The Montreal Canadiens announced today that forward Robert Lang underwent successful surgery to repair a severed Achilles tendon on his left leg. The 38-year old forward is presently recovering from surgery and will be out indefinitely.

Lang suffered the injury during the third period of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Boston Bruins, at the Bell Centre. He was transferred to the Montreal General Hospital where surgery was performed on Sunday night.

>> team release

Achilles tendon injuries are tough, especially for hockey players and more so for 38-year-old ones.

Lang has very quietly had a phenomenal season. Picked up from Chicago in a salary cap dump in the fall, he was on pace for a 30-goal, 65-point campaign and was, in my opinion, the Habs' best defensive forward to this point and a legitimate Selke candidate.

Who knew?

This is a huge, huge loss for Montreal, which is already thin down the middle and was leaning heavily on Lang to play the difficult minutes at the position. Now, barring a trade, someone less qualified steps in there and the Canadiens cross their fingers.