Montreal Canadiens center Christian Dvorak will have surgery on a torn pectoral muscle and miss the rest of the season, the team announced Thursday.
For Dvorak, 27, this is his second consecutive season that has ended prematurely. He underwent season-ending knee surgery after playing 64 games in 2022-23 and missed the first 10 games of this season.
"His left-handed faceoffs, he's a guy who plays on the penalty kill, he's capable of playing on the power play, he does a bit of everything," coach Martin St. Louis told reporters. "D-vo is a guy who does more than one thing. We need to replace that collectively."
Dvorak, who last played Dec. 30, has three goals and four assists in 25 games this season. He has 91 goals and 214 points in 447 games with the Arizona Coyotes (2016-21) and Canadiens.
Dvorak is the second Canadiens center to be ruled out for the season, joining Kirby Dach, who injured his knee in the second game of the season.
In other injury news, forward Josh Anderson skated Thursday morning after colliding with Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley in Montreal's 4-3 win Tuesday.
Anderson, 29, who has five goals in his past eight games after a slow start, planned to play Thursday against the visiting Buffalo Sabres.
"I think he's playing with confidence, his touches are better," St. Louis said. "I think he's in a good place mentally, and I think you can see it with his decisions on the ice; there's no hesitation."