Montreal Canadiens Roundtable: Which New Player Has Biggest Impact? Who Leads Habs in Points?

4) Who leads the Canadiens in points this season and how many points will they score in a shortened 56 game schedule?

Scott Cowan: Tatar’s frenzied pace over the course of last season has me thinking he will be the Canadiens top scorer once more, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll play at a pace similar to these past two seasons or revert back to the struggles of his 2017-18 season, where he established career lows in points. Should this happen, the consistency of Brendan Gallagher and Toffoli could lead to either of them leading the Habs in scoring, similar to the lost 2017-18 season for the team, which was a revival for Gallagher.

With all the weapons the Habs currently possess across their lineup, any one of both their previous top players or their new additions could surprise people and put up some solid numbers. Such was the case with Tatar and Max Domi in 2018-19, and we could see the same from guys like Josh Anderson, possibly even surpassing his, as mentioned, career high of 47 points.

Teddy Elliott: I might eat my words on this one, but I believe Jonathan Drouin will have a marquee year flanking Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson. Drouin is capable of producing points on a massive scale and finally has linemates who can dish him the puck and clear space for him on the ice. My prediction is that he will lead the team with 49 points – 20 goals and 29 assists.

Joseph Gentile: Suzuki needs to be the team’s star whom they build around. He must be the guy that makes his line mates better, and he has already done that with Drouin. Anderson will only add more fuel to the fire. Suzuki’s regular season performance was impressive, and more so was his bubble performance. All this as a rookie to boot.

In a regular 82-game season, I would put Suzuki at 50-60 points given the experience and more ice-time. In a 56-game season however I will give him between 35 and 40 points. For an exact number, give him 38 points. With that said, I believe he has the most points on the team this year. Call it bold, but I have faith in this kid.

Ken MacMillan: I think Drouin finally puts it all together and is terrific in his new position down low with the man advantage. Remember Saku Koivu along the goal line setting up Michael Ryder and Andrei Markov and also banging in the odd rebound on the power play? That will be Drouin this season down low finding Shea Weber cross-ice and getting the puck to Tyler Toffoli in the slot for one-timers. Also, with Josh Anderson on his line at even strength, Drouin won’t have to do much heavy lifting along the boards and in the corners and has the crafty Suzuki to set him up.