If the trend continues, and for a second season in a row, the Canadian should finish first in something.
That something is the list of games missed due to injury in the National Hockey League.
In 2021-2022, it was the Montreal club that finished the schedule at the top of this not-so-prestigious ranking, with a total of 731 games missed due to injuries, according to data compiled by the specialized site Man-Games Lost.
This season, with only five games to play on its season schedule, it is this same Montreal club that still comes first in this chapter, with 670 games that have been missed for health reasons, again according to Man-Games Lost. By comparison, the Toronto Maple Leafs are second with 532 games lost to various injuries.
In the meantime, the facts: the Canadiens announced late Saturday night that another player’s season was over, in this case that of defender David Savard, with a right knee injury.
He is at least the sixth player at the club who has to say goodbye to 2022-2023 ahead of time, in addition to Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle, Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak and Arber Xhekaj. You have to write “at least” here, because two other members of the team, forwards Juraj Slafkovsky and Sean Monahan, have been missing for a while, and another, Kirby Dach, may not return this season. .
What’s left?
With all this, what remains of this very long end to the season which will continue, unfortunately, against all odds, with the 78th game of the Canadiens, Tuesday evening at the Bell Center, against the Detroit Red Wings? There isn’t much left.
Martin St-Louis, after Saturday night’s very humiliating loss at the Bell Center – a 3-0 rout in which the Carolina Hurricanes finished the night with a total of 83 shots attempted, compared to just 25 for the Canadiens –, himself acknowledged that the time for evaluations in view of 2023-2024 was essentially over. To be more specific, he admitted to already having a “good idea” of what he will have on hand next.
Nick Suzuki, who remains the only Canadian player to have been able to play all the team’s games this season, nevertheless believes that he and his teammates still have several reasons to want to go to the arena, despite All.
“We want to be able to end this season strong, explained the captain, late Saturday night at the Bell Center. We want to set the tone for the next season. There are guys here who are fighting for a position, who want to show what they can do… I think yes, you really have to finish strong. »
So that’s gonna stay, and that’s all that’s left, really: pride attempts, abacus simulations, and then promises of a hot summer in the trade market or the draft market, which might return to promise better days.
There may also be boos, like those we heard at the final siren on Saturday night, probably the loudest of the season at the Canadian’s home. “I agree,” Martin St-Louis summed up this fan reaction.
Strongly September.
