GM Kent Hughes stated in a team statement that Canadiens rookie winger Joshua Roy will be out indefinitely due to an unidentified injury. The 20-year-old suffered the injury during the team’s road trip through the Western Conference on Tuesday and has left to return to Montreal for further assessment. Although Roy didn’t seem to miss a shift, TVA’s Renaud Lavoie claims that the injury happened when he blocked an Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard’s shot during the third period of yesterday’s 3-2 overtime loss.
Overall, the young player’s season has shown promise as he has ascended to the NHL levels ahead of schedule. The 2021 fifth-round pick, who is still in the first season of his entry-level contract, broke out in the minors with 13 goals and 32 points in one of the team’s top per-game rates in 40 games for AHL Laval. He was given an 11-day recall in January and was called up to the Canadiens once more on February 11. He has been with the team ever since, with the exception of a short loan to Laval on March 8, the day of the trade deadline, which allowed him to play for Laval in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
With a -2 rating in his first 23 games, Roy has four goals, five assists, and nine points in the majors without seeming out of place. For a rookie on a rebuilding team, he has produced respectable possession numbers, including a 49.5 CF% at even strength in addition to a 2.9 relative CF%. He is also averaging little less than one minute per game regarding the power play. With an average of 12:08 minutes per game, he has played in middle-six minutes overall and is shooting 11.8%.
It’s another unfortunate setback to a young forward in a developing season for the Canadiens. Due to a knee injury, Kirby Dach has been out of the lineup since Game 2 of the regular season. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Alex Newhook have also missed a substantial portion of the season.
Roy might be done for the season if his evaluation results in a week-to-week return schedule. The team’s regular season schedule consists of 14 games with 27 days left.
