p.m. (formerly March 24)
  • Edmonton vs Montreal - May 11 at 7 p.m. (formerly March 26) 
  • Calgary vs Montreal - April 16 at 6 p.m. (formerly 7 p.m.)
  • Montreal vs Calgary - April 26 at 4:30 p.m. (formerly 8 p.m.)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2021.