In Hainsight: Dvorak Out for Remainder of the Season

Montreal Canadiens’ fans were anxiously waiting for the morning skate today to know how bad the injury sustained by Josh Anderson Tuesday night in Dallas was. To everyone’s surprise, the power forward was at practice, looking like nothing had happened. Speaking to the media after the morning skate, the December Molson Cup winner clarified that he feared a knee injury to his MCL when his right leg overextended, but after letting it cool down, he felt fine. Cue the sigh of relief from everyone in the organization.

The news wasn’t as good for Christian Dvorak, who had last played on December 30th against Florida. Since then, he hadn’t taken part in any of the team’s practices, and the Habs simply said he was out for an indefinite period of time. The diagnosis came today, though. The center has a torn pectoral muscle, which will cause him to miss the remainder of the season. He is set to undergo an operation tomorrow.

In other words, his third season with the Canadiens will only have lasted 25 games, throughout which he could only muster seven points — three goals and four assists. Last season, thanks to a knee injury, Dvorak’s year ended after 64 games and 28 points. For which he underwent knee surgery on March 15, 2022, which meant that he missed the start of this season. As for his first campaign in Montreal, it only included 56 games in which he picked up 33 points.

There’s no two-way about it, Dvorak’s acquisition by former general manager Marc Bergevin hasn’t been a success to say the least. To be fair, Bergevin didn’t go out of his way to trade for him until he had lost two centers on the free agency market. Two-way pivot Phillip Danault signed a six-year contract worth $5.5 M per season with Los Angeles, and the Carolina Hurricanes made a hostile offer to a disgruntled Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was all too happy to accept the grossly over inflated salary. The Hurricanes signed him to a one-year $6.1 M deal on August 28th, 2021. Bergevin had to act quickly, and on September 4th, he pulled the trigger on the deal sending a 2022 first round pick – which became Filip Bystedt – and a 2024 second round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for Dvorak.

When he came to Montreal, Dvorak’s best season had been his 2020-2021 effort, where he produced 38 points in 70 games. Dvorak was not expected to be a savior for Montreal but rather a serviceable centerman who could munch some minutes on an increasingly younger team. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even do that, thanks to constant health issues.

If the plan was to flip him for picks at the deadline, Montreal can forget about it, which means they will likely still have his $4.5 M cap hit on the books next season, the last year of his contract. This could be a blessing in disguise though, as the organization’s second center Kirby Dach has been unable to stay healthy as well, and Sean Monahan’s contract was only a one-year deal.

Looking at the team’s depth chart, it seems unlikely that Riley Kidney or Jan Mysak, who are currently skating with the Laval Rocket would be ready to make the jump to the NHL next season. The same goes for Filip Mesar, who was loaned to the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL for a second year and perhaps for Owen Beck, who very well may need some seasoning in the AHL before making the jump.

For now, though, the Canadiens will probably go ahead with their four current centers, Suzuki, Monahan, Evans and Stephens, for lack of a better option. After the teams’ morning skate, head coach Martin St-Louis confirmed his team would be sticking to a formation consisting of 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Could the Habs be tempted to use the cap relief created by Dvorak’s placement on LTIR? Probably not for now, unless it allows Hughes to accept a bad contract in a trade involving one of his goaltenders, solving the never-ending “ménage à trois” nightmare. If that’s not the case, then perhaps it will come in handy at the trade deadline. Time will tell.