The Montreal Canadiens have had a hard time dealing with injuries this season.
Every time a player goes out, it seems like they miss far more time than was originally expected. The team just can’t catch a break.
We thought Carey Price would be ready for the start of the regular season, but circumstances have changed so dramatically that he isn’t likely to play a game before the end of February at the very earliest.
Joel Edmundson was day-to-day when training camp began at the end of September. Fast forward about 125 days and he still hasn’t played a single game. Again, other circumstances have played a part in that, such as his father’s illness and death, but it was recently reported that Edmundson is also still dealing with a nagging back injury that was originally supposed to sideline him for a week or so in September.
The same sort of thing just happened with Jake Allen. He left his last start against the Boston Bruins early after seemingly tweaking something when trying to stop a Brad Marchand shot.
That was on January 12th, and we were told he would be out “at least a week.” Well, a week later the team just announced that Allen will miss eight weeks with a lower body injury. Eight!!
Once again, the terrible injury luck is biting the Canadiens. Has a player ever gotten shaken up, left a game and came back quickly this season? It seems like every single player that walks down the tunnel to the trainer’s room is heading into some abyss that they can never escape from.
Carey Price is yet to play a game this season and it was announced earlier this week he would be restarting his rehab on his injured knee. With Price and Allen out for the next eight weeks, the Canadiens will be left to lean on Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau for the next two months.
Montembeault has started 11 games this season, posting a 3.73 GAA and a .903 SV%. Primeau has played four games so far this season with a 4.11 GAA and a .883 SV%.