Adam Engstrom’s long absence: a game changer for the Canadiens

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Adam Engstrom’s long absence: a game changer for the Canadiens
Credit: YouTube

Bad news in Laval. The Rocket announced that forward Laurent Dauphin will be out with an upper-body injury. He is expected to be out on a day-to-day basis.

But more importantly, Adam Engstrom will miss the next four weeks, as he is also suffering from an upper-body injury. He was hurt recently and we were waiting to see what would happen.

Needless to say, this is not good news for the Rocket or for the young man himself. You don't need a PhD in hockey to understand that.

But it's also bad news for the Canadiens.

After all, only eight defensemen have played at the top this season: the seven guys who are still on the active roster… and Engstrom. Until proven otherwise, he was the #1 option to bring in another defenseman.

And now he's injured until the end of March.

I can't see the Canadiens bringing him back into the NHL in the final weeks of a playoff race after a serious injury. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I don't think it's the ideal plan.

Does this mean that the need for a depth defenseman is even more pressing than before? Possibly. We already don't seem to have much confidence in Arber Xhekaj…

The good news? This injury didn't happen after the trade deadline. So Kent Hughes can choose to solve the problem by making a move between now and March 6 if he wants to.

Of course, it would be easier if David Rein—oh, never mind.


in quick succession

—That's quite a few choices.

— Ethan Wyttenbach stands out in the NCAA. [Ratings]

– How many points out of a possible four?

— All's well that ends well.

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