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Canadiens’ Torrey Mitchell on Torrid Pace

By Mat Germain

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With only 10 games under their belt, some of the Montreal Canadiens players are already showing glimpses of having career years. None has been more impressive so far as Torrey Mitchell who is on pace to score 37 goals if he maintains his torrid scoring pace.

Torrey Mitchell was traded for last season to bolster a lineup that needed depth up-the-middle and in the 3rd and 4th lines. He has done so well since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres that he was subsequently re-signed for 3 years at $1,200,000 per season. On his contract status when the season ended, Mitchell had the this to say:

"(GM Marc) Bergevin followed up on it. He called a few weeks later and said he was going to stand by his word. He wasn’t messing around, he told me he wanted me back. I didn’t really feel the need to talk to my agent about other teams.”"

That signing looks brilliant so far, as he’s third in goals for the Habs with 4 and is on pace to reach new career highs in many categories.

  • Goals: On pace for 37, career high of 10
  • Points: On pace for 46, career high of 23
  • Goals Created: On pace for 23, career high of 10
  • oiSH%: 10.9, career high of 9.5
  • PDO: 106.7, career high of 102.7

All of this on the heels of a playoff series that had him score 5 points in 12 games. Oddly enough, the two areas that have been down for Mitchell so far are the face off wins (44%) and PIM (18) which have him on pace to be the worst of his career as well. Thankfully for Mitchell, his line mate, Brian Flynn, has won 61.7% of his draws and has yet to be penalized, so it all evens out in the end.

It’s Torrey Mitchell’s hand-eye coordination and wrist shot that don’t get the credit they’re due. When you watch the majority of his goals, they’re instinctive deflections or hard wrist shots that leave the goaltender no chance to make the save. Just look at this deflection to see what I mean:

LINEMATES

The play of Brian Flynn and Devante Smith-Pelly have really enabled Torrey Mitchell to show more of his offensive skills than ever before. They work well together in that each one supports the play well and seems to know where the others are headed at all times. You would think that it’s something planned or talked about before the shift starts, but their synchronization can also be attributed to differing styles of play. Just as you wouldn’t want 3 players who need and want to handle the puck all of the time on the same line, you also wouldn’t want 3 guys headed to the same corner on a fore-check.

The amount of limited space this line allows to other teams has enabled them to create turnovers and to capitalize on mistakes made. Nobody can say for certain whether or not they’ll be able to continue creating such opportunities, but with their hard work mentally and synergy as a line, I fail to see a reason they couldn’t reach career highs.

This line truly cares for one another and will go into battle every game ready to go into combat for one another. Torrey Mitchell has already shown he’s willing to be the enforcer on his line if other teams get out of line, shown by his reaction to Zac Rinaldo’s antics vs Brian Flynn:

TORREY MITCHELL AND HIS LINE, GOING FORWARD

The two things they’ve earned to this point are: respect from the rest of the league, and more ice time together from Michel Therrien. They’ve performed so strongly as a line that instead of looking to insert Paul Byron into that line in order to get him some playing time, they’ve focused on him practicing with the second line in Alexander Semin’s place. Now that’s saying something about how well the line is working out!

Oct 20, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (27) defends against Montreal Canadiens center Torrey Mitchell (17) in front of goalie Jake Allen (34) during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

The reality is that the Habs need secondary scoring behind their top line so badly that they can’t afford to split these guys up. If Torrey Mitchell can somehow reach the 25 to 30 goal mark with what most peg as the 4th line in Montreal, the pressure on the other lines will be greatly reduced. If you ask me, Torrey Mitchell has shown enough of a scoring touch that the Canadiens should consider putting him on one of the power-play units.

The Canadiens are lucky to have a player like Torrey Mitchell who is willing and able to do everything so well on the ice. He blocks shots, plays hard, is a great defender and is an excellent team mate. If they could recognize that his value may also translate into a decent offensive player and give him a chance to prove it on the PP, I think they’d be pleasantly surprised. Although Mitchell has stated that under Michel Therrien he would thrive in a very controlled system:

"“I’m a defensive forward, so I like to think I’m going to thrive under his control.”"

We’ll see if that happens, but for now we’ll continue to enjoy his work on an outstanding line.

SUMMARY

Marc Bergevin robbed the Buffalo Sabres when he dealt Jack Nevins and a 7th rd pick for him in March of this year. Nevins may never make it out of the AHL and there aren’t too many 7th rd picks that make an impact in the NHL. How he talked the Sabres to give him up for so little is beyond me, but he is an extremely important acquisition and I’m sure the Sabres would love to have him back. The presence he provides on the team, on the ice and in the locker room, as well as his 2-way playing abilities, have made the team much better overall. We look forward to seeing how the rest of his season goes and hope he can keep up his torrid pace, even if we realize it’s a long-shot!

Next: Canadiens' Alexander Semin, 5 Reasons to be Encouraged

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