The Canadian has already faced a major challenge since the summer of 2021, marked by the unofficial departures or retirements of Carey Price, Shea Weber, Phillip Danault and Corey Perry, to name a few.
But for a second year in a row, injuries also weighed on what remained of the Habs.
If injuries are particularly painful this season, it’s because they also affect two of the organization’s most prominent prospects. Defender Kaiden Guhle was injured over the holidays and is expected to miss eight weeks.
Then, Wednesday morning, we learned that Juraj Slafkovsky, first choice in the last repechage, was hit in the knee, an injury “which does not require an operation”, we are assured. The team modestly announced a three-month absence, but in fact, as well say that its season is over, since the three months lead us to the playoffs. His only hope of playing again before the summer is the Senior World Championship in May. To be continued.
In all likelihood, the tall winger picked up an injury in the footage below. He then returned to the locker room and has not been seen on an ice rink since.
Slafkovsky played 39 games, and was limited to 10 points. “We are not concerned about its production,” assured general manager Kent Hughes. Lucky for the organization, we might add, because it was slim.
“The idea is to help him figure out how to be successful in North America,” Hughes said during his mid-season review. It’s not necessarily natural for him, so we believe his development will come in stages. We will not say to him: “Here are 10 things to improve, think about this.” Otherwise, he will only think without reacting.
“We believe that in the long term, if he makes these changes, he will reach his full potential. »
Among the “leaders”
A few hours before Hughes’ press conference, the Habs revealed a particularly tough medical report for players whose first names begin with J.
In addition to Slafkovsky, Jake Evans (knee) has been announced to be out of eight to 10 weeks, until the All-Star Game for Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia (both upper body) and at least a week for Jake Allen (upper body).
These absences are added to those of Guhle, Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher – without forgetting Price and Paul Byron, still linked to the team by contract.
Some specialized sites compile statistics on the total number of games missed by a team’s players due to injuries. With gray areas like Price, Byron and, last year, Weber, it is risky to embark on such compilations. But as an indication, the site NHL Injury Viz attributed to the Canadian of 2021-2022 the 1er rank in the NHL with 599 games missed due to injury by its players. The Canadian was missing seven players per game, on average.
This season, as of January 13, this same site calculated 178 missed games, a figure that will explode with recent news. For the moment, it’s good for the 8e circuit rank.
Returns too early?
Hockey, like life, is a dangerous sport. Accidents do happen.
Several injuries are hard to avoid, for example when the colossus Brock Nelson fell on Evans, whose knee twisted. Ditto for Armia, victim of a more or less useful nudge from Jacob Trouba.
“We continue to evaluate this at the end of each year. The number of injuries is surprising,” noted Hughes.
Two cases stand out. Mike Matheson injured his abdomen at camp. Returning to action on November 19, he played nine games before injuring himself again, this time in the groin. His comeback on December 17, however, only lasted one match, and it was only on Tuesday, a month later, that he returned to competition again, after he had aggravated his injury to the ‘elder.
“It’s not just this year. He’s had hip injuries before, Hughes recalled. He was unlucky. Everything was fine, then he got hit and hurt his groin. »
The other case is that of Gallagher. Injured in the lower body on November 29, he returned to the game a month later, the time of three games. On January 11, the team announced a minimum absence of six weeks for the same injury. Can the CH medical team better manage certain injuries?
“Gallagher always wants to push the limit. If we tell him three weeks, he will want to come back in a week and a half. In some cases, players need to be protected from themselves. Other times you have to push them a bit to get them to come back,” Hughes said.
“Last year, we had a lot of back injuries, more than other teams. When we see statistics like that, it forces us to ask ourselves certain questions. »