Montreal Canadiens center Christian Dvorak undergoes season-ending knee surgery

The Montreal Canadiens’ season-long battle with the injury bug continues, as the team announced that center Christian Dvorak underwent season-ending knee surgery on Wednesday. A full recovery is expected before the start of next season.

While no announcement has officially been made as of yet, it is likely that Dvorak will land on injured reserve following this news. When that placement officially comes through, he will become the ninth Canadiens' player to land on either regular or long-term injured reserve.

Montreal's list of contributors who have missed significant time due to injury this season rivals that of any other NHL club. They have lost players such as budding superstar Cole Caufield and promising rookie defenseman Arber Xhekaj to their own season-ending surgeries, with Dvorak just the latest big name to join that list.

Due to this slew of injuries, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis has been forced to make do with an even more talent-depleted roster than the one the Canadiens entered the season with -- and they entered without a ton of talent to begin with.

While some players such as longtime minor leaguer Alex Belzile and seventh-round pick Rafael Harvey-Pinard have seized the opportunities these injuries have provided them, injuries have cost the team valuable developmental time for some key players.