Three Montreal Canadiens players quietly excelling

While the Suzukis and Kovalchucks of this world have all the media attention this season, three of the Montreal Canadiens are subtly excelling.

The vast majority of articles concerning the Habs published in the past few weeks have focused on the three biggest storylines of the 2020 Habs: Ilya Kovalchuk‘s renaissance, Carey Price‘s resurgence and whether the Canadiens should be sellers come deadline day. This is all well and good since the topics are all very much worth exploring and analyzing. However, the sheer amount of such articles can make them bland and repetitive.

This got me thinking as to how I could do my small part in combatting the barren landscape that is Habs news during the bye week. I came to the conclusion that a few of the less flashy but thriving members of the CH deserve a shout out for their hard work.

I published a similar article around this time last year, and the players I went over were: Joel Armia, Brett Kulak and Andrew Shaw. Armia truly broke out this season, and were it not for two minor injuries, he could very well be at the top of the team’s goalscoring charts. Kulak has struggled to replicate last year’s performance and has found himself watching his teammates from the press box on 15 occasions.

Shaw was traded back to the Chicago Blackhawks right before free agency along with a 7th round pick in exchange for a 2nd, a 3rd and a 7th. Since then, he has played in 26 games, recording 10 points. Unfortunately, he suffered yet another concussion and is unlikely to return this season. I, for one, hope he focuses on recovering and takes some time away from the game; health is more important than hockey.