Habs lose Gorges for the rest of the season

The Montreal Canadiens have lost veteran defenceman Josh Gorges for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

General manager Pierre Gauthier announced Thursday that Gorges will undergo surgery on his right knee and won't be back this season.

The Canadiens depleted defence corps has already lost star defenceman Andrei Markov to a knee injury that will keep him out of action for a year.

Gauthier said the club was expecting the bad news and got it today.

"Any time you lose a player it's a loss but in the case of Josh he's a strong leader and a great competitor," Gauthier said. "We knew this was coming, we knew after Dec. 26 when his knee locked on the ice on Long Island, and from that point on we knew we'd have to replace him."

Gorges has missed the last four games, beginning on Dec. 28 against Washington. He had missed a number of practices during the season without missing any games until then.

Gauthier said Gorges was disappointed with the news and he'd hoped to come back but the doctors have told him otherwise.

The 26-year-old defenceman has one goal and six assists in 36 games this season.