The Canadiens have announced that Davis Drewiske will be out for five to six months after undergoing shoulder surgery. He suffered an injury in training camp that they tried to rehab, evidently, but did not respond to treatments, so he had to go under the knife.
Those of you who worry about Davis Drewiske's cap hit, be aware it absolutely is not a problem. He is making $600 000 a year. Right now he will go on LTIR, so his tiny cap hit will still be on the books, but the Canadiens could go over the cap a corresponding amount of money to replace him if they needed to.
More practically, he's a body making minimum NHL wage, so whoever might have been signed in his place would make at least that much. We couldn't have saved cap space by not signing him, not if we planned to carry 23 players. Also, if Davis was sent down to Hamilton, his wage would come off the cap entirely. If he's claimed on waivers on the way down, same thing, no more cap hit. The fact that he's signed for two years does not change that fact whatsoever.
We need to understand that he was signed to a two-year, one-way contract for minimum wage. Both sides were happy with the deal. He got two years of NHL wage security, the team got a #7.5 to 8-ish defenceman who could plug in in emergencies, and would provide options if the kids weren't ready or injuries struck, as they did Douglas Murray, and as they are Francis Bouillon and Josh Gorges, who are both currently playing through them.
As noted before, the management team must have seen something in him to trade for him, it's his bad luck that he's not able to play and practice and show us that something.
The fact that he got injured does not make this a bad signing, it's just unfortunate, but it's better than the alternative of P.K. or Andrei getting hurt and he being healthy and being made to play.
Odd that Drewiske's injury attracting any notice at all given the recent, possibly devastating injury to Pacioretty. I have to think that Bergevin is shopping for a left winger.
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