Christian Dvorak: as useless as that!

It looks like Christian Dvorak could return to action before the end of the season… even though on January 4, the Canadiens officially announced that the American’s season was over due to a pectoral injury.

Will he return to action before April 16? Will he play at least one of the last 11 games?

Honestly, I’m holding my breath . Dvorak doesn’t make a difference on the ice, when he’s inserted into an NHL lineup… and anyway, wins are more detrimental than helpful right now in Montreal. #Lottery

But if he doesn’t return to action before October, it’ll be the second season in a row that he’s ended up on the injured list. And he’s been in Montreal for two and a half years…

Dvorak has never played a full season since his arrival in the NHL. In his first two campaigns (2016-17 and 2017-18 in Arizona), he played 78 games, but since then, it’s been 70 games or less.

With the Habs, he played in 56 games in 2021-22, 64 in 2022-23… and 25 (so far) in 2023-24.

So he’s on track to miss 101 games in three seasons. That’s a lot! A far cry from Nick “Ironman” Suzuki…

Is he made of porcelain?

The other problem is that even when he’s in uniform, he doesn’t help his team that much. 33 points, 28 points and 7 points: that’s his production per season since becoming a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Always with a negative differential…

What is Dvorak’s real role with the Canadiens (who are rebuilding, remember)? He doesn’t guide the troops offensively. He doesn’t lead by example. He’s not a great leader (no letter on his vest despite his veteran status). He stands downtown with the youngsters (Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach) and I’m not sure he’s really showing them what they need to do to be good pros…

And he earns an average annual salary of $4.45 million (actual salary of $5.75 million in 2024-25, his final year of contract with the Habs).

In the first episode of the Stanley25 podcast, my colleague Jean Trudel drew a link between alcohol consumption, internal inflammation and the propensity for injury in high-level athletes. But hey, I digress (maybe)…

When Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Phillip Danault left in 2021, we were told that Dvorak was going to be an improved version of Danault AND Kotkaniemi.

We forget that for Danault… and for Kotkaniemi, of course.

What (another) bad decision by Marc Bergevin at the end of his reign…

I don’t think Kent Hughes will be able to trade Dvorak this off-season. If he does, we’ll have to build him a statue in front of the Bell Centre. From Hughes, not Dvorak…

The good news? Dvorak, unlike some of the Canadiens’ other big contracts, will be as free as a bird in just over a year. A year’s a long time…

And until then, he’s not hurting the team when he’s (often) on the (long-term) injured list. At least this way, he doesn’t take the place of a youngster who could develop…

Overtime

– Zach Hyman would never have made it if his parents weren’t billionaires”: these are the recent words of Andrew Berkshire. According to Berkshire, work is not enough in our society. Since yesterday, he has been DESTROYED on social networks… and some even accuse him of defending Palestine, while picking up Jews. #Antisemitism

– Berkshire published an apology video a few hours later, attempting to explain in greater depth the basis of his thinking. But the People’s Court of the Web has already decided: he’s guilty. #He’sHavingAHardMoment

– Laurent Courtois is appreciated throughout MLS.

– It’s now official. Hats off to Tony Marinaro for the scoop.

– Yesterday’s match was watched en masse.

– Oliver Kapanen is on fire.

Already four goals in just five gameshttps://t.co/xZEeGuxrti

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) March 27, 2024