Montreal Canadiens Season Preview: Nate Thompson

The Montreal Canadiens season is fast approaching. Before training camp begins, we are previewing every player that is likely to play for the team this season. Today, we take a deeper look at what role Nate Thompson will have next season.

The Montreal Canadiens acquired Nate Thompson at last year’s trade deadline. They were looking for an upgrade to their fourth line centre slot that was occupied by Michael Chaput. They certainly did upgrade the position when they picked up Thompson along with a fifth round draft pick in exchange for a fourth round pick.

Thompson played well for the Habs over the final 25 games of the season. He had just one goal and seven points, but he was not brought in to light up the scoreboard. He was brought in to play a defensive role, win faceoffs and provide some veteran leadership to a young group of forwards.

The Anchorage, Alaska native filled that role admirably. He won over 55% of his draws with the Canadiens and held a Corsi-For percentage just over 50% during his stint in Montreal. That is not a dominating performance by any stretch of the imagination, but when your fourth line is firing more shots at the opposing goaltender than they are allowing, it is a good sign.

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Thompson was in the final year of a two year contract that had him earning $1.65 million against the salary cap when the Habs acquired him. He was slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, but chose to avoid the open market. The 34 year old signed a one year contract extension with the Habs at a cap hit of just $1 million.

That means he nearly cut his salary in half for next season, even though he played better than he had in years during his time with the Canadiens. Clearly, he enjoyed his time in Montreal and is hoping to play a similar role next season.

That role included a place on the team’s second penalty killing unit. Phillip Danault and Artturi Lehkonen were the team’s most used forwards while down a man, but Thompson’s 1:58 per game ranked third. His ability to win faceoffs paired with his defensive awareness proved to be valuable during his Habs stint.

Montreal is the seventh team Thompson has played for in his 12 year NHL career. He has never been an offensive weapon and isn’t suddenly going to turn into one in his mid-thirties. He has carved out a nice niche as a veteran presence and shutdown centre in his nearly 700-game career thus far.

Heading into next season, it is quite clear Thompson is a fourth line center in the NHL. He is going to have some competition for that job next season though.

Max Domi, Phillip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were the Canadiens top three centres last season and all are returning next year. Thompson beat out Matthew Peca for the fourth line job last season, but the Habs signed center Nick Cousins as an unrestricted free agent this summer. They also have Ryan Poehling turning pro after making his debut in the last game of the season and scoring a hat trick.

Cousins played a very similar role to Thompson last season with the Arizona Coyotes. He started his fair share of shifts in the defensive zone and took plenty of faceoffs though he doesn’t win them as often as Thompson.

Cousins could be shifted to the wing easily, but Poehling is the player that will steal lots of ice time away from Thompson. Poehling is an excellent two-way forward in the making and though he will not be able to win draws like Thompson, he played 77 less games than the veteran and only had two less goals.

The amount of offence that Poehling will bring to the lineup will more than make up for the defensive acumen taken out of the lineup when Thompson is scratched. It also won’t take long for Poehling to be relied on to kill penalties as frequently, if not more so than Thompson did for the Habs.

Unfortunately for the veteran, that means he could often be in the press box when everyone is healthy. Luckily for him, it is rare for every single player on an NHL team to be healthy. Thompson’s veteran presence and defensive ability will see him centering the fourth line from time to time with the Canadiens next season. However, he is at best the fifth best center on the team and that means he will be an extra forward receiving spot duty next season.