Montreal Canadiens Season Preview: Nick Cousins

The Montreal Canadiens season is quickly approaching. Before it arrives, we are taking a closer look at the role each player will have next season. Today, we take a closer look at newcomer Nick Cousins.

The Montreal Canadiens greatly improved their team a year ago when they traded Alex Galchenyuk to the Arizona Coyotes for Max Domi. Galchenyuk had failed to consistently live up to expectations in Montreal and Domi exploded for career highs in all offensive categories during his first season in Montreal.

The Habs targeted the Coyotes once again leading up to the trade deadline when they swapped Michael Chaput for Jordan Weal. Chaput struggled during his short stint with the Canadiens, but Weal scored ten points in 16 games in Montreal after having just two points in 19 games with the Coyotes.

Habs general manager Marc Bergevin is hoping good things come in threes as he signed Nick Cousins from the Coyotes, after hitting home runs in the Domi and Weal deals. He gave the 26 year old forward a one year contract worth a million dollars.

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The Belleville, Ontario native played the past two seasons with the Coyotes. He scored 27 points in 81 games last season and had 12 goals and 19 points in 71 games the year prior.

Cousins was taken in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers and became  an offensive threat at the AHL level before making the NHL full time in 2016-17. He scored 94 points in 102 games over his final two years with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.

Though he showed offensive promise in Junior at even at the AHL level, that hasn’t carried to the NHL. His 12 goal season two years and 27 points last season represent career highs for Cousins. Offence is not his calling card.

Cousins is known as a smart defensive player. His skating and offensive instincts will never be mistaken for Connor McDavid’s. Though he mostly played centre last season, he also struggled in the face-off circle, winning just over 47% of his draws.

Cousins was actually used in a fairly offensive role with the Coyotes last season. He started more shifts in the offensive zone than the defensive zone and his most frequent line combination was him with Galchenyuk and Clayton Keller.

The Coyotes do not have many offensive weapons, but Keller led the team in points with 47 and Galchenyuk was their top goal scorer with 19. You couldn’t ask for better linemates if you are playing hockey in Arizona. Still, Cousins finished the season with just 27 points.

Cousins won’t be playing the same role for the Canadiens next season. Though there is an open slot in the top six that was vacated by Andrew Shaw, Cousins is far down the list of candidates to take over the position. That means he will be getting far less favourable ice time next season with the Habs.

Cousins will provide solid depth for the Canadiens next season, but won’t play a pivotal role. His versatility allows him to play centre or left wing and his time in Arizona gave him experience playing with creative offensive players like Keller.

I think Cousins will be the 13th forward for the Habs, but will play many different roles throughout the season. If a third line centre gets hurt, Cousins could fill that role for a short period. If a fourth line winger is struggling, you can trust Cousins to step in and play. Even is a second line player goes down with injury, Cousins has experience playing that far up the lineup, though he isn’t the ideal candidate for the job.

When you sign a player to a one year contract worth one million dollars, you aren’t expecting an offensive difference maker. Cousins isn’t that, but he will surely provide great depth for the team, and is a huge upgrade on the fourth liners like Matthew Peca, Michael Chaput and Nicolas Deslauriers who all played last season.