“I’ve never seen that before. It’s crazy. We didn’t even have a full roster in practice this morning. If they want, I can play in attack. »
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Samuel Montembeault laughs, but realizes that the situation is special, to say the least. The carnage that afflicts the Canadian exceeds all conventional standards.
According to website mangameslost.com, which lists each team’s number of games missed through injury, the Habs broadly lead the NHL with 670 games missed. For comparison, the Maple Leafs are second with 532 games missed. A remarkable difference.
Not a week has gone by this season without someone new on the injury list. In fact, there are so many cripples that Brendan Gallagher pointed out a few days ago that there wasn’t enough bridge seating to accommodate them all.
It is to be believed that a curse has fallen on the team.
“There must be someone at home who sticks needles into a voodoo doll,” Montembeault said.
“If that’s the case, we need to find that person before next season,” said Joel Edmundson, who missed 21 games through injury.
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Blame the medical staff?
Indeed, because as surprising as it may seem, Martin St-Louis’s side with five games left in the season are very likely to surpass last season’s 731 missed games.
Worse than cutting off a winter when COVID decimated the team’s ranks so badly that we had to enlist the services of Cameron Hillis, a forward who started the season with the Trois-Rivières Lions in the ECHL! It has to be done!
“That’s unlucky,” Edmundson said. There is no specific reason. It’s such a year. »
Is the solution to the riddle that simple? Let’s say it’s permissible to doubt it.
Furthermore, and this isn’t the first time the case has surfaced this season, there will certainly be an scrutiny of the work of the Canadian’s medical staff.
Bad luck alone cannot explain why nine players had to retire at the end of the season. And that doesn’t include Carey Price and Paul Byron, who didn’t play a game in 2022-23.
Photo Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images/AFP
Paul Byron, Joel Edmunson and Carey Price after defeating the Ottawa Senators in March 2021
“We will certainly try to get answers at the end of the year to see what we can do better,” said Martin St-Louis. These are discussions that need to be had. »
Suzuki, the antithesis
There are the infirmary subscribers and on the other end of the spectrum there is Nick Suzuki. The Canadiens captain is the only one to have played the team’s 77 games (Johnathan Kovacevic is second with 72).
Additionally, he is the Iron Man of Camp Montreal with 286 consecutive meetings, the fourth-longest active streak on the Bettman Circuit.
Still, it’s intriguing when you consider that Suzuki is averaging 21:12 per game, the sixth-highest average among NHL forwards.
“I’ve been injured before but it was nothing that could stop me,” said the 23-year-old forward.
“You have to take care of your body every day. I think I’m doing a better job at that over the years, he added. It is the responsibility of every player to prepare well before games and training. »
Could there be a shortage among Suzuki’s teammates at this level? Maybe we have part of the answer.