The Montreal Canadiens will look to breathe a sigh of relief tonight as they prepare to face the St. Louis Blues. This will mark the last game of their longest road trip of the season, one that has seen them win two and lose two thus far. The Blues (14-7-1) will be their final challenge before they head home to the comforts of the Bell Centre to consecutively host four teams in the next week and a half, including the San Jose Sharks on Friday, December 16th.
For now, they’ll have to conclude their road trip without the help of Alex Galchenyuk, who will be sidelined indefinitely with what many are reporting (unofficially) as an injured MCL in his right knee. Rumor has it that his torn medial collateral ligament could keep him out of game action for anywhere between four-to-six weeks, which cracks open and exposes the very evident lack of depth down the middle of this roster (more on this later).
Secrecy
Unsurprisingly, the Habs organization has decided to opt for secrecy in not revealing the specific nature of the number one center’s injury, which is already starting to draw the ire of many fans and media personalities (the 2015 Carey Price saga, anyone?). I can’t say I blame those complaining- we still don’t know what exactly Artturi Lehkonen specifically suffered from, while Charles Hudon and Nathan Beaulieu continue to spend time in the infirmary with unspecified ailments. Moreover, Brian Flynn missed nine games with what the team called an “upper-body injury.”
Here we go again…
In order to contrast how other other teams are handling injuries, here is an example of what happened yesterday in Boston. After suffering a “lower-body injury” on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, the team’s official Twitter account issued two updates regarding the veteran forward:
And shortly thereafter:
Clearly, the Bruins don’t see the point in hiding injuries from their fans or from members of the media, and why would they?
I know what you’re thinking: Beleskey (2G, 3 PTS) is not of the same calibre or usefulness as Galchenyuk (9G, 22 PTS). “Who cares,” right?
Apparently, another Atlantic Division rival (the Tampa Bay Lightning) does.
You remember that superstar who was touted as the number one unrestricted free agent last summer and ended up signing an 8-year, $68-million deal? You know, the same player who has scored 43, 45, 51, and even 60 goals in four different seasons and is arguably significantly more talented and therefore more important to his team than Alex Galchenyuk ever will be?
Well, he suffered an injury a few weeks ago, and guess how the Lightning organization handled the situation revolving around their franchise player?
Bryan Burns, reporter for tampabaylightning.com posted this status:
And later that same day on November 16th, the team’s general manager Steve Yzerman made an official announcement:
And finally, they added a timeline:
Do you see where I’m going with this?
One last example, and just for good measure, with another Atlantic Division rival (the Detroit Red Wings) who seriously cannot catch a break from the injury bug this season:
According to Dana Wakiji who is an official reporter for detroitredwings.com, the article clearly states that Darren Helm suffered a dislocated shoulder, and that he will miss the following six weeks.
The same goes for Jimmy Howard, who was the team’s early-season standalone MVP with a 1.82 goals-against average and .940 save percentage through 12 games played. He suffered a groin injury and was expected to miss at least one week, according to the Detroit Free Press and head coach Jeff Blashill :
Take a hint.
So what is it, then, that makes the Canadiens’ organization feel entitled to not reveal what’s really going on with their injuries? I can understand that it’s their right within regulatory policies, but what sort of advantage do they have to gain? It’s almost insulting to the very Habs fans that spend way too much on tickets, concessions, memorabilia, souvenirs, etc.
I wonder if the Habs brass is aware that placing hurt players on the injured reserve actually allows the team to receive salary cap relief, even if temporarily. A player placed on the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) is automatically slated to miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days. Let’s suppose that for the sake of this discussion, Galchenyuk was put on the LTIR.
Math
The Habs currently have $743,684 of salary cap space available to them, and Galchenyuk’s salary counts for $2.8 million against the cap.
Formula:
$2,800,000 – $743,684 = $2,056,316
Therefore, the team can now spend up to $2,056,316 above the salary cap ceiling in order to bring in a player who can help them out during Galchenyuk’s absence.
Suppose the Habs call up Chris Terry once more, whose salary cap hit counts towards $600,000.
The formula thus changes:
$2,800,000 – ($743,684 - $600,000) = $2,656,316 in spending amount permitted above the salary cap limit.
Thus, it seems like it’s to general manager Marc Bergevin’s advantage to be transparent and place Galchenyuk on the LTIR while calling up a player for one day such as Terry in order to get immediate help.
Can you think of any useful players who command a salary cap hit of $2.6 million or less?
My number one choice would be Thomas Vanek of the Red Wings, who is on a one-year, $2.6 million contract and who knows what it’s like to play for the Canadiens. The Red Wings are unfortunately not having a great season, and thus could trade him to the Habs should the price be right.
Nail Yakupov could be an interesting option as well, as his salary cap hit counts for only $2.5 million.
Which leads to the next point.
The bigger problem
For the record, head coach Michel Therrien has opted not to reveal his lineup ahead of tonight’s matchup, but the lines at recent practices have indicated that David Desharnais will be promoted to first-line duties and will center Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov. As for the rest of the lines:
Danult – Plekanec – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Shaw – Carr
Byron – Mitchell – Flynn
Defensive pairings:
Emelin – Weber
Markov – Petry
Barberio – Pateryn
According to Stu Cowan, goaltender Al Montoya is slated to start tonight’s 8:00pm ET game:
That is not a Stanley Cup-calibre team down the middle…
I’ve said more than enough regarding Desharnais in the past, and how he is caught in a never-ending cycle that does him no good.
You can click here to read more about how I predicted exactly what’s going to happen with him. 
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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