Canadiens’ Emil Heineman Out 3-4 Weeks With Upper-Body Injury After Being Hit by Car

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIJanuary 14, 2025

Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

The Montreal Canadiens announced that left wing Emil Heineman will miss three to four weeks after suffering an upper-body injury Monday following a traffic accident as a pedestrian.

Per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, Heineman was hit by a car while walking in downtown Salt Lake City. The Canadiens are in town to play at the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.

Salt Lake City Police released further information on the incident (h/t Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff).

Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalliSalt Lake City Police release additional details on the accident involving #GoHabsGo forward Emil Heineman yesterday.

Heineman was hit by a car just before 3pm in Salt Lake City and received medical treatment from team doctors.

Utah Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. pic.twitter.com/wL7GvOlchN

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis was asked for comment by Brogan Houston of the Deseret News, who relayed this response.

Brogan Houston @houston_broganI asked #GoHabsGo coach Martin St. Louis about Emil Heineman:

“I don’t really know the story — I wasn’t there. I just know that he got hurt crossing the street yesterday. I don’t think it was at a high speed, but enough to cause some damage.”

The 23-year-old Heineman is in his first full season in the NHL after playing four games with Montreal last year. He has amassed 10 goals and seven assists in 41 games.

Houston also relayed a remark from Montreal left wing Michael Pezzetta, who noted that Heineman was supposed to go to a dinner with teammates last night.

Brogan Houston @houston_broganMichael Pezzetta says Emil Heineman was supposed to go to dinner with the guys last night, but texted the group chat saying he couldn’t go because of a “funny story.”#GoHabsGo

This was a potentially tragic situation, but thankfully, the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious. He’ll obviously be out for up to a month but should return to the ice before long. Hopefully, he recovers to 100 percent healthy ASAP and can get back on the shorter end of the three-to-four week timeline.