Montreal Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak not medically cleared to start 2023-24 season

According to a report from TVA Sports reporter Renaud Lavoie, Montreal Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak must see his doctor again as he does not have the green light to start the 2023-24 season.

Dvorak had 10 goals and 18 assists in 64 games during the 2022-23 campaign before undergoing season-ending knee surgery. The surgery was performed at the New York-based Hospital for Special Surgery. Dvorak last played during the March 7 game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The 27-year-old winger is in the fourth year of the six-year contract he originally signed with the Arizona Coyotes prior to the 2019-20 season. The contract pays him an AAV of $4.45 million per season.

He played 302 games in Arizona, scoring 67 goals and 146 points. Since coming over to Montreal, Dvorak has 21 goals and 61 points in 120 games over two seasons. He has shown to be taking strides in the little details of his game. An example of this is his faceoff acumen. As a young NHLer playing in Arizona, he won 51.5% of draws. However, he’s won 54.4% in Montreal, a marked increase.

Dvorak was initially selected No. 58 overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by the Coyotes. During the 2015-16 campaign, while playing for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Dvorak notched 52 goals and 121 points in 59 games. He dominated the OHL playoffs, adding 35 points in 18 games, and again put his talent on display at the Memorial Cup, where he tallied 12 points in four games, winning the Memorial Cup.

Over the span of eight years, Dvorak has appeared in 422 games, notching 88 goals and 119 assists for 207 points in that frame with the Coyotes and Canadiens.