The Montreal Canadiens Biggest Issue is Not On the Ice

Ah, hope and joy. It feels nice, doesn't it? It's not something that the Montreal Canadiens have felt in a long time. Sure, there was the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, but that was more of a surprise and was not a sustainable, long-term feeling. But now the team is looking good on the ice and will be getting better in the short term. But there is something beyond the ice that is worth looking into.

As a team, the Canadiens have one of the rosiest outlooks in all of the NHL for the foreseeable future. There is an upcoming offensive superstar in Ivan Demidov, coming into an already young and well-rounded forward core. The Habs should be able to roll multiple, dangerous scoring lines and will be a matchup nightmare for the opposing defences.

And speaking of defence, the Montreal Canadiens have one of the deepest defensive prospect pools in the league. There is already a surplus of NHL-ready defenders, and that doesn't even count prospect defenders like Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux. The Habs even gave away a solid young defender in Jordan Harris and should still be fine on the back end.

So, if the outlook is so rosy, what could possibly be the problem?

Well, the Canadiens are apparently the unluckiest team in the league.

Chicago Blackhawks v Montreal Canadiens / Minas Panagiotakis/GettyImages

In 2022, the Montreal Canadiens set a record for the most man-games lost in a single season. That record didn't last long though, as their new record was broken one year later, by the Montreal Canadiens. Yup, two years in a row. That's a trend.

Now, it is difficult to talk about injuries. Often they are not something that is within anyone's control. Take Kirby Dach, who was awkwardly pushed into a bench, and lost the whole season due to a dual MCL ACL tear. Is that anyone's fault? Not really, no.

But when the team has been the most injured team ever for an extended period of time, that is something to look at and talk about.

It's not just the number of injuries, it's how long players are injured. Looking at this graph, there are almost no short times off here. The amount of games missed at a time frequently stretches over 8 games, reaching into the 20s. That is a long time and could be an indication that rehabilitation after the initial injury is an issue.

So, something must be done, right? Well, something was done. Donald Blanforth and Graham Rynbend, the team's physiotherapist and athletic therapist, were let go. They hired some new people, including Jim Ramsey, who came from the New York Rangers, a.k.a the anti-Montreal Canadiens in the injury department.

If the Montreal Canadiens stopped playing hockey today it would take the New York Rangers 870+ more games to catch them in number of injuries https://t.co/s7Q67p9E4L@CanadiensMTL @NYRangers pic.twitter.com/l2bOErBFm4

— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) March 11, 2023So, everything should be all good, right?

Final NHL injury summary for the 2023/24 regular season (playoff teams highlighted) pic.twitter.com/ojPCifrRCp

— NHLInjuryViz (@NHLInjuryViz) April 19, 2024

Uh-oh. Um, at least they aren't the most injured team in the league? That's at least a little good, right?

Again, it could just be bad luck, but how long is it bad luck, and how long until it's a trend? Some players are just injury-prone, so can a team itself be injury-prone? What about Nick Suzuki, who has one of the longest active Iron Man streaks in the NHL?

I don't think that the Montreal Canadiens are a team full of glass limbs, but if so, there has to be something done. Teams that miss hundreds of man-games every year don't win the Cup very often.

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