MONTREAL -- Montreal will host another NHL draft a little later than originally planned.
The Canadiens will stage the 2022 event at the Bell Centre more than two years after the 2020 draft was moved to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first round July 7 will be followed by rounds two through seven the next day.
The 2020 draft would have seen No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere, who grew up a short drive from the Bell Centre in the Montreal suburb of Ste-Eustache, Que., walk across the stage in front of an adoring hometown crowd.
The winger instead learned he had been selected first overall by the New York Rangers while sitting at home with his parents and sister.
QUEBEC'S KEVIN ROY AGREES TO ONE-SEASON CONTRACT WITH ROCKET
While the Montreal Canadiens' rookies were working out on the ice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard for a second straight day Friday morning, a Quebec forward secured a spot with the Tricolore's training club for the upcoming campaign.
Kevin Roy, a 28-year-old hockey player from Greenfield Park, accepted a one-season contract from the Laval Rocket. The amount of the deal was not specified by the organization.
Roy played last season with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL, scoring 11 goals and 19 assists in 35 games.
In 218 career AHL games with the San Diego Gulls, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Springfield Thunderbirds and Roadrunners, Roy scored 56 goals and added 97 assists.
The 5'9", 170-pound left winger played 28 NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks between 2017 and 2019, nabbing seven points (6-1-7).
Roy was a fourth-round pick, 97th overall, by the Ducks
in the 2012 NHL draft.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 17, 2021.
