Montreal Canadiens players won’t be playing playoff hockey this season, but their AHL counterpart will be.
The Laval Rocket have already locked up a playoff spot, but they have two regular season games left to determine where they will finish. They could still land anywhere from second to fifth overall in the North Division, but they will definitely be playing playoff games in March.
Unfortunately, not every one of their players will be healthy enough to take part.
Laval forward Lukas Vejdemo had hamstring surgery earlier this month. He will be out of the lineup for up to seven months as he recovers from this operation. That is obviously bad news for the Swedish centre, and the fact it happened so close to the playoffs is just salt in an already deep wound.
Forward Lukas Vejdemo underwent hamstring surgery earlier this week at the Montreal General Hospital. The injury occurred on April 16th in Cleveland. The expected recovery time is 7 months.https://t.co/86C0NBUOgH pic.twitter.com/2FaGapmG6d
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) April 27, 2022
Vejdemo was a third round pick of the Canadiens in 2015. He has developed into a steady two-way player for the Laval Rocket, though the 26 year old is not looking like a future regular at the NHL level.
Still, he provided some depth for the Rocket over the years, and had grown into a dependable veteran forward who was flexible and reliable enough to play any forward position and any role the team asked him.
He scored six goals and 16 points in 34 games this season, and was called up for six games with the Canadiens where he scored a goal. He has now played 13 games in his NHL career and scored a pair of goals.
Vejdemo has played 174 career games at the AHL level for the Laval Rocket over the past four seasons and scored 77 points. In that time, the Rocket have not played a single playoff game.
It is unfortunate for a solid veteran like Vejdemo to play all those years without postseason appearances and now when the team is finally good enough, he is out with a long term injury.
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