Monday, February 2, 2009

Bob Gainey Must Move, and Move Fast

With the latest long term injuries to veteran centre Robert Lang, winger Guillaume Latendresse and defenseman Josh Gorges, the Canadiens players are dropping like flies.

They will be joining winger Alex Tanguay (shoulder), George Laraque (back) and Mathieu Dandenault (wrist) on the injury list.

Latendresse is out for a few weeks with a shoulder injury that he sustained during Sunday's matinee against the Boston Bruins when he collided with Chuck Kobasew and fell awkwardly into the board.

Gorges is out indefinitely with concussion symptoms after he was vicously hit during Saturday's matchup against the LA Kings when Denis Gauthier nailed him with a vicious elbow to the head. Gauthier, who received a five-minute major and a game-misconduct on the play, has been suspended five games by the NHL earlier today for this behavior.

While Latendresse and Gorges were playing very well recently for a Habs team that is sinking fast, the injury to Lang is the most costly. Lang is currently leading all Canadiens forward with 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points in 50 games. He also has a team-leading eight power play goals.

Lang's season-ending injury means Gainey must get help down the middle if he wants his team to be successful come playoffs time as neither Tomas Plekanec nor Saku Koivu have been able to pick up the slack offensively.

Youngsters like Ben Maxwell and Kyle Chipchura have shown the management that they are not ready to carry the offensive load in Lang's absence.

Who would you trade for if you were Bob Gainey?

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