Alexis Belanger-Champagne, The Canadian Press

BROSSARD, Que. – Mike Matheson’s first game in a Montreal Canadiens jersey is drawing near and his return to good health should create healthy competition within the defensive roster.

Matheson trained alongside Joel Edmundson on Friday. He was wearing a normal sweater and did not have to avoid contact.

The Canadian acquired Matheson from the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer in exchange for Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling. He should inherit an important role with the Habs this season.

An abdominal muscle injury delayed his appearance.

“His skating is efficient and he covers a lot of ice,” said head coach Martin St-Louis. He can play many minutes.

The Canadian continues to count on four rookies at the blue line night after night as veteran Chris Wideman is the one who has been sidelined the most since Joel Edmundson returned to the game.

Matheson has played over 400 NHL games with the Florida Panthers and Penguins. And while the Canadians have conceded at least four goals in their last three games, the return of the Pointe-Claire native seems timely.

“He’s a guy who knows what it takes to win,” Edmundson said. Our young core has done well, but it’s always good when a veteran is put into training.

Kaiden Guhle has been working with David Savard since the start of the season. Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic also spent most of their time together. Arber Xhekaj had played several games with Edmundson but on Friday he was training with Wideman. Xhekaj could therefore be pulled out of training if Matheson is ready.

“It’s funny, I spoke to ‘Kovy’ (Kovacevic) about it. We’re all fighting for the same spot, but we’re all good friends, Xhekaj stressed. We understand that this is nothing personal.

“That’s the reality of the NHL. The error rate is so low. You have to give everything every night to stay in the squad.”

St-Louis said he’s looking forward to the internal competition that’s on the horizon.

“You have to understand that it’s healthy competition and it’s usually that kind of competition that helps you get to a new level,” St-Louis said. You will benefit from this situation.”

Meanwhile, St. Louis hasn’t said he’s worried about the upward trend in goals conceded in his team’s recent games.

“It comes from our style of play,” he noted. We attack, we dominate and we boom! We shoot each other in the knee and give up a goal.

“You have to be more vigilant with our style of play. That’s part of learning.”

The Habs will look to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.

Back to Laval for Pitlick

The Canadians sold Rem Pitlick to Laval Rocket.

Pitlick was recalled earlier this week and accompanied the Habs to Columbus on Thursday without playing.

The 25-year-old hockey player has three assists in three games with Rocket this season. He also took part in seven games with the Bleu-blanc-rouge and has so far been eliminated from the scorer list.

Also, forwards Evgenii Dadonov, Juraj Slafkovsky and Jake Evans missed Friday’s practice for the Canadiens and instead used a day of treatment.

For his part, Joel Armia trained alone in front of his teammates. Armia have not played the Pittsburgh Penguins since November 12. He’s suffering from an upper body injury.

The Canadian also revealed on Friday that he loaned forward Emil Heineman to Leksand IF in Sweden’s elite league. Heineman was injured during Habs camp.