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Can Joel Armia sustain this goal scoring for the Montreal Canadiens?

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 26: Montreal Canadiens right wing Joel Armia (40) celebrates his goal with his teammates at the bench during the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens game on October 26, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 26: Montreal Canadiens right wing Joel Armia (40) celebrates his goal with his teammates at the bench during the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens game on October 26, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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BUFFALO, NY – OCTOBER 9:  Joel Armia Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Sara Schmidle/NHLI via Getty Images) /

What stood out about Armia when the Montreal Canadiens first received him was his shot generation in the slot. He is a big body and a good skater as well, and when he combined those two elements, he was a force at 5v5. The issue with that is it would come and go.

It looks as if Armia has put everything together for the long run. He’s using his size to outmuscle the opposition and win puck battles as well as his speed to get himself in areas to produce. An example of the first shouldn’t be too hard to come by, given how good he looked on his tally against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Armia undressed Jake Muzzin and charged down the ice using quick hands to beat Michael Hutchinson for his sixth.

Related Story. Drouin and Armia are rising stars. light

Another example was in the team’s loss to the San Jose Sharks. Armia, along with Max Domi, got himself in an area by the left faceoff circle to deflect the shot and score. It’s not only 5v5 where Armia is generating as he’s scored shorthanded as well. Again, his first goal of the season was an excellent feed from Nate Thompson, but Armia got himself to the front of the net and quickly beat Carter Hutton.

In fact, Armia’s stick work has been one of the noticeable differences. There’s a lot more speed that comes with it, and that’s not only with his handling of the puck but with his release. All these things are coming together to allow Armia to have the season he’s putting on display for the Montreal Canadiens.

Looking at his goal and shot locations, there shouldn’t be a surprise. The majority of his shots are within the high-danger triangle formed between the net and two faceoff dots while his goals are in the slot with the exception of one on the backdoor (via IcyData).

It also helps that Armia has seen a slight increase in his shooting rate at 5v5 (9.53 vs. 9.44) as well as more power playtime. Armia saw a total of approximately 99 minutes on the man advantage last season whereas he’s almost at 25 minutes played with 71 more games to go.

There’s always a “but” though.

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