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Dans les coulisses

Missed games due to injuries: the Habs haven’t changed much since last year

In recent years, injuries have hit the Habs pretty hard. Obviously, we’ve seen guys like Shea Weber and Carey Price end their careers early due to injury, but beyond all that, there’s also the fact that the club is constantly dealing with an overflowing infirmary.

Things have been quietly improving for a while, with the return of David Savard and Jordan Harris to the blue line… but still.

In fact, for the past two seasons, the Habs have ranked first in the league for “games missed due to injury”, a statistic tallied by NHL Injury Viz that calculates the total number of games missed due to injury over the course of a season.

For example, Kirby Dach will miss 80 games this season due to his knee injury (if he doesn’t miraculously return at the end of the season). That would be 80 “missed games due to injury” for the Habs.

To alleviate this problem, the Habs made changes to their medical staff last off-season… but the more things change, the more they stay the same: as of last December 28 (the date of the latest update), the Habs are the second-highest-ranked team in the league in this regard, with 165.

Only the San Jose Sharks (190) are ahead of the Montreal outfit.

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Note that these figures do not include Carey Price, who is removed from the data to avoid distorting them and give a better picture of the situation. The same goes for Shea Weber in Arizona, for example.

On the other hand, what’s interesting is that this season, injuries don’t seem to be taking too much of a toll on the team’s big earners, which was often the case in years gone by. Guys like Brendan Gallagher, Mike Matheson, Jake Allen and Sean Monahan, who were big earners on the sidelines in recent years, are healthy this season, so it’s diminishing at that level.

That said, the absences of guys like Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, among others, hurt because both youngsters are playing beyond their salary. And the salaries of injured players could skyrocket in the coming weeks if Josh Anderson is seriously injured.

In an interview with Marc-Antoine Godin (Radio-Canada), the creator of the statistic in question, Thomas Crawshaw, notes, however, that “bad teams” are more likely to be at the top of the list because they don’t rush their players back.

This could explain the Canadiens’ high position over the past two years… but with the club in the playoff hunt this winter, does the justification still hold?

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One thing remains, though: once again, injuries are taking their toll on the Habs this season, even if they’re attacking the big earners less than in years past.

Let’s hope that Josh Anderson won’t be the exception that proves the rule… and, above all, that the injury curse that has afflicted the Tricolore for the past three years will let go of the Laval Rocket, who have also had their troubles with injuries and illnesses this season, Joshua Roy being the most recent case.

In gusto

– Samuel Montembeault is seen as a true #1 goalie by former TVA Sports goalies.

– Devon Levi hasn’t forgotten Carey Price’s kind words for him last April.

– Wonderful goal.

– It’s spanking, as they say.

– Notice to interested parties.