One veteran that wasn’t on the move yesterday was Canadiens center Sean Monahan. Speaking at his post-deadline press conference (video link), GM Kent Hughes indicated that the 28-year-old suffered another injury while rehabbing his foot injury, one that has no timeline for a return. However, it’s possible that he’s able to return this season. Monahan has been out since early December and was off to a nice start with Montreal with 17 points in his first 25 games. Unfortunately for him, this extended absence coupled with hip injuries the past two seasons certainly won’t help his cause as he gets set to hit the open market for the first time this summer.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- The Lightning announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Erik Cernak is listed as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 25-year-old left Thursday’s game early but he did take the warmup prior to today’s contest against Buffalo so it would appear that he won’t be out too long. Cernak has a goal and ten assists in 53 games so far this season while logging over 19 minutes a night on their back end.
- Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier will miss the next four-to-six weeks due to an upper-body injury, notes Alex Daugherty of AtoZ Sports Nashville (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has dealt with multiple upper-body injuries this season with this most recent one being sustained on Thursday against Florida. A pending restricted free agent, Carrier has just nine points in 43 games this season after putting up 30 in 77 contests in 2021-22.
- Kraken winger Oliver Bjorkstrand’s return to Columbus last night was shortened as Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times relays that the veteran suffered a lower-body injury in the third period and did not return. No update was available following the game. Bjorkstrand got off to a slow start this season but has been better since the calendar turned to 2023, collecting 17 points in 28 games since the beginning of January.