Martin Reway Could Solve Montreal Canadiens Scoring Issues

Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway has shown elite skill in Europe and could be the answer to the Habs scoring issues.

The Montreal Canadiens have some serious question marks when it comes to their offense and ability to generate and score goals. The Habs have scored 194 goals this season, good for 18th in the NHL. However, nearly 43% of that total came in the Habs first 24 games.

In fact, Montreal averaged an astounding 3.46 Goals For Per Game over those first 24 games and in the 51 games since, that average has dropped to an astoundingly low 2.18. To say Montreal needs scoring is a massive understatement.

Enter Martin Reway.

In the 2013 Draft, while most Habs fans were drooling over the potential of 6’6″ behemoth Michael McCarron, the Habs brass selected little-known Slovakian winger Martin Reway from the Gatineau Olympiques in the 4th round.

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In the three years since being drafted, Reway’s story has been a roller-coaster ride to say the least. He played one more season in Gatineau before leaving for unknown reasons to HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga.

Reway played just over one season in Sparta, showcasing his scoring abilities and winning the Extraliga Rookie of the Year in 2014-15. He did most of his scoring via the power play which led to a disagreement with Sparta’s coach over Reway’s ice time. Despite leading Sparta in scoring through the first 14 games this season, the disagreement reached a boiling point and Reway found himself demoted to the Czech 1.Liga before being loaned to Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss National League.

While with Fribourg, Reway continued his scoring prowess and was the lone Fribourg player to average over a point per game this season.

Still just 21 years old, Reway has done nothing but score and excel at every level he has played at, including the World Juniors and World Championships. Montreal still holds Reway’s draft rights until June 1st, 2017 but instead of waiting another year and making a crunch-time decision, I believe Marc Bergevin should do what Pierre Gauthier did with Alexei Emelin in 2011 and sign Reway to his Entry-Level deal and give him a roster spot on next year’s Habs squad.

Strengths

Reway scores, he’s extremely dangerous on the power play and he has averaged at least a point per game at every level and every league he has played at. He has also shown dynamic stick handling ability and is said to possess near elite-level speed. Reway has drawn a lot of comparisons to ex-New York Islander and fellow Slovakian-born winger Zigmund Palffy, which is considerable praise since Palffy was one of the most talented offensive wingers in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

Reway is far and away Montreal’s most talented prospect and he isn’t afraid of large stage events as evidenced by his well documented successes at the 2014 and 2015 World Junior Championships. He’s also incredibly adaptable, as seen by his success in three different leagues over the past three seasons.

Weaknesses

As with most prospects, Reway needs work defensively, most notably with his positioning. Listed anywhere from 5’7″ to 5’10” and at 165-175 lbs, Reway’s lack of size raises questions about his durability and how he’ll fare against the big grinding forwards and defenders in the NHL. As great as he has been offensively, their are some legitimate concerns about Reway’s ability to generate offense when at even strength. Due to the Extraliga’s tradition of playing players based on age and experience as opposed to actual talent, most of Reway’s success has been via the power play.

Due to the unknown nature of his departure from Gatineau in 2014 and the rather public nature of his departure from Sparta this year, a lot of questions have been raised about Reway’s character.

My take

I’m not sure what to think about the questions surrounding Reway’s character. I’ve seen conflicting reports about a lot of it and I’ve also seen reports that after his signing with Fribourg, he took on more of a leadership and vocal role on the team. Those are definite positive signs and his offensive potential is very tantalizing even if he has questin marks about his effectiveness at even strength.

As far as his public disagreement and departure from Sparta this year, I’m inclined to side with Reway. I realize the way he went about it likely was the wrong way to do it but I am a firm believer that a team should play it’s most talented players in their top spots and Reway was, and likely still is, Sparta’s most talented forward.

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The ice time issue that led to his departure likely would be brought back up if he came over and Michel Therrien was still Montreal’s head coach next year. Therrien limits the ice time of his rookies and young players, it has been very-well documented with Alex Galchenyuk over the years.

With Reway becoming an unrestricted free agent after June 1st, 2017, they need to get him signed this off-season and that likely would need to come with some sort of guaranteed role with the NHL team. If I were Marc Bergevin, I think I would be inclined to oblige that kind of guarantee because the team needs an influx of talented offensive players and Reway represents a very talented, high potential offensive player who would be under a relatively cheap contract for 2 or 3 years.

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