Four April Fools-ish aspects of the Montreal Canadiens season
By Omar L
injuries, Injuries, INJURIES!
The 2017-18 season was one of hope and determination to move on to the next level. The Montreal Canadiens added Jonathan Drouin trading Mikhail Sergachev to the Tampa Bay Lightning and signed Karl Alzner in free agency to shore up the blue line. However, injuries decimated the team this year as only five players on the Habs roster played in all 82 games.
There were significant injuries up and down the lineup, including Shea Weber, who injured his foot during game one against the Buffalo Sabres and Carey Price, who deal with both lower-body and concussion issues. No one was safe that season and the 2019-20 season was no different.
Jonathan Drouin put in a lot of work over the summer to improve his overall game, and it cleared with his play. Drouin was putting up points and ensuring he was in the right spots defensively to properly transition the puck and generate more offence. That was until he sustained a wrist injury that required surgery.
Must Read. The Roster Construction Needs a Change. light
Paul Byron was also out 6-8 weeks as he needed knee surgery to repair an injury sustained in a game against the Washington Capitals. And it didn’t stop there.
Victor Mete had to miss some time dealing with an ankle injury, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brendan Gallagher and Xavier Ouellet all suffered from concussion-like symptoms, Joel Armia and Tomas Tatar had upper-body injuries, and Ben Chiarot had a lower-body injury. Unfortunately, it continues.
Drouin and Mete were injured again with respective ankle issues and a fractured foot while Kotkaniemi had his season with the Laval Rocket shut down with a spleen injury during a game against the Cleaveland Monsters.
MEDICAL UPDATE
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) March 7, 2020
The Laval Rocket announced today that forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi suffered a splenic injury during the first period of last night’s game against the Cleveland Monsters.
Jesperi was taken to the hospital in Cleveland, where he spent the night under observation.
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The biggest April Fools ever was the injury impact that wasn’t. Shea Weber was initially given a four-to-six week diagnosis with an ankle sprain. It was believed that it was on the same leg he needed work on in the past. But Weber had the big April Fools on everyone by only missing six games.
Again, we’re not going to blame injuries on the quality of the team’s season. Many teams have had more significant injuries than the Montreal Canadiens and still had success. That said, the whole thing seemed like a joke every time a new player went down.