It’s only November, but the injury bug is already making its way through the organization.
Shea Weber (Lower-body injury, continues to play)
Weber missed a game against Minnesota on November 9, and has missed several practices that were labelled as “therapy days”. Clearly the Canadiens top defenceman is playing through an injury right now and given the team’s tough start, doesn’t want to miss any time to let the injury heal.
He’s confirmed as travelling with the team for their two game road trip, but is probably being evaluated on a day-by-day basis.
Carey Price (Lower-body injury, November 3, day-to-day)
The nature of Price’s injury remains a mystery. The only information that’s known is that it is not related to the injury that kept him out for the majority of the 2015-16 season. This is either good news because the team knows what it is, or bad news because they don’t know what it is. Either way, fans are very weary of any injury to a high-profile player like Price, being skeptical of any information given and suspicious when no information is given.
Price has been on and off the ice for a few weeks now, but it appears he’s nearing a return. He took part in a full practice with the team on November 20 and will travel with them on their two-game road trip to Dallas and Nashville.
David Schlemko (Wrist surgery, October 18, 3-4 weeks)
The story of Schlemko this season is one of frustration. Schlemko missed practice on September 16 and was listed as day-to-day with a hand injury. On September 20, Schlemko skated before the rest of the team took to the ice. Head coach Claude Julien said he believed that Schlemko would return in time to play a few pre-season games, but he ended up missing all of the pre-season and his injury extended into the start of the regular season.
Schlemko took part in one game for the Laval Rocket as part of a conditioning stint, and looked good while doing it, but shortly after the game he was recalled and placed on injured reserve again.
It’s been four weeks since that second assessment, but he did take part in a full practice with the team on November 20 and appears poised to make his regular season debut sooner than later.
Artturi Lehkonen (Lower-body injury, November 14, indefinitely)
After apparently playing with the undisclosed injury for “a while”, according to Julien the pain became “unbearable” and the Finn was shut down in order to recover from the injury.
He has not yet begun skating and there is no known timetable for his return.
Ales Hemsky (Concussion October 23, indefinitely)
Hemsky was placed on IR after suffering a concussion in the game against the Anaheim Ducks on October 20. He has not begun skating yet and, given the concussion, there’s no obvious timetable for his return.
Al Montoya (Concussion November 11, indefinitely)
The event that led to the concussion was never officially explained, but Montoya did receive a slapshot to the mask from Dustin Byfuglien on November 4. There is no set timetable for his return, but since the Canadiens felt the need to claim Antti Niemi off of waivers, it could be an indication that the team is expecting to be without their backup for a while.
Nikita Scherbak (Knee surgery October 30, 6 weeks)
The injury happened on October 26 against the Kings. He briefly came back before leaving the game again. He appeared on social media without any crutches or braces, so it appears that his recovery is on track.
Based on the timeline provided, the forecast return date is December 11. One would assume that he will be assigned to the Laval Rocket to get back into game shape prior to getting another shot with the Canadiens.
Markus Eisenschmid (Lower-body injury, October 20, 6 weeks)
AHL injuries are always covered in a shroud of secrecy, so we’re always left guessing the nature and the duration of these injuries. In the case of Eisenschmid, it’s known that he sustained a lower-body injury and that it occurred at some point during the October 20 game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Looks like his knee made a hard impact against the boards on this check, after which he slowly regained the bench.
For those wondering about Eisenschmid’s injury, likely happened on this hard check to the boards on Oct. 20th against the Penguins. #Rocket pic.twitter.com/X7DI9cFvhn
— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) October 30, 2017
Sylvain Lefebvre said that Eisenschmid would return no sooner than December 1, although that does leave an open-ended timeline for further recovery from the injury.
Noah Juulsen (Broken foot, September 18, 6 weeks)
This is probably not the start that Noah Juulsen was expecting for his rookie season. After suffering a broken foot during a pre-season game against the Boston Bruins on September 18, he was expected to miss about six weeks initially but ended up suffering a relapse during his recovery.
He began skating again about two weeks ago and has now travelled with the Rocket on their trip to Manitoba for their two-game set against the Moose, which could be a sign of an imminent return for the defenceman. However, Lefebvre did mention that the first week of December was a reasonable target for his return.
Jeremiah Addision (Shoulder surgery, September 9, 6 months)
Addison last played on September 9 against the Ottawa Senators during the Rookie Tournament, but he claimed that the injury did not occur during this game. The rookies continued to hold their training camp after the tournament, so it’s possible that the injury occurred then.
He underwent shoulder surgery and will miss the majority of what was to be his first season of professional hockey. He’s projected to be out for six months giving him roughly a late-February return.
Josh Brook (Wrist injury, September 8, 8-12 weeks)
Brook was injured during the first period of the rookies game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 8. He did not finish the game.
On September 19, General Manager Alan Millar confirmed that the injury required surgery and that Brook would miss up to three months of the season.
He began skating again this past week, so he’s roughly at the eight-week mark, but it could still be a while before he’s back in game shape and rejoins the Warriors.
