Montreal Canadiens: Depth Forwards Stepping Up To Avoid Being Scratched

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin and head coach Dominique Ducharme would point to the team’s depth as its biggest strength this season.

That strength is getting even deeper in the coming days. Eric Staal is going to join the team today and will make his Habs debut on Monday night. He was acquired last Friday in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres.

Cole Caufield will be joining the Laval Rocket in the next few days but there is no question he has the skill to make an impact at the NHL level in the near future. His college season ended last Thursday and he signed his entry-level contract on Friday, the same day Staal was acquired.

The Canadiens didn’t play a game for a few days after the acquisition of Staal and Caufield, but when they did, their depth forwards were exceptional. Knowing that a couple of new forwards were just added to the organization, players that have been healthy scratches recently really stepped their game up in the Habs win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Jake Evans has been in the lineup most nights this year, sitting for just two games so far. Still, when Staal, a centre, was acquired, it seemed likely that Evans would be the one to sit to make room for the veteran.

Evans must have been aware of his situation as he was exceptional against the Sens on Thursday. He made two excellent spinning passes to setup goals. They were just his fourth and fifth assists of the season, but they were two of the nicest plays that led to goals all season for the Canadiens.

Paul Byron, another player who has been scratched on occasion and has been on waivers this season, was the recipient of one of those terrific Evans passes. He scored his third goal of the season on a nice deke to the backhand before roofing the puck just under the crossbar. It was just his third goal of the season, but he skated really well all night, forced turnovers, killed penalties and scored a beauty of a goal.

Artturi Lehkonen is another player that has been sitting in the press box this season. He also stepped up his level of play and created a pair of turnovers that led to Byron’s goal against the Sens. Lehkonen also scored on Tuesday night against the Oilers and had an assist, so he has three points in his last two games.

Skating on the fourth line recently with Evans has been Corey Perry but his play will keep him in the lineup for sure. For good measure, he also scored against the Sens on Thursday night, and made a couple of nice redirections in front of the net on the power play that nearly led to goals.

When Joel Armia is allowed to return to the lineup, he will replace Michael Frolik on the fourth line. But someone else is going to have to be removed from the lineup to make room for Eric Staal.

It’s going to be a tough decision, especially since the entire bottom six is playing so well right now. It will be interesting to see if they can keep this terrific level of play going tonight in a rematch against the Senators.