One way you know for sure Christian Dvorak could actually return in 2023-24 and it wasn’t just an April Fool’s joke by the Montreal Canadiens yesterday? If the Habs were intent on making a funny, a) they’d probably stray safely away from injury news, considering their bad luck on that front and b) all due respect to Dvorak, but reports he could play again this season don’t really move the needle much in one direction or another for fans. In other words, they could find far better source material.
To be clear (and remedy any misconstrued, ill-advised attempt at humour here too), no one should wish Dvorak ill will or anything. It’s great he’s on the mend and verge of playing again, after having torn a pectoral muscle early this year, which was supposed to keep him out of action the balance of the season. There’s always a “but,” though. In the throes of a losing, non-playoff season, the Canadiens don’t necessarily need him back. There are nevertheless benefits to him returning early. Here are the top three:
3) End 2023-24 on a High
In all frankness, Dvorak’s seven points in 25 games this season aren’t impressive. However, every little bit helps, as the Canadiens find themselves facing one of the toughest remaining schedules in the entire league, far out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at a mediocre 28-33-12 with just nine games remaining, i.e., no realistic shot at making it.
Logic would normally dictate that losses mean more than wins, to help secure better NHL Draft Lottery odds at this point. However, the Canadiens are effectively locked into where they are in the standings, meaning they and their fans should hope they (continue to) play the role of spoilers to end the season on a high. Plugging Dvorak back in would be the first domino, adding depth to the lineup, especially down the middle, where there really isn’t any beyond Nick Suzuki on the top line.
2) Give Anderson a Proper Centre
Theoretically, the Canadiens could use Dvorak’s return to shift Alex Newhook back to wing. However, with Newhook suddenly producing at the position (nine points in his last 15 games), after having been placed there following the Sean Monahan trade, how about a different course of action? Why not move every other centre down a rung, placing Dvorak on the third line between Josh Anderson and Jesse Ylonen?
That would move Jake Evans to the fourth line, where he’s just better suited (and Colin White out of the lineup). It would also give Anderson a chance to play with Dvorak, which, based on the team’s most common forward lines, is about the only thing the Canadiens haven’t comprehensively explored to try and kickstart his production.
Related: Canadiens Face Critical Choice Between Dvorak & Evans at Center
The goal here would be to give Anderson every (reasonable) chance to end the season on a high himself, playing him with more of an offensively inclined centre. With just eight goals (18 points) in 69 games so far, Anderson has struggled, effectively producing at half the rate Canadiens fans are accustomed to from him. Seeing as he isn’t exactly going anywhere due to a cost-ineffective deal, it makes sense that the Habs would want to salvage something out of their resident powerless forward.
1) Showcase Dvorak for a Potential Offseason Trade
Ditto for Dvorak, just perhaps salvage something out of another team in the offseason with a trade. With Dvorak entering his last season under contract, it’s unlikely he has a long-term future with the team. It would at least make little sense for the Canadiens to re-sign him, making him likely trade bait, even to just open up a roster spot.
The Canadiens have use for Dvorak now in their injury-ravaged lineup. However, that level of utility drops considerably once fellow-centre Kirby Dach is healthy enough to play, presumably at the start of 2024-25. If you add prospects like Emil Heineman and Sean Farrell into the mix, even current-Ontario Hockey Leaguer Owen Beck, another pivot, Dvorak becomes more of a burden than redundancy.
Even if injuries became a problem again, it’s hard to see Dvorak as the best possible solution. Given his gradual drop in production as a Hab since scoring a modest 33 points in 56 games in his first season in Montreal in 2021-22, Dvorak hasn’t exactly endeared himself to fans as the second-line centre he was acquired to become. That means the Canadiens would be lucky to get just about anything for him in exchange.
Keeping Dvorak over Monahan made sense for a time. It still does, based on the Canadiens having traded the latter and getting as much as they did. Regardless, the time when it made sense to keep Dvorak at all is drawing to a close, one way or another. Things have changed due to how the prospect pipeline has filled up at forward. As a result, the Habs ideally trade him to open up a roster spot in the summer, but, barring that, it’s hard seeing him stay with the Habs past the next trade deadline.
Interestingly, had Dvorak not recovered like he has, no one would even be talking about Option A as a realistic scenario. All that to say, these last few weeks of 2023-24 will hopefully feature the last few games of his Canadiens tenure. The better he looks on the ice, the more likely that becomes.