The Montreal Canadiens offseason is nearly finished, and rumour has it they are interested in signing Jason Pominville. The Habs could use a short term fix on right wing, but Pominville is not the answer.
The Montreal Canadiens training camp is just days away. Finally, we will be back to seeing the Habs on the ice after a lengthy offseason. There has been little of note going on around the Canadiens since their free agent signings in early July, about two months ago.
There has been the odd rumour that maybe the team is still showing interest in free agents like Jake Gardiner. However, nothing substantial has occurred in weeks and weeks. With the calendar now flipped to September, the news will be coming fast and furious with training camp battles, injuries, standout performances during the preseason and even professional tryouts being invited to camp.
The latest rumour has the Canadiens showing interest in signing free agent Jason Pominville. At first glance, the right winger would fill an immediate, albeit short-term need for the team on right wing. It’s not a glaring hole, but if any position could use a veteran to step in and play minutes next season, it would be right wing.
Won't be long before hockey's back in full swing. On that note, hearing the #Habs are considering 36-year-old Jason Pominville, who had 16G and 31PTS (avg TOI 12:28) in 73 gms with Buffalo last season. There have been some talks. Nothing imminent, but something to look out for.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) September 3, 2019
Currently, the Canadiens have Brendan Gallagher penciled in as their top right winger. After that, there is a battle among unproven winger like Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia and Jordan Weal to take on a top six role. If the Canadiens could find a more proven veteran to take on top six minutes, it would be an upgrade for sure.
With Cole Caufield coming as soon as next season possibly and Nick Suzuki already pushing for a roster spot, the position is only going to available for a short period of time. A veteran on a one year deal looks to be a decent fit.
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If you look at Pominville’s career numbers, he looks like he could maybe be that fit. He has reached the 30 gaol plateau three times in his career, but the most recent time was in the 2013-14 season. He scored 47 points in his last season with the Minnesota Wild which was the 2016-17 campaign.
Last season, the 36 year old scored 31 points in 73 games. That’s 35 points over a full season. Not exactly huge offensive production, but Lehkonen only had 31 points last season in all 82 games. Armia had 23 points in 57 games which is slightly less points per game than Pominville.
On the surface, it appears Pominville might be a bit of an upgrade on the Habs other options. However, if you take a closer look at Pominville’s statistics, they are less impressive and only propped up by a couple of hot weeks early in the season.
Pominville started the season playing on the Sabres top like with Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner. If you will recall, Skinner started the year by scoring in nearly every game he played. This lasted for a few months. While riding shotgun on that line, Pominville had a very productive stretch of games early in the season.
Though the American winger had just one point in his first seven games, he caught fire starting in game eight. A three point performance against the Los Angeles Kings was followed by six games where he hit the scoresheet. In all, Pominville had 13 points in that seven game span.
That is an impressive two weeks. It also means over the other six months of the season he played 66 games and had just 18 points. That is a 22 point pace over a full season. In other words, for most of the season, Pominville was less productive than Kenny Agostino was in Montreal last year.
I really don’t think that Pominville is going to help this team next year. At best, he would be a slight upgrade on Armia, but even that is extremely unlikely. At worst, he would take up a roster spot that would otherwise have been given to a young player like Nick Suzuki.
Two years ago, I would have agreed that Pominville filled a need and would be fine on a one year contract. Today, I think offering him a contract would be a huge mistake that would block a younger, more productive player for a bigger role.
I guess a professional tryout at this stage in his career is a no-risk maneuver. Every team needs plenty of veterans around for the long preseason, but this team does not need a winger that is past his prime for the regular season.