On Friday, the Coyotes centre Christian Dvorak underwent abdominal surgery for a torn muscle and he will be out for a long, long time.
Months.
Perhaps the entire season.
He was previously out of the lineup with a back injury, but recently in rehab he tore the muscle. (According to Craig Morgan).
This is not good news for the Coyotes. Christian Dvorak has had back-to-back 15 goal seasons and the Coyotes were hoping from some significant development from their recently signed-to-a-longterm-contract centreman.
Dvorak is a nice young player with a ton of upside - the team is hoping that he can become a poor man's Ryan O'Reilly. (But Ryan O'Reilly is among the best players in the NHL, so a poor man's version isn't too bad at all).
But now he's gone for a long time, and this is a blow to the Coyotes playoff hopes, and their season.
However, it does create an opportunity for Dylan Strome.
Derek Stepan, Christian Dvorak, Alex Galchenyuk, Brad Richardson. made it hard for Dylan Strome to crack the lineup if it was healthy.
But it wasn't, and instead of starting in the AHL, Dylan Strome was (it seemed reluctantly) kept in the NHL and has succeeded, being one of the best players on the team so far this year.
With Dvorak gone, it's safe to say that Strome now has a real opportunity to screw up and play badly without having to worry about being demoted for the first time in his career. (An opportunity the Coyotes haven't given him, which is given to most team's top prospects. They even briefly made Keller a centre rather than play Strome higher in the lineup).
So there could be a hidden upside to the Dvoak injury, but not much of one. You have to think Strome himself would have forced their hand even if healthy, and now the team is going to be without one of their core players long term.
Speaking of Galchenyuk, he won't be back in the lineup tonight, but may play Tuesday.
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