Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky, top NHL Draft pick, to miss 3 months

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Montreal Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, will miss three months due to a lower-body injury, the team announced Wednesday.

Slafkovsky, 18, sustained the injury in the Canadiens' 2-1 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"We believe his development will happen in stages," Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes told reporters Wednesday at a news conference. "It's not, 'Hey, we've got 10 things; go figure them out.' Because I think when you do that, [the player] is on the ice thinking and not reacting. And I think sometimes this year we've seen him think on the ice and other times we've seen him react.

"But we're not worried about the production side of it. We're really worried about seeing the areas that we want him to improve on."

Slafkovsky scored four goals and registered four assists in 39 games this season for the Canadiens. He did not find the net in any of his last 21 appearances.

The Canadiens also announced Wednesday that goalie Jake Allen (upper-body), forwards Joel Armia (upper-body) and Jake Evans (lower-body) also are injured. Allen is expected to miss a week. Armia is likely to be out until next month's All-Star break. Evans is expected to miss at least two months.

The Canadiens (19-23-3) will host the Florida Panthers (21-20-5) at 7 p.m. EST Thursday at Bell Centre in Montreal.