The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman David Savard will miss the next six to eight weeks with a fractured hand. Savard suffered the injury attempting to block a Tage Thompson slapshot in Montreal’s Monday night win against the Buffalo Sabres. The Canadiens have used an emergency recall on Gustav Lindstrom in light of Savard’s injury.
This is a major blow for Montreal, who has faced a significant injury in three of their first five games of the season. Savard becomes the fifth Hab to be sidelined, joining Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, Chris Wideman, and Kaiden Guhle. These injuries have forced Montreal to take on a much different look than what they entered the season with, primarily on the blue line, where Justin Barron, Jordan Harris, and Lindstrom have been able to establish roles that weren’t previously there for them. Barron is taking particular advantage of the opportunity, netting two goals in three games through the early season, operating on Montreal’s top pair alongside Mike Matheson.
Savard’s long-term injury is another damper on the season. The 33-year-old has two points through Montreal’s five games this season; now in his third year with the club. Savard is signed through the 2024-25 season to a contract carrying an annual average value of $3.5MM. It’s the second-most expensive contract on Montreal’s blue line. Savard is a 740-game veteran of the NHL, playing his rookie season in 2011-12. Nearly 600 of those games came with the Columbus Blue Jackets, whom Savard spent a decade with, before joining the Tampa Bay Lightning for 14 games and a Stanley Cup run and then finding his way to Montreal. With Savard out of the lineup, the average age of Montreal’s defense drops to 23.9.