(Anaheim, Calif.) After suffering an initial foot injury in early December, Sean Monahan re-injured himself during rehabilitation, Kent Hughes announced Friday in his post-period media briefing.
These are “two independent injuries,” said the Canadian’s general manager, in the sense that one is not the result of the other.
Since Monahan fell in battle, this is literally the first concrete piece of information to come from the organization about his condition. Head coach Martin St-Louis had informally mentioned a foot injury that was apparent from the moment the striker left the December 5 meeting in Vancouver. However, all official communications from the team still refer to a “lower body injury”. And updates are very, very rare.
Let’s rewind the thread of events:
- December 5: Monahan left the game with a foot injury.
- December 28: After three weeks with no news, the team say he’s making “good progress” and has been running alone.
- 6th January: It is estimated that he will miss another two weeks of activities.
- January 17: His name will be added to the long-term injured list. For the next few days he skated alone, but then disappeared from public space. Despite repeated requests from the media, the team is not providing any updates on him.
- February 16: Monahan accompanies the CH on the go and takes part in the training without contact.
- 20. February: He misses his team’s training sessions and will no longer be seen with the main group.
- 3 March : Kent Hughes reveals Monahan has suffered a second injury.
When such a thick fog shrouded the situation, it was on the one hand “to protect Sean” and on the other hand because the Habs themselves wanted to pass the information on to the other teams so that they would not follow the development of the file “in the media”. Let’s recall, the 28-year veteran was the Canadian’s best negotiating tool when he was injured.
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The GM also cited the difficulty of setting a timetable for a return to form. “It’s not like someone who breaks a ligament and we know he’ll be back in six to eight weeks,” he said.
Today we know: As expected, Monahan was not traded. So it will be interesting to see what will become of him and whether he will remain a member of the Canadiens in the medium term. He actually becomes an unrestricted free agent on June 1ah next July.
Can we expect to see him again at the end of the season? asked a reporter attending his press conference1. “It’s a possibility,” said Kent Hughes without being able to “100%” assure it.
Will he try to sign him for next season? “I think it’s too early to plan for the summer but he’s been a very useful player for our team,” said Hughes. His health is the priority at the moment, that he finds his form. We’ll make decisions later. »
1. This text was written in Anaheim after viewing the press conference via video conference.
In summary
CH acquires two minor league defenders
The Canadians got their hands on two minor league defensemen and a draft pick on Friday. The organization initially acquired defenseman Frédéric Allard from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Nate Schnarr. Both spent the entire season in the American League. Allard, a third-round pick for the Nashville Predators in 2016, has only played a single NHL career game as of March 2021. The Habs also got Finnish defenseman Tony Sund in a three-team trade with the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as a 2024 fifth-round pick. The 27-year-old Sund has never played in North America. He is playing for Ängelholm in the Swedish Eliteliga this season. This transaction enabled the Penguins to acquire center Nick Bonino, half of whose salary will be paid by CH until the end of the season.
Simon Olivier Lorange, The press
No Barron in Laval
In addition to the two smaller transactions, the Habs made two personal moves on paper: They sold forwards Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen to Laval Rocket before recalling them. In this way, the HC ensures that both players are eligible to enter the American League playoffs if the Rocket qualifies. In order to be eligible, a player must actually be part of the formation of the school club at the time of the transaction deadline. Hughes would have liked to carry out the same managerial maneuver with Justin Barron, but with the defender injured on Thursday, the league denied the Canadian the transaction as an injured player cannot be demoted, even on paper.
Guillaume Lefrançois, The press
Hughes wants to keep Gurianov
When the Canadian took over from Denis Gurianov in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov last week, questions arose: does the Russian forward belong to the future of the franchise or is he just passing through? With him becoming a severance free agent next summer, the Habs’ management has the prerogative of whether or not to offer him a new contract. “We made the exchange with a plan to keep him,” affirmed Kent Hughes. However, he reminded that “every player has a task to fulfill”. “Our job is to judge it. […] Every player has to enforce his contract. The GM also hinted that he could have gotten relatively distant draft picks by trading Dadonov. He preferred to rely on Gurianov, 25, “a young player with potential”, even if he has been struggling with offensive difficulties for the past two years.
Simon Olivier Lorange, The press
No Slafkovsky at the World Cup
Finally, Kent Hughes hinted that Juraj Slafkovsky will not participate in the next Senior World Championships in May. The very first choice of the last draft is injured in the left knee; In mid-January, the CH spoke of an absence of three months. Slovakia open their tournament on May 12 so in theory Slafkovsky would have had time to play but the team didn’t want to take any chances, Hughes said. “We were so unlucky! “, he added. The tall winger already has a place in this tournament to his credit. In 2022, he finished first on his team with nine points from eight games. Injuries will definitely be on Hughes and the Canadiens this season levels have plagued…
Guillaume Lefrançois, The press
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