Max Domi is the big restricted free agent for the Montreal Canadiens, but after his drop off from last season, a bridge deal seems to be the likely scenario.
Montreal Canadiens fans were starting to sweat picturing the future contract negotiations for Max Domi. He broke out with his new team setting career highs in goals (28), assists (44), and overall points (72), which led all players. And with the hassle restricted free agents put their teams’ through that offseason, who knows what Domi could’ve demanded if he had another star-labelled season for the Habs.
But that’s the thing with ‘ifs,’ they are far from a guarantee. Domi’s production took a hit while he continued to move around the lineup in favour of a rising Nick Suzuki. His shot generation was cold and improved as the year went on, but the two glaring flags were the fact that the shot attempts were roughly in line with last season.
Domi was hit with the mean, and it saw his shooting percentage fall from 13.8% to 9.5%. His PDO (on-ice shooting % + on-ice save %) fell from 1.04 (getting a lot of puck luck) to 1.01 (normal level of production). The 25-year-old didn’t do himself any favours either with the number of pointless droughts he went on this season.
Three pointless streaks of at least four games and three goalless droughts of at least nine games – one of which was 13 – isn’t going to cut it for a player who was looking on the verge of making top dollar. Not to mention the poorly timed penalties Domi would take that saw Claude Julien stick him to the bench a couple of times this season.