Canadiens Provide Some Good & Bad News In Health Update

The Montreal Canadiens provided a detailed health update on their banged-up players, which provided fans with some good and bad news.

December was always going to be a difficult month for the Canadiens, playing 15 games in just 30 days, but the physical toll of the season is also starting to impact the team.

As of Monday night, the Habs had six players with questionable health statuses on a roster of 23 players, with some big names finding themselves on the list.

Here’s what you need to know.

The Good News

Everybody breathe, it looks like Cole Caufield will be fine after receiving a thunderous hit from Trevor Lewis in Monday night’s game against the Calgary Flames.

The Canadiens’ sniper was levelled in the slot after receiving a suicide pass from Mike Hoffman and immediately left the game.

The biggest fear was that his incredible sophomore season was about to be ruined by an untimely concussion, but it seems that Caufield escaped the worse of it all.

In fact, the Canadiens will have their sniper accompany the club as they make their way to Ottawa for Wednesday night’s tilt against the Ottawa Senators.

The collected sigh of relief felt in Montreal can currently be felt in the Maritimes as we speak.

L’attaquant Cole Caufield accompagnera l’équipe à Ottawa et devrait être disponible demain.

Forward Cole Caufield will travel with the team to Ottawa and should be available tomorrow.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 13, 2022

Could Be Worse

The Canadiens also gave an update on Mike Matheson, and, to be honest, things are starting to look eerily familiar in his case.

After missing practice late last week, and then returning to practice the next day, it seemed like Matheson was being hampered by a minor injury.

It was not expected to be serious, but Matheson has missed two games in a row, with the Canadiens now confirming that number will now rise to three in a row.

Matheson not accompanying the team on their very short trip to Ottawa would indicate that he may not compete in more games this week, as other players, who are considered day-to-day, like Jonathan Drouin will be making the trip.

Kaiden Guhle will have to be ready to continue filling top pair duties as brilliantly as he has so far this season, because it doesn’t look like his minutes will be going down any time soon.

Mike Matheson (bas du corps) est lui aussi évalué sur une base quotidienne, mais ne fera pas le voyage à Ottawa.

Mike Matheson (lower-body) is also considered day-to-day, but will not travel to Ottawa.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 13, 2022

The Bad News

When Sean Monahan and David Savard were kept out of the lineup on the Canadiens’ western road trip, worry began to set in.

Monahan was seen in a walking boot prior to the Canadiens’ game in Vancouver, which was already not a good sign.

Both Savard and Monahan were sidelined during that road trip and were up for re-evaluation upon their long-awaited return to Montreal.

Since then, the Canadiens’ medical team has assessed that they could miss the rest of December with injuries, which is bad news for the Montreal Canadiens.

Savard and Monahan logged some important minutes for the club early on this season, and their absence, especially Monahan’s, is going to be very hard to replace as they set off on another two-week road trip after this Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The silver lining is that the injury to Monahan isn’t overly serious and won’t hamper his ability to continue this story-book comeback season.

David Savard (haut du corps) et Sean Monahan (bas du corps) seront absents pour une durée de deux à trois semaines.

David Savard (upper-body) and Sean Monahan (lower-body) will be out two to three weeks.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 13, 2022