■ HABS ADD MERRILL,

The Canadiens announced Sunday that defenceman Victor Mete has been placed on waivers, one day before the NHL trade deadline, which is at 3 p.m. today.

Less than two hours after Mete was put on waivers, the Canadiens announced they had acquired defenceman Jon Merrill from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a fifth-round pick at this year's NHL draft and forward Hayden Verbeek, who had a goal and two assists in seven games this season with the AHL'S Laval Rocket.

In 36 games this season with the Red Wings, the 6-3, 195-pound Merrill had 0-5-5 totals and was plus-2. The 29-year-old, who shoots left, has played 392 career games in the NHL with 12-54-66 totals and 207 penalty minutes.

Merrill is playing on a one-year, US$925,000 contract. The New Jersey Devils selected the Oklahoma City native in the second round (38th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.

The 22-year-old Mete had no goals, three assists and was plus3 in 14 games with the Canadiens this season.

The Canadiens had a 9-5-4 record to start the season under Claude Julien and are now 8-7-5 since Dominique Ducharme took over as coach.

Goalie Carey Price, who has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, still isn't ready to return.

“He's doing good … he's doing better,” Ducharme said after the Canadiens practised Sunday.

Joel Armia practised with his teammates Sunday morning for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19 on March 22.

Ducharme confirmed that Armia did suffer from COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive for a variant, adding that the right-winger won't return tonight.