The Montreal Canadiens officially opened their training camp earlier today. No matter the expectations for a team heading into a season, the first day they gather together on the ice is always an exciting one.
This would be no different for the Canadiens this season. Not many hockey fans have high hopes for the 2022-23 Habs, but we still can’t wait to finally see the team back in action after a lengthy offseason.
With the first overall pick in town, fans are eager to feast their eyes on Juraj Slafkovsky. The big left winger will be looking to crack the opening night lineup with a strong training camp and preseason and many are counting down the days until his first exhibition game with the team.
There is excitement, intrigue and hope in every preseason. Maybe a couple of players will take huge leaps from last season and give the team a fighting chance at a playoff spot. Anything could happen with a new season and fans can hardly handle the anticipation.
Canadiens injury update a lengthy one
Then, just like a tower of jenga blocks tumbling just as you thought you were in the clear, the Canadiens released their injury update. It was, of course, a lengthy one.
Nick Suzuki suffered a lower body injury and will miss about two weeks of training camp. That should have him back in plenty of time to begin the regular season, but he is going to miss most of the exhibition schedule which won’t allow him to prepare as much as he would like to.
Jake Evans has an upper body injury and is listed as day-to-day. That isn’t all that concerning, as he was on the ice and should be good to go shortly.
Josh Anderson is also listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury which also shouldn’t be that concerning, but he often has trouble with his shoulders so you hope that isn’t the problem this time.
The injury that could have the biggest impact is Joel Edmundson’s. He is listed as having a lower body injury and there is no timetable for his return. If you recall, the same sort of thing happened last year and it was expected he would be back quickly but his lower back recovered much slower than anticipated and he missed a large portion of the season.
Hopefully, that is not the case this time. These injuries are in addition to the ones we already knew about with Carey Price, Paul Byron and Logan Mailloux. Price is unlikely to play at all this season, Byron is still recovering from hip surgery and Mailloux, who will be headed back to Junior, is still dealing with a shoulder injury from last season.
The Canadiens had a difficult time with injuries last season. Hopefully this initial update is not an indication of things to come.
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