WOW: Canadiens Veteran to Announce Retirement Mid-Season?
The Montreal Canadiens are once again experiencing an impressive number of injuries within their organization this year.
Among these, there have been serious long-term injuries that have compromised their current season. We can think of Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, and even Alex Newhook, who should be returning to play soon after a three-month absence.
However, there's another injured player who has not yet played a single game this season and has never been placed on the long-term injured list. I'm talking about Chris Wideman.
At the beginning of the season, the defenseman was placed on the injured list due to a back injury, with an undetermined absence duration.
Since then, there has been radio silence from the Canadiens.
Normally, there are updates for players who have not been specified as out for the rest of the season, but not in the case of Wideman.
The Truth About Wideman Surfaces
In connection with this nebulous situation, veteran journalist Stu Cowan believes he knows what's happening with the player, even making a surprising revelation.
According to him, Wideman is probably no longer injured. However, even though he is technically under contract until the end of the campaign, he will not play another game with the CH.
«The Canadiens probably told Wideman that he had a back injury (sarcasm) or they gave him the option to go play in Laval. They probably said: 'Do you want to play in Laval, have a back injury to stay close to the team, or even open a hair salon?'» - Stu Cowan
Well, curiously, Wideman's wife has indeed recently opened a hair salon in Missouri. That says a lot for the future.
The journalist also adds this about the 34-year-old veteran:
«With the regular injured list, we saw the example of Ryan Reaves, recently in Toronto, who was on the injured list and had said he had been healthy for two weeks. The injured list is just a doctor stating that a player cannot play, whereas for long-term, the player must sign papers.
So, for Chris Wideman, he's serving the last year of his contract and he won't play. He's 34 years old and before the start of the season, the CH decided that he would not play, whether his back hurts or not. He remains, however, a good guy to have around a team.» - Stu Cowan
We can thus quite well conclude that Wideman's time in Montreal is over.
The Canadiens allowed him to pocket the last year of his contract at $762,500 to stay at home, as he definitely no longer had a place in the Tricolore's defensive brigade.
It's still a strange end for him, who is likely to officially retire from hockey.
| POLL |
31 JANVIER | 363 ANSWERS WOW: Canadiens Veteran to Announce Retirement Mid-Season? Do you think Wideman will retire? |
| Yes | 310 | 85.4 % |
| No | 53 | 14.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS |
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