Terrible, terrible news for the Montreal Canadiens.
Forward Alex Galchenyuk suffered a lower body injury on December 4 in Los Angeles. Galchenyuk was injured when he was hit by Anze Kopitar. Galchenyuk went for medical testing in St. Louis today and will be out indefinitely.
He will be further evaluated by team doctors in Montreal on Wednesday.
Let the panic in the streets of Montreal begin.
Galchenyuk, Montreal's number one center, has been excellent this season scoring 9 goals and 13 assists in 25 games. Galchenyuk is Montreal's leading scorer.
An update will be released later this week.
The Habs enter Monday night's action as the top seed in the Eastern Conference standings with a 17-6-2 record. The Ottawa Senators trail Montreal by only two points and Tampa Bay by four points in the Atlantic Division standings.
Galchenyuk is a second line center who has been skating with Alex Radulov (21 points) on the top trio. Galchenyuk skated 16 minutes TOI per game and struggles in the face off dot.
In the short term, Tomas Plekqnec can slide to center for Radulov and Brendan Gallagher. Michael McCarron is a call up option.
The center ice position was a weak area for the Habs with Galchenyuk in the lineup. The sledding will get tougher not the Sarnia Sting product is out indefinitely with a knee injury.
The timing of the Galchenyuk injury is intriguing in that trade chatter has been surrounding their captain Max Pacioretty, who scored two "in your face" goals in LA on Sunday.
For the best few weeks, the Habs have been scouting several NHL teams in search of a second line center to add needed depth, scoring and special teams proficiency to their attack.
The Habs sent their Director of pro scouting to Buffalo on Saturday to watch the Sabres play the Bruins.
Two young centers to keep any eye out for regarding the Habs are Zemgus Girgensons of the Sabres and Ryan Spooner of the Bruins. I'm told the Habs have also been interested in adding a power forward of Evander Kane's status and echelon. Though Kane is known as a power winger, he also uses his long reach and strength to win draws when he is asked to.
Galchenyuk earns $2.8 million this season and will be RFA in July.
The Habs currently have $1.7 million in salary cap space.
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