The Montreal Canadiens will be without forward Jake Evans for the foreseeable future after the team announced he is expected to miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
Evans suffered the injury on December 21 against the Pittsburgh Penguins after taking a knee-on-knee hit and did not return to the game. Although there were early concerns about the severity of the injury, a recent report indicated that the worst-case scenario had been avoided. That now seems to be confirmed, as no surgery will be required.
Eric Engels from Sportsnet clarified that the recovery timeline goes back to the time of the injury, meaning Evans has already served about a week of the four-to-six week period. Fortunately, the team remains in a play-off position despite the number of missed man games due to injuries. The Canadiens have solid depth, and avoiding a long-term injury for Evans is good news.
Still, the injury bug has hit this team pretty hard. One fan wrote that the Canadiens are officially a trauma unit. With Evans joining Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach and Kaiden Guhle, five key players are sidelined — about $23.4 million in cap space, or nearly 25% of the payroll, tied up in the press box.
You can’t insulate yourself against that level of asset loss.
The Canadiens Miss Evans Will… Thank God for Danault
The 29-year-old has played in 34 games this season, recording five goals and five assists while averaging more than 15 minutes of ice time per night. Although his offensive production has declined, Evans has been heavily leaned on in a defensive, control role following the departure of Christian Dvorak in the offseason.
The silver lining here is that Montreal added Phillip Danault last week to help stabilize the middle of the lineup. He will be relied on to fill the void left by Evans’ injury delay.
In a separate roster move, the Canadiens also confirmed the recall of goaltender Sam Montembeault.
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