More On Canadiens' Heineman Accident

The Montreal Canadiens have few good rookies on their hands this year with Lane Hutson running the show on defense, Emil Heineman terrorizing opponents on the forecheck, and Jakub Dobes signing three consecutive wins to start his NHL career, but they'll be without the left winger for the foreseeable future.

After the team announced he had been involved in a traffic accident as a pedestrian, more information became available. Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli shared details released by the Salt Lake City Police. The accident was called in by a passerby at 2:55 PM on Monday afternoon who said a pedestrian was involved in a traffic accident. When they arrived on the scene, the officers couldn't find the passerby or the pedestrian involved.

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They were informed later in the evening by a nearby business that the pedestrian in question had been a Canadiens' player. The team told the authorities Heineman was the player involved, he showed no sign of serious injury and was being attended to by team doctors. The Utah Highway Patrol is investigating the crash and all parties involved have been identified.

As for the players, they found out from Heineman in the team's text chat what had happened, he told them something funny had happened to him before explaining briefly. Jake Evans and Michael Pezzetta speaking to the media both explained how they were initially concerned with his well-being and how things could have been much worst.

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As for coach Martin St-Louis, he gave members of the media a good chuckle when he said that Heineman plays a tough game on the ice but was injured crossing the street, before adding he heard the car was totalled. It was of course a joke and one we should all be glad he could make given how much worst it could have been.

For the time being, Pezzetta will have some big skates to fill. Heineman currently leads the team in hits with 101 hits (Arber Xhekaj is in second place with 97) and has managed to rack up 10 goals (the third highest total amongst rookies in the league Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov both have 13) and seven assists in 41 games. Those are great numbers, especially considering he's spending a little over 11 minutes on the ice per game.

The team has yet to release any details on Heineman's injury other than saying he'll be sidelined for three to four weeks. The last time a Canadiens' player was involved in a traffic accident, he ended up being traded out of town without even playing a game wearing the Sainte-Flanelle. Zack Kassian broke his nose and his left foot in October 2015 before being suspended without pay and placed in the league's substance abuse program. When he was ready to return to action, the Canadiens waived him and demoted him to the AHL before trading him a couple of weeks later to the Edmonton Oilers for goaltender Ben Scrivens. Kassian suffered another injury in Montreal seven years later when he fell victim to one of Arber Xhekaj's first fights.

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