Multiple Canadiens played through serious injuries and made things worse

Apr 17 2023, 2:29 pm

After a long and gruelling season, the truth about the Montreal Canadiens’ injury-plagued roster has begun to emerge.

First, there was the mystery of Sean Monahan, who was missing for the year’s second half. All season, fans speculated what the nature of his injury was and whether Monahan was close to returning. Once the season concluded, it was revealed to be a groin injury.

Monahan suffered a groin injury after playing games with a broken foot. The player told reporters at the Canadiens’ end-of-season media availability last week that compensating for the foot was the reason for the injury and ensuing surgery.

I really wanted to play that game against Calgary,” said Monahan on his decision to return too early to play against his former team. “Looking at it now, I regret it, but you can’t change the past.”

Despite his short time here, though, Monahan, who will be a free agent this summer, is open to returning to Montreal. “It’s a special place to play,” said the 28-year-old. “You get chills walking on the Bell Centre ice. I’ll see if I can make something work.”

Brendan Gallagher, whose seen his fair share of cuts and bruises over the years, also made things worse for himself by trying to return to the team early. In just the 12th game of the season, Gallagher broke his ankle.

“I played with it, figured out it wasn’t working,” explained the player last week. “Tried to take a month off, and by all accounts, it was taken care of and healed, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. Tried to play through it again.”

Gallagher, who only dressed for 37 games this past season, broke his not-yet-healed ankle again on the ice. “It’s unlucky to break something twice. You usually break a bone, and it heals, but that didn’t happen,” he said after concluding his 10th season as a Hab.

“On the positive side, everything I dealt with in the past was fine. Hard to say when it happened again; maybe it wasn’t totally fused. I don’t know to be honest. It’s just unfortunate, a little unlucky, and incredibly frustrating.”

Gallagher and Monahan, who have played through similar injuries in the past, admitted that they decided to return to play.

They are both expected to be healthy to start next season.

Al SciolaAl Sciola

+ Offside
+ Hockey
+ Canadiens
ADVERTISEMENT