Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, will not need surgery. The 18-year-old forward played 9:04 in a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers on Sunday and has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 39 games this season.
Jake Evans will be out 8-10 weeks with a lower-body injury. The center, who left a 2-1 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday at the end of the first period, has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 43 games.
Forwards Joel Armia and Jonathan Drouin each will be out until the NHL All-Star break because of an upper-body injury; Armia had an assist in 18:25 of ice time Sunday and has seven points (three goals, four assists) in 32 games, and Drouin, who was injured in a 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, has 12 assists in 28 games.
Slafkovsky, Evans and Armia each was placed on injured reserve by the Canadiens on Tuesday.
And Jake Allen will be out at least one week because of an upper-body injury. The goalie, who has missed four games, has not played since Jan. 7, when he made 18 saves in a 5-4 win against the St. Louis Blues.
Montreal also placed Sean Monahan on long-term injured reserve. The forward has not played since Dec. 5 because of a lower-body injury.
"That's the League," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said Tuesday. "You control the things that you can, and we're going to manage this. We'll see what we have tonight and we're going to try to put together the best lineup to put our best foot forward to play a game and give ourselves a chance to win."
Defenseman Mike Matheson returned when Montreal won 4-1 against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. He hadn't played since Dec. 17 because of a lower-body injury.
The Canadiens recalled forwards Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Rem Pitlick from Laval of the American Hockey League. Harvey-Pinard has 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 37 AHL games, and Pitlick has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 18 AHL games. Pitlick has one goal in 15 games with Montreal this season.
"So I feel like those guys have an opportunity here to come in and have an impact and maybe they can steal a chair, so to speak," St. Louis said. "But you never get to steal a chair if you don't have the opportunity, and sometimes the opportunity gets created just by misfortune from somebody else."
The Canadiens (19-23-3), in last place in the Atlantic Division, host the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, BSFL).
NHL.com independent correspondent Sean Farrell contributed to this report
