Three Montreal Canadiens players quietly excelling

First up, we have the Dutch Gretzky.

Dale Weise made a name for himself during his first stint as a Habs and became a fan-favourite due to his speed, playoff production and a series-long feud with then Bruin Bruiser Milan Lucic. Since then, he has been traded to the Hawks along with PTO Tomas Fleischmann for a certain Philip Danault and a 2nd round pick, which would eventually turn into Alexander Romanov. However, Weise failed to see the same success in Philadelphia – where he signed as a free agent following his stint in the windy city – only scoring 34 points in his three-year tenure.

Weise returned to Montreal in a trade last season and was held pointless in his nine appearances in the Tricolore during the playoff race. He started this season with the Laval Rocket and scored just 7 points in 27 AHL games. He only received a call up because the Canadiens’ winger corps has been decimated by injuries this season with Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron, Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher all missing significant time.

However, despite his unproductive season in Laval, he has looked right at home on the right-wing of the Claude Julien‘s fourth line alongside Nate Thompson and Nick Cousins. The 6’2″ Winnipeg native is by no means the same 29 point scorer he was five years ago, but he has retained the same work ethic that made him beloved amongst Habs faithful. Furthermore, Weise demonstrated his passing ability against the Vegas Golden Knights by assisting both of Nick Cousins’ tallies, the first of which featured a beautiful no-look backhand pass to the slot.

Weise has 3 assists in his 9 NHL games this season and has surprisingly good possession metrics as well, with 52.1 CF% and 53.3 FF%. This is impressive since his centreman for those 9 games has been Nate Thompson, whose possession metrics are underwhelming: 47.8 CF% and 49.8% FF%. What all these stats reveal is that the fourth line has been better since Weise joined it than it had been without him.

While Dale Weise is in no way a flashy player who will tally double-digit goals or dazzle you with his stickhandling ability, he went from being an NHL reject to thriving as a fourth-line winger in the matter of a few weeks. Of course, the sample size is small, and he may fall off soon, but I, for one, am happy to have the Dutch Gretzky back in our lineup!