Chris Kreider Out Six To Eight Weeks

The Canadiens will find themselves without a veteran winger for a while.  The team announced (Twitter link) that Chris Kreider will miss approximately six to eight weeks due to a lower-body injury.

The injury was sustained in the third period of Thursday’s victory in Boston following a collision with Michael Eyssimont.  Kreider stayed down for a few seconds and was eventually able to hobble off largely under his own power but was unable to put any weight on his left leg.

Kreider is in his first season with Montreal after joining them as a free agent a little before training camp.  He reached an agreement on a mutual contract termination with Anaheim, allowing him to hit the open market where he inked a one-year, $2.15MM deal with another $3.25MM in potential performance bonuses.

The 35-year-old has played in 19 games this season, meaning he has already hit $2MM of his bonus, that coming at the 10-game mark.  He has three goals and six assists in those contests despite a pretty big drop in ice time; after logging over 17 minutes per night last season, Kreider is at just 13:21 this year.  The rest of his bonuses are tied to goal production with the first payout coming at 10 goals, then at 20, 30, and 40.  It’s safe to say at this point that the last two aren’t going to happen while even reaching 20 tallies will be tricky.

Montreal was already carrying two extra forwards on its active roster so it’s unlikely that they will turn to a recall from AHL Laval.  For tonight’s game against Colorado, rookie Florian Xhekaj will take Kreider’s spot in the lineup in what will be just his second game in November.