Joel Armia has been on a tear for the Montreal Canadiens, and perhaps this is the season he proves to everyone why he was a first-round pick.
Before we begin, the Montreal Canadiens got Joel Armia for free. As much as the Max Pacioretty is praised where the team received Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, and a second-round pick that became Mattias Norlinder and Jacob Leguerrier (a trade tree for a later day), it’s incredible how well that deal with Winnipeg played out.
To jog your memory, the Winnipeg Jets were in a cap crunch and needed to shed some salary in the form of Steve Mason to have a chance at resigning Paul Stasny. The goaltender wasn’t part of the team’s future and was on the final year of a contract that carried a $4.1 million cap hit. Marc Bergevin agreed to take Mason on for the purpose of buying out the year sending ‘on the outside looking in’ prospect Simon Bourque the other way. But for helping out, the Habs also received then restricted free agent Armia and a pair of draft picks.
The 2019 pick was used to select defenceman Kieran Ruscheinski while the fourth-round pick in 2020 will be used this upcoming summer.
Imagine that. All of these pieces just to buy out the final year of a deal and carry a $1,366,667 penalty for two years (which ends after this season). What makes this better is how well Joel Armia has been performing for the Montreal Canadiens.
The 26-year-old ran into some injury trouble along the way but is leading the team in goals with six in nine games. Armia has nearly produced half the goals he scored last year (13) with no apparent signs of slowing down.
That, of course, is when you watch him play. Some of the numbers, unfortunately, point at this recent tear being unsustainable. But is that the case?