BROSSARD, Que. — The news was grim when what was feared on Thursday was confirmed on Friday.
Alex Newhook, who left the 17th Montreal Canadiens game of the season unable to put any pressure on his right leg following a feet-first collision with the boards, had surgery to repair a fractured ankle Friday. The 24-year-old forward, who shot out to the best start of his NHL career with six goals and six assists through the first 16 games, isnâ€t likely to return until the final stretch of the regular season.
A fourth-month recovery timeline brings Newhook to Mar. 14.
On top of that, Kaiden Guhle, who was initially supposed to miss four-to-six weeks with a groin injury suffered Oct. 16, will now miss eight-to-10 more following surgery to repair a partially torn adductor muscle.Â
Touching base with sources close to the Canadiens, both the team and Guhle were hoping rest and a slow ramp-up towards resuming play would solve his situation. The objective was to avoid surgery, but that objective became unachievable when Guhleâ€s recovery stalled after resuming skating several days ago.
Now he and Newhook are sidelined for much longer than the Canadiens hoped theyâ€d be.
The team could use both players right now — during its first slump of the season, after being outscored 12-1 over its last two games by the Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars, ahead of a meeting with the red-hot Boston Bruins that threatens to extend their skid to five losses in six games.
“I feel weâ€re better equipped to deal with it this time around,†said coach Martin St. Louis before the news on Newhook and Guhle dropped Friday.
He didnâ€t reveal exactly how the Canadiens would.
Neither did practice, which featured just four players — Ivan Demidov, Zachary Bolduc, Lane Hutson and Oliver Kapanen, who skated roughly 90 minutes after Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher took to the ice for a quick session.
There are no indications yet as to how those players will line up Saturday.
“Every scenario you can make a case for,†St. Louis said. “At the end of the day, weâ€re going to look at it, try to make the best decision we can, and start like that. Doesnâ€t mean itâ€s going to stay.â€
And thereâ€s no telling how itâ€ll work.
Replacing Newhook long-term will prove complicated.
In the interim, Jared Davidson, whoâ€s started off his AHL season with nine goals and 11 points through 13 games with the Laval Rocket, has been called up to Montreal and is scheduled to make his NHL debut versus the Bruins Saturday.
Weâ€d be surprised to see him take the spot Newhook was occupying with Demidov and Kapanen, though.
Newhook was the safety valve of that line as a veteran presence between two rookies. But with him out, those two rookies are likely to skate on separate lines moving forward.
Demidov finished Thursdayâ€s loss to the Stars next to Kirby Dach and Bolduc, and thatâ€s a line that could remain intact and receive even more offensive deployment than Dach, Bolduc and Gallagher were receiving (they had started just 24 per cent of their shifts in the defensive zone together).
Joe Veleno, who has excellent defensive metrics and underwhelming offensive ones— despite having offensive skill, heâ€s yet to record a point through the 13 games heâ€s played—could serve as the safety valve for Kapanen and Davidson.
And that would leave St. Louis with two other lines he already has proof he can depend on.
Even if Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky have been held in check in three of the last four games, theyâ€ve been among the most successful lines over the past two seasons at five-on-five. And reuniting Gallagher with Evans and Josh Anderson would give him a line that can do precisely what it did for a couple of games this season.
Itâ€s what the line of Gallagher, Christian Dvorak and Anderson did last season.
“I feel it was a momentum line,†said St. Louis on Friday. “It could possess pucks in the o-zone, it could defend. It was a veteran line… I think thatâ€s important—to have lines that have that identity, that are going to trust the forecheck and bring some heaviness to it and battle, and thatâ€s what we had.â€
Itâ€s what the Canadiens need. Especially now, while under pressure to immediately correct course following two bad games.
A mindset shift is in order, too, with the Canadiens lacking execution and becoming distracted enough by that lack of execution to compound errors like they did against the Stars and Kings.
“When youâ€re going through a hard stretch, everything is overthought,†said Jayden Struble, whoâ€s been fallible of late in Guhleâ€s spot next to Hutson (the pair is a combined minus-11 over its last two games).
“If youâ€re not executing, youâ€re overthinking about that because things havenâ€t been going our way,†Struble continued. “Itâ€s a good league, youâ€re playing good teams, star players, and if youâ€re not on, youâ€re gonna… You saw it, we just lost 7-0.
“We just have to take a breath and not grip our sticks too tight. Weâ€re in a good spot. Nothing has changed in that way. Weâ€re a good team. I think we have all the confidence that we need. But when we get on the ice, itâ€s just think about the next play.â€
Thereâ€s no time to think about when Newhook or Guhle will next play, even if everyone on the team feels for both players.
Itâ€s hard not to feel for them.
For Guhle, this is yet another bout of long-term rehab in a career thatâ€s been full of it thus far. He played just 44 games his first season and, after playing just 70 in Season 2, he missed 27 last season.
The Edmonton native put on some weight over the summer and hoped to avoid a similar outcome in his first of six seasons over which heâ€s being paid an annual average salary of $5.55 million.Â
But Guhle suffered a minor groin injury in training camp, returned for five games of the regular season, and is now sidelined by what proved to be an adductor injury that was serious enough to require surgery.
Newhook, whoâ€s been relatively healthy since jumping into the NHL and winning the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, is in the third year of a contract paying him $2.9 million per on average. He suffered a high-ankle sprain that kept him out of 27 games two seasons ago, had an up-and-down 82 games last season, and was making an excellent case to be considered a core member of the Canadiens with his hot start to this season.
But seeing the Newfoundland nativeâ€s leg bend the wrong way was an awful sight on Thursday, and Fridayâ€s press release indicating his long-term absence was nearly as gruesome.
“Itâ€s not easy for a player who had such a good start to the season,†said St. Louis.
He surely knows losing both Newhook and Guhle long-term will prove particularly challenging for the Canadiens.
In the meantime, itâ€s an added layer of adversity for a team that was already facing some.
The Canadiens will have to process Fridayâ€s grim news and immediately park it Saturday if they hope to get back to the win column and extend their record to 11-5-2.
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