Will Sven Andrighetto Be A Long Term Fixture On Habs Top Line?

Sven Andrighetto was recalled by the Montreal Canadiens last night after another strong performance with the American Hockey League’s St. John’s Ice Caps. The native of Switzerland is off to a terrific start in his third season with the Habs top affiliate and was brought up to fill the roster spot left void by Torrey Mitchell who is out with a lower body injury.

The question for the highly skilled winger is whether or not he is on the Habs long term, and even more specifically, can he fill the need for a top six winger?

Alex Semin was signed in July to a one-year contract, but it was hoped the slick playmaker with a booming shot could be a second line winger and help this team score goals. Now 21 games into the season, and officially a quarter of the way to the postseason, Semin has just one goal and four points in 13 games and has been a healthy scratch eight times.

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Semin was re-inserted into the lineup last week after being sat for seven straight, but found himself on the fourth line and played the least minutes of all Habs players in the last two games. The only reason he dressed at all for the Canadiens 5-3 win over the New York Islanders last night was due to the Mitchell injury, as Mitchell was playing second line right wing where Semin had primarily been used early in the year.

It seems unlikely Semin will play a big role, if he even plays at all tomorrow night in the second of back-to-back games with the Isles. Filling in on the second line has been a plethora of fourth line players such as Mitchell, Bryan Flynn and Paul Byron, illustrating the need for the team to add a legit top six winger before the trade deadline.

Before giving up young assets in an effort to acquire a scoring winger, the Habs should look within their organization and will hopefully give Andrighetto a proper chance to play with skilled players in a scoring role and not have a talented player play a few shifts on the fourth line.

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It makes a lot more sense to put Andrighetto in a role where he is comfortable, and slotting him next to Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk would be the perfect spot. The 22 year old forward has six goals and 15 points in 17 games with the Ice Caps this season, and played well when he was brought up to the Habs last season.

Andrighetto scored three points in his first four games playing in a scoring role with Tomas Plekanec. He was then moved down the roster to the fourth line and went scoreless in his next eight games before being sent back to the minors. He was among the Hamilton Bulldogs leading scorers for the past two seasons, after scoring 172 points in 115 career QMJHL games with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Andrighetto was drafted in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft after scoring 98 points in his final Junior season. He has clearly demonstrated he is an offensively gifted player and has earned this callup to the NHL. I just hope the team puts him in an offensive role and plays him with either Eller and Galchenyuk or with Plekanec and Max Pacioretty.

There is no point in bringing a skilled player up and playing him for nine minutes on a line with Flynn and Byron. We saw the Habs shuffle their lines toward the end of last night’s win, sliding Devante Smith-Pelly up to the top line with Plekanec and Pacioretty, and reuniting the EGG line by dropping Gallagher down with Eller and Galchenyuk.

If it were up to me, I would leave the EGG line together tomorrow night and put Andrighetto on the top line, sliding Smith-Pelly back to the fourth line with Flynn and Byron. This would leave the league’s best third line of Dale Weise, David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann together and have the slow-footed Semin on the sidelines.

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I can’t say for sure that Andrighetto is a long-term solution on the first or second line with the Canadiens, but I can guarantee he is not a future fourth line winger. The only way to decide for sure if Andrighetto can be counted on to be a top six forward in the playoffs is to play him in the top six now and see how he handles the role.

With several young players playing extremely well with the Ice Caps, I’d love to see the team give Andrighetto a handful of games in the top six and then send him down and see what another young forward has to offer.

Michael McCarron might be the next player I would bring in. The 6’6 and 225 pound center is averaging a point-per-game in his first pro season after 17 contests. He is a former first round pick and has transitioned extremely well to the pro game. He has the size, skill, speed and defensive acumen to be a solid top six player in the future, and could fill that role much sooner than I once expected.

Charles Hudon is another option that could fill a top six void from within the organization. The former fifth round draft pick is making the Habs management team look very smart for taking him so late, as he was among rookie scoring leaders in the AHL last season, and is better in his own end than he is in the offensive zone. He is basically Jacob de la Rose in the defensive zone, while scoring at nearly a point-per-game pace with the Ice Caps this season.

The Canadiens are off to a tremendous start to the season, and just got the league MVP back from injury after missing three weeks. They have proven to be much more than just a goaltender, but do have a huge hole to fill on the second line. The cheapest way to patch that hole is from within, and the only way to find out if these kids can swim is to throw them into the deep end of the pool.

I can’t say for sure that Andrighetto is the long term answer as a second line winger on this team, but I hope we see him get a chance to show off his offensive skills, and isn’t stapled on the end of the bench and skating for just six minutes per night.

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If the Habs are willing to try Andrighetto, Hudon and McCarron in the top six, they might save themselves from having to spend at the deadline to acquire a goal scorer at a steep price. The worst case scenario is they find out none of the young players are ready for a prominent NHL role and they get sent back to the AHL.

You know the old saying, you don’t know what you have until you play them on a line with Plekanec or Galchenyuk. Let’s hope Andrighetto is given a long look in a role he has always played, and not judged by how he plays with Flynn and Byron on a fourth line.