Ivan Demidov won't travel to Chicago, could join Canadiens later, says Eric Engels

Ivan Demidov won't travel with the Canadiens to Chicago, and the timing could hardly be worse for a team that just lost Nick Suzuki.

Sportsnet's Eric Engels delivered the update after Thursday's practice. The 20-year-old forward could still join the club at some point on the road next week.

Could. It's a bit like being told the plumber might show up sometime between Monday and Friday.

Demidov hasn't played since October 3 in Pittsburgh, a 6-5 overtime loss. He had one goal and one assist through two games before going down.

He's on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and a timeline of at least October 31. Line that up against the schedule and it gets awkward fast.

The four-game trip opens Friday in Chicago, then hits Winnipeg on Sunday, St. Louis on Tuesday and Dallas next Thursday.

It would be surprising to see him in uniform Sunday against the Jets. Winnipeg has dropped three straight, for whatever that's worth.

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Nick Suzuki's injury puts Lane Hutson in charge of Montreal's offence

The bigger problem is the one Suzuki left behind. His upper-body injury is expected to keep him out until at least November 18.

That's close to four weeks without the team's leading scorer, who had 12 points in nine games and a +6 rating. So who drives the offence now?

Lane Hutson, for starters. The 22-year-old defenceman leads all healthy Canadiens with nine points in nine games, five of them over his last five.

Cole Caufield is finding the net again. He has six goals on the season, and four of them have come over his last five games.

Juraj Slafkovsky has turned into a setup man, piling up five assists in that same five-game span. Those three are the core Martin St-Louis has to lean on Friday night.

Then there's Zachary Bolduc. He has four goals, two of them on the power play, while carrying a $4.2 million cap hit.

He deserves a real look in the top six while the injuries pile up. That's the kind of opening a young forward either grabs or watches someone else take.

Now the uncomfortable part. Noah Dobson owns the biggest cap hit on the roster at $9.5 million, and he has two assists with a -4 rating.

That isn't good enough, and nine games is no longer a small sample.

Michael Matheson is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which only puts more weight on the blue line's most expensive player.

The crease isn't offering much relief either. Jakub Dobes carries an .847 save percentage, and Samuel Montembeault remains on injured reserve.

Montreal enters the trip at 4-3-2 after Tuesday's 4-3 overtime loss to San Jose. On the road, it's 1-1-1.

Chicago looks like a soft landing on paper. The Blackhawks are 3-6-0 under Jeff Blashill and have been held scoreless twice already.

But they're 3-2-0 at home, and Friday marks the first meeting between these two clubs this season.

And if Dallas comes and goes with Demidov still in street clothes, the next game on the calendar is at home against Pittsburgh, the same team he last faced.

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