Christian Dvorak’s season is over. The center player suffered a tear in his pectoral major and will have to go under the knife. This injury forced him to miss his club’s last two games, and the organization announced this Thursday morning that he would no longer play in 2023-2024.
His campaign was therefore summarized at 25 games, since he had missed the first 10 duels of the season in order to conclude his rehabilitation following knee surgery undergone last spring.
In his absence, it is mainly Sean Monahan who will see his responsibilities increase, particularly on the numerical disadvantage and for faceoffs on the left flank. Another player will also have to replace Dvorak on the second wave of the power play.
“We have options,” said Martin St-Louis. We have four centers, we are correct. [Christian Dvorak] does a bit of everything, it’s not just one player who will replace him. We have to do this collectively. »
Since his arrival in Montreal in the summer of 2021, bad luck has continued for the 27-year-old American. At the end of this season, his third in the blue-white-red uniform, he will have played only 59% of his club’s matches.
Even though his name will likely be added to the injured list, management has still not recalled any attacker to replace him. To do this, she would have to place a goalie or defender on waivers to free up a spot in the lineup, which does not appear to be in the short-term plans. Against the Buffalo Sabers on Thursday night, the Habs will use 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for a third straight game.
“I liked the performance of my team [in these circumstances], noted St-Louis. It would be hard to justify not staying like this for now. We’ll see where that takes us. I’m not saying it will be long term. This is how we manage it today. »
If the news couldn’t be worse for Christian Dvorak, it was much more encouraging for Josh Anderson.
The forward caused some surprise by jumping on the ice with his teammates.
Anderson suffered a right leg injury Tuesday night in Dallas. In the third period, after suffering a strange fall – his skate seemed to get stuck in the ice – he painfully retreated to the locker room, helped by members of the club staff.
Two days later, here is Anderson in great shape. It was a “huge” relief for him, he admitted. Because, at the time, he feared the worst.
“As a player, when these things happen, you know right away something is wrong,” he said.
However, after about ten minutes of rest in the locker room, everything seemed to quickly return to normal. He wonders if it wasn’t his nerves that took the blow, leaving his leg heavily numb. He feared a knee injury. “It was a little weird. […] Having had this type of injury in the past, we tend to self-diagnose. Fortunately, I was wrong. » He will therefore be at his post against the Sabres.
Jake Allen will be in front of the net for this first game of 2024 at the Bell Center, where the Habs have much less success (7-9-2) than on the road (9-7-3). Martin St-Louis rightly indicated that he wanted his men’s performance to improve at home over the coming weeks. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.