Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield will miss the remainder of the regular season with a shoulder injury, the club announced Saturday.
Barring any major setbacks, the 22 year old should be ready to go in time for the start of next season’s training camp. The Habs plan to provide an update on Caufield’s right shoulder following surgery which is planned for next week.
Despite the fact that Caufield played over 17 minutes on Thursday when Montreal took on the Florida Panthers, the club has indicated that the injury has been plaguing the winger for some time now.
With 36pts (26G, 10A) in 46 games, Caufield’s absence all but guarantees that the Habs will be fully embracing the tank down the stretch as they’ll be square in the mix for the Connor Bedard sweepstakes at season’s end.
Montreal currently sits in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 19-24-3 record. Only the Blue Jackets, Coyotes, Blackhawks, Canucks, Sharks, and Ducks currently have fewer points than the Habs, which would give the club a 6.5% chance at winning the 1st overall pick in this year’s draft.
Caufield now joins an ever growing list of Montreal players who have been sidelined by injury over the last few weeks. Jake Allen is currently day-to-day with an upper body injury. Forwards Jake Evans, Joel Armia, and Juraj Slafkovsky are all out for the next several weeks with a variety of ailments. Winger Brendan Gallagher is week to week with a lower body injury, while defenseman Kaiden Guhle, and forward Paul Byron remain on IR with no clear timeline for their returns as well.
And that’s without even beginning to address the status of star netminder Carey Price whose NHL future is murky at best.
In corresponding moves the club has placed forward Jonathan Drouin on Injured Reserve retroactive to January 16th, and will be recalling Alex Belzile from the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Montreal is next in action Saturday vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7pm ET.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.