A Winning Habit
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2019-20 Habs In-Depth Playoff Report Cards

By Sebastian High

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 21: The Philadelphia Flyers shake hands with the Montreal Canadiens after defeating them to win Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 21, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 21: The Philadelphia Flyers shake hands with the Montreal Canadiens after defeating them to win Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 21, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
TORONTO, ONTARIO – AUGUST 21: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The Montreal Canadiens Canadiens’ postseason came to an end following their series against the Philadelphia Flyers and each performance was worthy of a reflective grade

The ten games of Montreal Canadiens playoff hockey were truly an oasis for myself (and for many other Canadiens fans as well, I would assume) during the wretched year that is 2020. But alas, it came to an, if you were to ask me, untimely end on August 21st. The series should have gone to Game 7 and Montreal was perhaps even the better team, which may make this loss all the more bitter, but certainly makes the future of this franchise shine brighter.

While the postseason consisted of just 10 games for the Habs, those games will certainly impact how this team will move forward. One of Max Domi and Phillip Danault may perhaps be deemed a surplus to requirements following the strong playoff performances of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki. The desperate need to bolster the left side of defence has seemingly dissipated, with Brett Kulak taking a big step forward and with Alexander Romanov poised to crack the lineup next season.

All in all, I think the Canadiens got tremendous value from this playoff appearance with the young players gaining key experience, the coaching staff seeing which players thrived when placed together in important games (Drouin-Suzuki-Armia) and with the management, getting added insights on the organization’s players, especially in terms of which players may be expendable.

I also did a report card for each player for their performances in the regular season and against Pittsburgh in the Play-In round. But now, without further ado, let us dive into the in-depth postseason report cards for the Montreal Canadiens, the third and final report card of the 2019-20 season.

Note: When it comes to slightly more advanced player analytics, I generally stick to GF% (percentage of total goals scored when a given player is on the ice belong to said player’s own team), xGF% (same as the previous stat, except that it is based on the expected goals to be scored rather than the actual goals scored), CF% (percentage of total shot attempts when a given player is on the ice belong to the player’s own team) and I sometimes use HDCF% (percentage of high danger scoring chances belong to the players own team).

I do this for three main reasons: I think these four stats cover the most important bases, I don’t see the need in introducing new metrics every other paragraph and, most importantly, to make sure that it is clear that I am not cherry-picking statistics to make any player look particularly good or bad. 

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