Injury updates: Arber Xhekaj to have season-ending surgery, Kriby Dach out indefinitely

After their home game against the Ottawa Senators, and before heading out to California on a four-game road trip, the Montreal Canadiens released a series of medical updates.

The biggest news is that, after meeting with a specialist about his shoulder injury, it has been determined that Arber Xhekaj will require surgery to repair it, and his season is now over. Despite his absence while the Canadiens have received a surge of offence from the defencemen, his five goals in 51 games of action still lead the blue-line corps.

Joel Armia’s issue has been revealed as a respiratory infection, and he won’t travel with the team.

Kirby Dach, who was originally listed as out with an illness, and then out with a combination of an illness and a lower-body injury, is now out indefinitely with that lower-body injury.

Joel Edmundson has been out of the lineup with another injury after missing the start of the season will accompany the team on the trip. This bit of news could be targeted more at general managers inquiring about his readiness than an actual return to play in one of the four games of the road trip, but being healthy enough to make the flight to San Jose is at least an encouraging sign.

And lastly, while not an injury report per se, a reassignment of Corey Schueneman to the Laval Rocket suggests that Kaiden Guhle, who was wearing the normal practice jersey on Friday, is ready to return to play after eight weeks recovering from a knee injury.