A new and unexpected problem may have been raised with the CH and changes may be in order

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MarcO
January 20, 2023 (0:29)

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For years, the CH has seen GMs, coaches and especially players come and go. Even the equipment managers have changed since Pierre Gervais left. Only the club's medical team seems to survive the years...

Yet, if there is one thing the CH has trouble doing, it is keeping its players healthy. The club's injury list is, year after year, always so full. One could say that this is normal in the new NHL, as the game is intense and rest periods are increasingly rare.

But more and more injuries seem to be the result of an early return to play or a sloppy recovery. Just think of Brendan Gallagher who returned to the game, only to go back on the injured list a few games later with the same injury. The same goes for newcomer Mike Matheson who still seems to be suffering from the same discomfort. Sean Monahan has played too long with a foot injury. He was recently placed on the long-term injury list. Renaud Lavoie recently talked about this strange injury:

"He had a broken foot. But that's not why he's out right now. It's because he played with that injury, so the hip and groin compensated. So instead of being out for two weeks, we're up to six! And it's not over yet! We are told that he is close to a return. But we are told that for two weeks!" - Renaud Lavoie

This is not just from this year. Let's remember Paul Byron who tried too many times to return to the game, but had to return to the injured list for the same ailment each time. Should we also return to the case of Carey Price?

Let's go with some numbers. According to ManGamesLost, on January 6, the CH was in the top 5 teams with the most missed games with a total of 248. Only the Flyers (275), Maple Leafs (282) and Capitals (301) had more losses than them.

The results are quite similar for the 2020-2021 season, as the CH finished atop this chart by a wide margin with 731 games missed. That's 104 more games than the second place Arizona Coyotes...

According to the same site, these missed games cost the CH nearly 32.9 ranking points last season.

That's huge. Even if a majority of those games were due to the loss of Carey Price and Shea Weber, there is still something to worry about...

The examples and numbers are there to prove it. Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes will have to look at this aspect sooner or later, because it becomes critical, especially if the CH wants to become competitive and consistent in the coming years.

A change could be in order (or changes?) and the question is starting to be raised more and more in the media:

An issue to follow.