A Winning Habit
Fansided

Reasons for Optimism Abundant for Habs Despite Playoff Exit

By Sebastian High

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 01: Jesperi Kotkaniemi #15 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a victory with goaltender Carey Price #31 against the Washington Capitals during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 1, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 01: Jesperi Kotkaniemi #15 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a victory with goaltender Carey Price #31 against the Washington Capitals during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 1, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals 6-4. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers
TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 21: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The fancy, advanced metrics suggest that Kotkaniemi and Suzuki played excellently in top-6 roles in the playoffs, but what about their real production and offensive impacts? Kotkaniemi failed to register an assist in these 10 games, which is quite surprising given his playmaking ability and his strong offensive play in those games. The most reasonable explanation is that his wingers were simply not scoring. Throughout the postseason, only 1 goal was scored by a player that was currently on Kotkaniemi’s wing, that being Drouin’s sole playoff goal. The assists will come, they just didn’t in this series.

However, the goals did come, with Kotkaniemi netting four goals in 10 games. Three of those came at the mouth of the goal, a result of good positioning from the 20-year-old Finn, while the fourth was a laser of a shot from the slot. His 4 goals were tied for the team-lead and for 11th in the playoffs as a whole with Nick Suzuki; surprise, surprise.

Suzuki also held the joint lead in points for the Habs, with 7, along with Jonathan Drouin. Speaking of Drouin, he looked dominant alongside Suzuki and Armia in the final two games of the Habs-Flyers series, his playmaking ability was on full display. Unsurprisingly to those who followed Nick Suzuki’s OHL playoff run last season where his Guelph Storm won the OHL championship despite having played 6(!) games with their backs against the wall, Suzuki came to play when the Habs were on the brink of elimination, registering 3 goals and 1 assist in those two games; the kid is clutch.

These two young centremen proved to the hockey world that they are not only the future of the Montreal Canadiens down the middle, they’re the present. Phillip Danault, who was forced to play as a #1 centre these past few years, is being pushed down the depth chart by a 20 and a 21-year-old.

Danault will, in all likelihood, see more ice time than Kotkaniemi this upcoming season, given his important role on the penalty-kill, but Suzuki will be the #1 centre when the 2020-21 season begins, and Kotkaniemi will probably play on the second line. The future, near and far, is beyond bright with these two players leading the charge offensively.

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