On Saturday afternoon, the Montreal Canadiens announced that forward Jake Evans will miss the next 4-6 weeks following an injury sustained a week ago during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Canadiens lose a player who has been a mainstay on the penalty kill so far this year, but the good news is the Habs have players who are able to fill his shoes pretty well over the month or so. The 29-year-old centre has 5 goals and 10 points in 34 games for the Habs this season.

Les Canadiens ont annoncé que l’attaquant Jake Evans sera absent pour une période de 4 à 6 semaines en raison d’une blessure au bas du corps.

The Canadiens have announced that forward Jake Evans will miss 4 to 6 weeks with a lower-body injury. pic.twitter.com/PPLVkT8dK8

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 27, 2025

Evans went down early in the first period of last Saturday’s 4-0 victory against the Penguins.

While Evans’ loss will hurt the team, the fact that Phillip Danault was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings just a day before Evans sustained his injury will significantly soften the blow. Danault will be able to become the main penalty kill centre, which will allow the Habs not to overuse Nick Suzuki, who will already be playing on both power play units as well as some penalty kill time. In some cases, since Danault is older and has been playing his role as a top penalty killer for longer, he is actually a better replacement for that spot than Evans. Injuries are never a good thing within a team, but the Canadiens are lucky that they have the exact type of players to replace Evans effectively until the Olympic break.

Silver linining:

Owen Beck will continue to get 4C reps in a now more sheltered role with Danault replacing Evans in the interim.

— Joël (@RiseFromTheAshZ) December 27, 2025

Not to mention, rookie Owen Beck also has some of the same qualities as Evans. Beck, just like Evans, plays a solid 2-way game, but most importantly, he gives the Habs a great right-handed faceoff man who can take many important draws late in games.

Injuries are never a good thing within a team, but the Canadiens are lucky that they have the exact type of players to replace Evans effectively until the Olympic break. Just adding Danault has allowed the Habs to have some of the most solid bottom 6 centre depth in the entire NHL, so that they can handle an injury of medium length happening to one of them, as long as injuries don’t keep attacking them.

That is 4-6 weeks from the day Evans was injured (Dec. 20). So he’s out at least three more weeks and upwards of five… https://t.co/JltemkCjo0

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) December 27, 2025

Originally there was a scare that Evans may be out long-term with possibly an ACL tear, but the news of just 4-6 weeks means the worst-case scenario has been avoided. All knee-on-knee/knee-on-thigh hits will give a fear of ACL tears in today’s hockey; when it comes out that it could be as little as a month being missed, it can actually be considered good news, as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported.

Texier practising. He’s in a regular jersey.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) December 27, 2025

More injury news surrounding the Canadiens is that forward Alexandre Texier practiced with the team in Tampa Bay on Saturday, meaning the injury he sustained in the first period of Tuesday’s win against the Boston Bruins was not severe and that he should be good to go again on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5:00 pm ET. The loss of Texier likely would have hurt more given that the Habs don’t have someone to play with the same speed and underrated offensive abilities that can come in to fill his role. Another bullet was dodged, but the Canadiens have seen a few injuries over their past few games, and they will need to stop so they can eventually get healthy again. Luckily, centre Kirby Dach should be ready to return over the next 2 weeks or so.

How do you feel about the news of Evans being out for 4-6 weeks?