Christian Dvorak: his surgeon’s imminent verdict will change many things

With September finally here, the return of field hockey in North America is quite imminent. There are only a handful of days left before the rookie and training camps get underway, and just over a month before the start of the regular season.

It’s starting to feel like the Cup of Hockey.

In Montreal, the training camp will be a particularly interesting one. We know that there’s a lot of congestion at every position. And with so many of last year’s injured players returning, it doesn’t help.

On the other hand, even though the club is much healthier now than it was last year, the fact remains that Christian Dvorak is still sidelined. The center forward, who underwent knee surgery last March, is a doubt for the start of the season (and the rumor mill earlier this summer was more negative than positive).

According to Mathias Brunet(who spoke to BPM Sports), there’s still a chance that Dvorak will be able to start the season on time. In fact, he’ll find out this month whether he’ll be able to start the season on time.

He is due to meet his surgeon “sometime in September”, who will give him the final verdict.

And in reality, this verdict is quite important in view of training camp, because the reality is quite different if he’s present than if he’s absent. If he’s healthy, he’s likely to be at the center of the third trio, but if not, it changes things.

A guy like Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, for example, would be a big beneficiary: it would open up a spot on the roster, and he wouldn’t have to bail out just because he doesn’t have to go through the ballot.

With so many centers in town (Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Sean Monahan, Alex Newhook and Jake Evans, to name just a few), a guy like Dvorak doesn’t necessarily belong in town anymore. I know that some of these players can (and will) play on the wing, but after the acquisition of Newhook, Dvorak became even more superfluous in Montreal.

Should Dvorak be absent for the start of the season, one wonders whether Sean Monahan might be relegated to a third-center role. This would open up a top-6 spot that could be filled by Juraj Slafkovský or even Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.

And it would force the CH to use Dach or Newhook as the center of one of the first two trios.

Dvorak’s absence won’t sink the club, as he’s relatively tasteless on the ice. On the other hand, his surgeon’s verdict will change a lot of things in terms of the composition of the 23-player line-up (because it would open up a spot) and in terms of the formation of the trios (because it forces everyone to change chairs).

Let’s just say it all adds up to a major domino effect.

In bursts

– Not me, anyway.

– To be continued.

– Wow.

Victor Hedman casually knocking it through from 50. 💪

(🎥: @Chris_Krenn) pic.twitter.com/uL33KpgYI9

– BarDown (@BarDown) September 1, 2023