The Montreal Canadiens’ season-long battle with the injury bug continues, as the team announced that center Christian Dvorak underwent season-ending knee surgery on Wednesday. A full recovery is expected before the start of next season.
While no announcement has officially been made as of yet, it is likely that Dvorak will land on injured reserve following this news. When that placement officially comes through, he will become the ninth Canadiens' player to land on either regular or long-term injured reserve.
Montreal's list of contributors who have missed significant time due to injury this season rivals that of any other NHL club. They have lost players such as budding superstar Cole Caufield and promising rookie defenseman Arber Xhekaj to their own season-ending surgeries, with Dvorak just the latest big name to join that list.
Due to this slew of injuries, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis has been forced to make do with an even more talent-depleted roster than the one the Canadiens entered the season with -- and they entered without a ton of talent to begin with.
While some players such as longtime minor leaguer Alex Belzile and seventh-round pick Rafael Harvey-Pinard have seized the opportunities these injuries have provided them, injuries have cost the team valuable developmental time for some key players.
For Dvorak, 27, this injury ends what has been an up-and-down season.
The former Arizona Coyotes center has always been the kind of player who is at his best when he can feed off of more gifted linemates, but in Montreal he has not been given that luxury.
As a result, his offensive production has declined as he’s settled into more of a defensive role.
He leads all Canadiens regulars in short-handed ice time per game and splits the task of handling the team’s hardest matchups with captain Nick Suzuki.
Dvorak, who makes $4.45M against the cap through 2024-25, finishes his second season in Montreal with a modest 10 goals and 18 assists in 64 games.
He has the type of consistency across his 422-game NHL career to suggest that he’ll have a chance to rebound next season.
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