Juraj Slafkovsky is one of those players that the Montreal Canadiens would never want to lose due to an injury.
But in a combination of collisions during the second period on Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals, that’s exactly what happened.
Slafkovsky and the Habs were already involved a wild game that was 3-3 after only about 30 minutes had been played.
But then Slafkovsky was shown heading down the tunnel to the locker room, and it was clear that not everything was OK.
Juraj Slafkovsky Injury Update
Slafkovsky was skating toward the offensive zone with the puck when things started to go wrong.
First, he got hit from the side as he was dispossessed. That hit knocked him to the ground, and Slafkovsky seemed to see it coming and brace a bit.
The problem came next — he was down on the ice, sliding a bit out of control, and Capitals veteran Tom Wilson didn’t quite anticipate his movement correctly.
Wilson was skating by but managed to hit Slafkovsky up near his head with a knee. It’s the kind of contact that could cause a nasty injury, and even if it didn’t, it’s the kind that creates a lot of caution. Teams don’t mess with head injuries.
After a whistle stopped play at the other end, most of the players on the ice grabbed one another to have a bit of a feud.
Not Slafkovsky. The broadcast cameras showed him going right down the tunnel.
Ivan Miroshnichenko lays a big hit on Juraj Slafkovsky in open ice and the Habs took exception 😳 https://t.co/iKh1fKnJMZ
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 15, 2026
Good News Follows
It didn’t take long for good news to arrive, though.
Less than five minutes after Slafkovsky went down the tunnel, he had returned to the bench.
#Habs Juraj Slafkovský is back on the bench so that’s good news
— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) October 15, 2026
It remains to be seen whether he’ll get his regular workload the rest of the way, so that’ll be worth monitoring.
Slafkovsky is one of the best young goal scorers in the NHL, and the Habs will want him healthy for the long run, no matter whether that means he needs a bit of rest now.
But at least it looks like Slafkovsky likely avoided the worse from a sequence of hits that could’ve left him a lot worse for wear than he appears to have ended up.
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