Montreal Canadiens 2019-20 Season Report Card Grades

I have a real soft spot for Cale Fleury. I love his physical play and I think he will be a really solid #4/5 defenseman for the Habs for years to come. He played in 41 games for the team and – while his impact was not seen on the scoresheet, registering a single goal and no assists – registered 102 hits, which equates to approximately 2.49 hits per game. For comparison, Jeff Petry matched Fleury’s 2.49 hits/game while Shea Weber registered 1.72 and Ben Chiarot hit opponents 2.2 times per contest. This paints a picture of a young, physical defenseman who did not back down when faced with older, stronger competition. While he was sent back down to Laval in order to continue to mature, he did not look out of place on the biggest stage, and I cannot wait to see what he is able to do next season!. . . CALE FLEURY. B -

CHRISTIAN FOLIN. C -. Christian Folin spent the season split between the Habs, the Rocket and the pressbox; and failed to be all that noticeable in any of the three places. He played most of his 16 NHL games of the season after Cale Fleury’s demotion and I honestly saw him as a downgrade upon the 21-year-old Saskatchewanian (or is it Saskatchewanite… or even Saskatchewanan?). Anyway, Folin seemed a bit slow and clumsy, especially when on the opposite blue-line trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walks as a free agent, and wouldn’t really care all that much either. While he is a rather imposing player, guys like him are a dime a dozen; next!. .

. JEFF PETRY. A. Jeff Petry is one of the league’s premier second-line defensemen and we have been lucky enough to have had him here for the past five seasons. Whether or not he will remain on the team by preseason is a story for another day, but what shall be said right now is that he had another excellent season playing with a slew of different left-defensemen ranging from Victor Mete to Marco Scandella to Brett Kulak. Petry was able to elevate the game of each and every player he was paired with, which was most notable in Brett Kulak’s struggles on the third pairing and his eventual “renaissance” when once again being paired with the Michigan native. Petry tallied 11 goals and 40 points this season, staying on pace to equal his personal point summit he had established last season. These stats place him at 15th in goals amongst defensemen this past season and 18th in points. The man ages like a fine wine..

A -. Shea Weber had a rather interesting season. He started off rather slowly and had people chittering that his decline was in full swing. Then, he went on an absolute tear, tallying 11 goals and 27 points in a 29 game span (which included the first 8-game losing streak of the season) between October 17 and December 19. This tear had people talking about a potential Norris nomination, but those talks quickly faded, as he only put up 4 goals and 3 assists in the 29 games since December 19. Of course, this is only looking at his offensive production; defensively, he was quite sound for most of the season with the exception of a few poor games. He does seem to have lost a step of speed, but his high degree of intellect makes it a rather small issue, and he never relied much on his speed to begin with. The captain also proved himself to be a certified beast, returning from an injury that had some worrying about his career in a matter of days. Weber continued to be an integral part of the team this season and will continue to do so in 2020-21.. . . SHEA WEBER