Written by Mike Haggett, AllHabs.net

PORTLAND, ME – The injury bug has bitten the Montreal Canadiens.

Hard.

How bad is it? Bad enough so that when any player goes down, all of Habs Nation holds its collective breath. The Canadiens’ season is only 17 in, but already 10 players have missed a total of 56 man games. In perspective, the club lost 194 man games all of the 2010-11 campaign.

The defense has been depleted, to the point where if there are any further injuries, ‘decimated’ will likely be the buzzword du jour in the media. Andrei Markov has yet to play a game. Offseason free agent Chris Campoli has been gone since opening night. Jaroslav Spacek is currently on his second visit to the IR. Hal Gill is out with viral infection.

The offense has had it’s share of woes as well. Mike Cammalleri has hit the list twice so far this season. Scott Gomez has missed more games of those not named Ryan White, who has yet to play. Lars Eller missed opening night, but fortunately has stuck in the lineup since. Andreas Engqvist, who has been on Via Rail more than most conductors, got knocked out just after getting off the train. Now the word the Andrei Kostitsyn has graced his presence in the infirmary, and may be there for a while with a rumored groin injury.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has done its job as an AHL affiliate sending up replacements. Frederic St-Denis, who will make his debut against Carolina tonight, pretty much spells the end of the line for defensive help. Surely Bulldogs Head Coach Clement Jodoin has been on the phone to Canadiens General Manager Pierre Gauthier pleading for mercy. The defensive well has unofficially run dry.

On the offensive side, most of Hamilton’s top forwards have either been up or have overstayed expected visits due to other injuries. Some have speculated on when the debut of highly-touted prospect Louis Leblanc may be. Due to his offseason shoulder surgery, it’s difficult to think he would crack the Habs lineup soon unless the injury woes become dire. I wouldn’t dare guess how Coach Jacques Martin would use Leblanc, but logic says anything more than spot use could be damaging to his development in the long term.

The popular angle that many look at is the way the players are used by the coach during the game. When players fall at the alarming rate that they are, a coach has a tendency to over use players due to their own lack of confidence of what is on the bench.

Another angle that has not been discussed much is that of player training and conditioning. Outside of Cammalleri’s cut above the knee from an errant skate and Gill’s flu bug, there have been enough injuries of both the upper and lower body variety to begin to call this into question. The sheer number of injuries to key players so early in the season  piques the curiosity of what their strength and training regimen is. If this hasn’t become at least a thought in the minds of Habs brass, it should be at this point.

There has been some speculation on what Gauthier may do next if this trend continues. It’s tough to trade players who are on the shelf. Unless Gauthier contemplates shipping off a top-six forward and/or mortgage draft picks, that may prove to be futile in the long term in addressing this temporary issue.

The issue is frustrating, for the fans and the organization, and the only rational way to deal with this storm, is to ride it out. Patience is not a word used in Montreal much anymore, but to have a knee-jerk reaction trade or two isn’t going to heal the teams woes, and may just cause future ones.