Carey Price n’est toujours pas sur patins… et apparemment, ce n’est pas pour bientôt non plus.
Publié à 11h18
Mis à jour à 13h14
Le Canadien a fourni une mise à jour de son état de santé mercredi matin. Sa porte-parole Chantal Machabée a indiqué que le gardien « poursui[vait] his rehabilitation” and that he had been working in the gymnasium “for several days.
“We continue to assess the situation,” she added, adding that no date had yet been established for a return to the ice.
Invited to provide details on this subject, head coach Dominique Ducharme seemed annoyed. “Let’s talk about hockey,” he said impatiently.
CH goalkeeping coach Éric Raymond also spoke to the media on Wednesday. He said Carey was reporting to the training center every day, getting through his treatments and heading “in the right direction”.
“You see he’s a guy who can’t wait to play hockey,” Raymond continued. He misses it. I felt a little frustrated, it’s not easy for him. He is working hard to come back. »
“It’s his knee that will tell us” when he will return.
After knee surgery last summer, Carey Price first needed to return to action in time for the start of the season. By mid-September, he was skating alone. A few days before the start of the season in October, he entered the NHL’s Player Assistance Program for substance addiction.
In November, he resumed off-ice training and, before the holidays, he was skating with the reserves and receiving pitches. Due to the explosion of COVID-19 cases, he was unable to see his doctor as he was supposed to in December, which delayed his rehabilitation. The training break imposed on all the team’s players after New Year’s Day would then have reset the counters to zero in his case.
Montembeault, Byron and Gallagher in training
Back from a long trip, and approaching a three-game home series, the Canadian resumed training Wednesday morning.
After missing the last two games due to an “upper body” injury, goaltender Samuel Montembeault is back on the ice.
Forwards Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher have also reconnected with their teammates. Both, however, wear jerseys excluding them from contact. They should therefore not play Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks.
Byron has yet to play this season. He had hip surgery last summer. There was talk of him returning to the game in the final days of 2021 or early January, but he caught COVID-19 and his rehabilitation seemed to be in decline. As for Gallagher, he has missed the last eight games due to a “lower body” injury.
Note, however, the absence of Christian Dvorak. Due to a head contact Monday night against the Minnesota Wild, he was limited to two early appearances. He is officially on “therapy day”, as is goalkeeper Michael McNiven.
In addition, the Canadian placed the name of defender Sami Niku on waivers. Among other moves in the roster, defenseman Josh Brook was reinstated from the injured list and later traded to the Laval Rocket. McNiven was assigned to the reserve squad.