Coming off a tough season, the 2024-25 campaign will have an even tougher start for Rafael Harvey-Pinard as the Canadiens announced on Friday that the winger has undergone successful leg surgery. The expected recovery time is four months.
Mathieu Paradis of Toutsurlehockey reported earlier this week that the 25-year-old had reinjured his leg in a recent activity with some former Laval teammates.
Last week, we took a closer look at Harvey-Pinard and how his stock had changed so much for the bad in just one year. A strong showing in 2022-23 had him seemingly positioned to be a future part of Montreal’s core, toward the back of the roster. However, he had three separate lower-body issues last season, causing him to miss 37 games and when he did play, he struggled, notching just two goals and eight assists in 45 appearances.
That had him as a possible bubble player heading into training camp as his $1.1 million contract would have been unlikely to be claimed coming off the year he just had.
Instead, that won’t be a concern as four months pegs a return date of late November to early December, meaning he’ll miss probably 20 games or more to start next season. Once cleared, it’s possible that they’ll ask him to spend a few games in Laval on a conditioning stint.
Harvey-Pinard will be LTIR-eligible now although it’s unlikely that they will need to go that route as things stand. With the Habs well under the Upper Limit of the salary cap (even with Carey Price counting in full), they’re at a point where an LTIR placement wouldn’t benefit them unless they do a lot more spending on their roster over the next couple of months.