The Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday announced that defenseman Alexandre Carrier will miss two to four weeks with an upper-body injury. Carrier, who joined Montreal in a midseason trade from the Nashville Predators last season, has played in all 77 games during the 2025-26 season, putting up a 7-15–22 scoring line with a +2 rating.
The 29-year-old spent 19:05 on the ice in his last game on Sunday, a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, skating 19 shifts and finishing with a +1 rating. There was no visible indication of injury during the game, and the team has not disclosed the cause. Given that the third-seeded Canadiens (43-21-10) in the Atlantic Division will play the Philadelphia Flyers for their final regular-season game on April 14, Carrier's regular season is likely over. He may also miss the opening games of Montreal's first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
This season, Carrier has been primarily a second- or third-pairing right-shot defenseman, often playing alongside Kaiden Guhle. He has scored a career-high seven goals and supplied 15 assists, slightly below his career-best 30-point output with Nashville in 2021-22. Carrier has also averaged 3+ minutes per game on the penalty kill, forming half of the Canadiens' top shorthanded unit with Mike Matheson. However, the unit has allowed 10.6 goals per 60 minutes while he is on the ice.
Carrier's absence leaves Noah Dobson as Montreal's only healthy right-shot defenseman. The Canadiens recalled left-shot defenseman Adam Engstrom from the AHL's Laval Rocket on Monday. With forwards Josh Anderson, Kirby Dach, and Alexandre Texier also unavailable, Arber Xhekaj has filled in as a winger.
