Injuries: The problem is the size of the team, believes Georges Laraque

The Canadiens’ 2022-2023 season can, in my opinion, be described in two words.

Progress. Injuries.

After all, we’ve seen a number of young players progress individually, but it’s above all the collective progress that’s interesting to see. Overall, we’ve noticed that the Habs now have a new culture, and it showed at times on the ice during the last campaign.

It wasn’t perfect, of course, but that wasn’t the point either.

In any case, it would have been difficult for the CH to perform with the millions of injuries that occurred in 22-23. We saw so many players go down fighting last season that, at a certain point, we said the situation had simply become ridiculous.

Last night, the Canadiens fired Graham Rynbend (head sports therapist) and Donald Balmforth (head physiotherapist). We don’t necessarily know the reasons behind the team’s decision, but we suspect it has something to do with all the injuries we’ve been seeing over the past two years.

Good. Opinions are divided on this issue, and that’s to be expected. On the one hand, some feel that the organization made the right choice, while others feel that the injury problem won’t be solved even with the dismissal of the two therapists in question.

Georges Laraque is part of the second group. The former NHL brawler believes it’s the size of the team that’s the problem:

Yes, the Habs have some small players on their team, and it even forces John Scott to think that the Habs will have trouble achieving playoff success, especially with the greatness of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

But…

It’s a bit pointless to make that claim, since in reality, it wasn’t just the smaller players who were injured last year. A Twitter user by the name of Francis Proulx made the point in a reply under the BPM Sports publication, and it’s worth considering this, too:

Whispers behind the scenes in the lead-up to the draft are that Kent Hughes will be adding size to his roster at the next NHL auction.

With that in mind, can we rule out the possibility of the CH drafting a small player with its fifth overall pick, one that could provide the team with an excellent NHL prospect?

Coming back to Georges Laraque’s comments, I understand what he’s getting at. It’s true that player size plays a role in the injury factor…

But to say that the problem is related solely to the fact that the team “is small” is a bit unusual, in my opinion. Especially in view of the fact that the average height of CH players is 6’1 for the 2022-2023 season.

In gusto

– Certainly.

– Of note.

– Hihi .

Skin care specialists

📺 https://t.co/xUHwtw0UFA#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/u50DW0zS3S

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) June 14, 2023

– That’s no understatement.