The injury situation on the Montreal Canadiens blue line just went from bad to worse as general manager Pierre Gauthier has confirmed that Josh Gorges will need surgery to repair his injured knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
Gorges originally suffered the injury during a December loss to the New York Islanders. He was placed on Injured Reserve on New Year's Eve.
The 28-year old Gorges has been one of the Canadiens' unsung heroes this season and trails only fellow defenceman Roman Hamrlik in average ice time for the Habs this season with over 21 minutes a game. He has one goal and six assists in 36 games this season.
"Any time you lose a player it's a loss but in the case of Josh he's a strong leader and a great competitor," Gauthier said. "We knew this was coming, we knew after Dec. 26 when his knee locked on the ice on Long Island, and from that point on we knew we'd have to replace him."
Gorges loss is the latest hit to the Habs' defence corps. Andrei Markov is also sidelined for the rest of the year after undergoing knee surgery earlier in the season. Roman Hamrlik is also dealing with an undisclosed injury and will not be in the lineup Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
