The Montreal Canadiens have dealt with more injuries than anyone over the past two seasons. They actually revamped their medical team in the offseason, hoping it would lead to less long term injuries.
Things have not been quite as bad in 2023-24 as they were in the two seasons prior, but Canadiens players are not being spared either. It took about a game and a half before a serious injury occurred as Kirby Dach has been sidelined since the second game of the season.
We also saw Alex Newhook go down with an ugly injury earlier this season and it caused him to miss 27 games. David Savard, Tanner Pearson, Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj have all missed time with injury but have since returned. Christian Dvorak has been shut down and won't play again this season and we have not yet seen Chris Wideman put on hockey gear this season.
Still, this has been way better than the past two seasons and we even saw Alex Newhook return to the lineup today, leaving just Dach, Dvorak and Wideman on the injured list.
Unfortunately, it looks like Rafael Harvey-Pinard will be taking his turn on the injured reserve next. He collided with Joel Armia at center ice during their game against the Dallas Stars today and it looked nasty.
Game 51 #GoHabsGo @ #TexasHockey #HabsInGif
— Cédrick Blais-Turcotte (@cbturcotte17) February 10, 2024
After an amazing first period, the #Habs seemed to lose all their focus following this unfortunate event that injured Harvey-Pinard.While they did manage to regain their composure eventually,but too much damage had already been done.1/5 pic.twitter.com/D0okL1lY6t
Armia kind of backed into Harvey-Pinard who was not expecting the contact. He fell awkwardly, with his right knee seemingly bending inward which is not the direction it is supposed to go. He needed to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game.
Shortly after the game, the Canadiens recalled Joshua Roy from the Laval Rocket. They play the St. Louis Blues tomorrow afternoon so they needed to fill the roster spot quickly. This would point to a lengthy injury for Harvey-Pinard, although no official announcement is expected until sometime tomorrow.