Montreal Canadiens: Going into next season with more holes in the lineup
By Omar L
Andrew Shaw is the latest player on the Montreal Canadiens to receive offseason surgery creating another hole in the lineup ahead of next season.
Although the Montreal Canadiens season ended nearly three weeks ago, the bittersweet news continues to pile up. The team announced on Wednesday that Andrew Shaw had received surgery on his left knee. It was believed that the 26-year-old initially injured himself after that first Boston Bruins game in January, the same night when Phillip Danault took a Zdeno Chara slap shot to the back of the head.
A. Shaw missed the next 19 games recovering from it returning to the lineup to take on the New York Islanders. The matchup against the Dallas Star took him out again after that scary collision with former Habs defenceman Greg Pateryn. At first, it looked like A. Shaw was on the verge of sustaining his second concussion in less than a year as he was knocked out cold after the hit.
The Montreal Canadiens went on without him again, and it was later revealed that a re-aggravation of that knee injury was what did it. Fast forward to the present day, and A. Shaw becomes the third Habs player to require surgery this year joining the links of Shea Weber and Paul Byron. The real stinger behind the news is that he’ll require the same six-month recovery period.
It’ll probably have both Byron and A. Shaw starting the season late unless their recovery time is shortened. The downside of that is obvious. Byron has had back-to-back 20-goal seasons while A. Shaw brings a degree of toughness and aggression to the roster. The positive, which again is loosely saying, is that there is more room for a younger player to push through.
We’ve gone through Will Bitten and Michael Pezzetta already, but with new name Alexandre Alain, there’s a good chance the internal competition will bring out the best in this youth. The same goes for Jake Evans who looks poised and determined to make a jump to the NHL via the Montreal Canadiens.
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It doesn’t lock up a spot for one of those players as management may have already decided to give them time to grow in the minors anyway. However, when you’re ready, you’re ready. It’ll be interesting to see who rises to the occasion if the opportunity arises where one of A. Shaw and Byron aren’t ready to start the year.