Nick Cousins gives the Montreal Canadiens another weapon in the slot
The Montreal Canadiens added to their depth with Nick Cousin who could be a good option to have on the fourth line giving his style and scoring locations.
It’s been lower scale additions for the Montreal Canadiens this summer. Keith Kinkaid gives Carey Price a reliable backup throughout the season, Ben Chiarot shores up the left side and leaves the window open for Victor Mete to take the top spot (unless something else takes place), and now the Habs have made a move to boost the bottom six with Nick Cousins.
The deal itself is extremely cheap with little commitment. If Cousins doesn’t crack the lineup (which is highly doubtful), the Montreal Canadiens could place him on waivers, and a good portion of it would be buried in the minors if he clears. Cousins, however, is one of many options the Habs have to stick on the fourth line.
The 25-year-old has experience putting up numbers in the AHL, but not so much in the NHL. His best offensive year was back in the 2014-15 season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms putting up 22 goals and 34 assists for 56 points in 64 games. His NHL scoring is lacking though.
Take that same season with the Phantoms for example. Cousins played 11 games with the Philadelphia Flyers and had 0 points in a depth role. He bumped it up to 10 points the year after including six goals and again to 16 in 60 games.
These last two seasons with the Arizona Coyotes have been his best, and he’s coming off a career year putting up seven goals and 20 assists. Cousins’ goal total from the year before fell as he had 12, but he racked up a lot more assists. Most of his helpers came off of Alex Galchenyuk goals (the irony) while the rest were spread amongst others at 5v5.
As far as possession goes, Cousins is a decent shot generator and saw his shot suppression dip. That said, he is a reliable option when it comes to the two-way aspect of the game.
He can also take faceoffs which is good to have with Shaw out of the picture. Cousins isn’t the best at it (243 wins on 520 attempts – 46.7%), but it is good to have a player who can take a draw in case the centre is thrown out of the circle
You could also argue there was a lot of poor luck for the winger this season. Along with his career high in overall points, Cousins also reached a new milestone with 144 shots up 25, and 234 shot attempts up 55 from the season before. However, his shooting percentage was 4.9% whereas it was 10.6% in 2018.
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Given his career average, we should expect that to go up. But the lure of Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon could hold fans back from that optimism. Both are known for their ability to generate shots and have had poor shooting percentages for the last two seasons without any real changes in production.
Cousins isn’t a 20-goal scorer by any means, but he does have the ability to at least hit double digits (or at the very least close to it) on a regular basis.
What the Montreal Canadiens will appreciate in his style are where those goals and shot attempts are coming from.
Cousins is a gritty player, and similar to some of the Habs best like Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Tatar, and Joel Armia, isn’t afraid to head to the slot for offence. Consequently, the slot is where the majority of his goals come from (57%).
His shot is accurate when he has the time to get it off, making the majority of his production come from in-tight scrambles which isn’t a weakness in the slightest. Given what we’ve seen from Ryan Poehling early on, Cousins could be a great compliment.
Poehling uses his strength to get to the front of the net or cut across the slot to get the goaltender moving. Cousins’ ability to get to those areas could leave him open for second and third opportunities on net.
Another thing to admire about Cousins is his sneakiness. Cousins is aware of what is going on around him including appearing holes and opportunities to strike. Sometimes he will lurk beside the net or receive a pass to cut across the crease and make a few moves to beat the goaltender. That crease/slot play is going to be what ends up complimenting the Montreal Canadiens style the most.
Of course, there are the other elements he brings that Claude Julien will appreciate. Cousins isn’t afraid to drop the gloves and stand up for a teammate which is something embedded in the Montreal Canadiens locker room. Cousins has had at least 30 penalty minutes in the last three seasons. That’s not to say he’s going around causing fights left and right.
Of his 35 penalty minutes this past season, only one of them was a major while the other 15 were minors.
The Montreal Canadiens won’t want Cousins running around gooning people, but it is nice to have someone who is on the same page. And given what Max Domi has said about him already, Habs fans should look forward to his contributions on the ice.
Habs Nation you will love this guy!!! Let’s gooo!!! @Cous27 https://t.co/WQIBBD5m7c
— Max Domi (@maxdomi) July 5, 2019
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The next question is whether Cousins can steal someone’s job at training camp. The internal competition is going to be as high as ever, and given what the league knows of Cousins, he should already have one step in the door.
Acknowledgements: Stats from Natural Stat Trick and IcyData