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Montreal Canadiens Get Good News, Bad News On Injury Front

By Ken MacMillan

Dec 4, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) takes the puck down ice in the first period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 4, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) takes the puck down ice in the first period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Montreal Canadiens injured players are starting to heal. The team received positive news on four injured players today, and bad news on one of its stars.

The Montreal Canadiens trainers and doctors have been among the busiest in the National Hockey League this season. Hardly a day would go by in the month of December without news of another Habs player, usually a good one, going down long term.

First it was Alex Galchenyuk out for six weeks with a knee injury. David Desharnais soon followed though fans didn’t seem quite as worried about that one. Greg Pateryn joined them on the shelf and Andrei Markov has also missed significant time.

Charles Hudon came up to play three games, had two points and then broke his sternum. Finally, Brendan Gallagher had his hand shattered for the second straight year. This time it was friendly fire as Shea Weber’s blast from the point had the Habs pesky winger grimacing in pain and heading for the bench very quickly.

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Hudon is back playing, and scoring, with the AHL’s St. John’s Ice Caps. Galchenyuk had returned for the past five games as well. Andrew Shaw was out with a concussion, but has since returned. Markov, Desharnais, Pateryn and Gallagher were all practicing together today.

Finally, it seemed the team may become healthy soon.

Markov, Desharnais, Pateryn and Gallagher inching toward return

All four aforementioned Habs were on a separate sheet of ice from the rest of the team, but it was a sign that their return to the lineup is getting closer. Well, Gallagher wasn’t allowed to use a real stick and was using some sort of a ringette stick? pole? so he wouldn’t shoot pucks and re-aggravate his injury.

Gallagher had commented he wanted to return a day quicker than he did last season. It was a similar injury when Johnny Boychuk’s slapper went off Gallagher’s hand and left him with a few broken bones.

Dec 23, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher (11) looks to shoot against Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during the third period at Nationwide Arena. Columbus beat Montreal 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports /

Last year, Gallagher was out of the lineup for 40 days. He was injured on January 4th, so if you fast forward 40 days you get to February 12th. That’s the day the Habs take on the Boston Bruins, the same team Gallagher came back to play against in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day 2016.

That would suggest he is still a few weeks away, but Markov, Desharnais and Pateryn are apparently closing in on returning to duties. This is great news for the Habs, as they could especially use Markov and Pateryn right now.

No offense, Desharnais. Or, whatever. If you played good, fans would miss you more.

Habs need Markov, Pateryn to solidify blue line

The Habs third defence pairing has struggled a bit recently. It’s a bit nit-picky to complain that the team’s third defence pairing hasn’t been good enough, but it’s true.

Mark Barberio hasn’t had the same impact he had a year ago. Zach Redmond has been okay some nights, not good at all on other occasions. Ryan Johnston was called up for several games but was rarely given more than eight minutes and looked a bit over his head at the NHL level.

Getting Markov and Pateryn back will fix that issue. Markov plays a huge role on this team at even strength, on the power play and on the penalty kill. Is it a coincidence that the team started allowing far more goals almost exactly the day he was injured? I don’t think so.

Not quite all news was good on injury report today

It was all sunshine and rainbows in Habs land, as they thought they team would be fully healthy very soon. That lasted about five minutes. Then it was announced that Galchenyuk has re-injured his knee and will miss tomorrow night’s game against the Calgary Flames.

This apparently happened in the team’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.  Galchenyuk was absolutely robbed by Robin Lehner 18 seconds before Zach Bogosian scored the OT winner, so it’s a bit of a mystery how the injury occurred.

Next: Habs Need To Take Advantage Of Easy Schedule

Galchenyuk is listed as day-to-day and Michel Therrien said it is a minor issue. I’m no doctor, so I’m just going to take Therrien at his word and keep breathing into this brown paper bag.

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