Montreal Canadiens: AWH Awards – Who’s The MVP?

It’s time to hand out the A Winning Habit awards for the 2020-2021 season and I shall start with the highest honours and name this year’s Most Valuable Player for the Montreal Canadiens.

We’re going to take a look at the three finalists for this year’s MVP regular-season award but first, a list of the best of the rest.

Montreal Canadiens: Honourable Mentions

Jake Allen

The statistics definitely do not tell the bigger story because Allen really picked up the slack while Price was on the shelf. Looking from the outside in, an 11-12-5 record with a 2.68 GAA and .907 SV% is hardly elite. However, with the defensive corp in shambles and the insurmountable amount of injuries the team has suffered, Allen gave the entire team a chance to win every night.

Josh Anderson

Tomas Tatar is the culprit behind the Powerhorse nickname given to Josh Anderson. TSN’s John Lu mentioned during a segment that Tatar wanted to use the terms Workhorse and Powerhouse but inadvertently said Powerhorse. The rest, as they say, is history. Anderson falls under the “false statistics” category as well but he has been a legitimate bone-rattling, scoring power forward that the Canadiens haven’t had since…um…help me out here, people… Shayne Corson, maybe?

Phillip Danault

Despite the contract talk rumours that visibly disturbed him at the beginning of the year, Danault settled in and proved once again that he is part of the elite shut down centermen in the NHL. He has done tremendous work covering the likes of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews and has always been sent out against the opponent’s top lines and taking crucial face-offs.

Montreal Canadiens: MVP Finalists

Tyler Toffoli

When Toffoli and the Montreal Canadiens put pen to paper on a four-year $17 million contract, you didn’t hear anyone complain. A $4.25 million yearly cap hit for a perennial 20 goal-scorer and former Stanley Cup winner is a bargain. Pat Brisson revealed on Tony Marinaro’s Sick Podcast that he could’ve easily gotten anything between 5.5 and 6 million on the open market. However, Toffoli took the bargain contract and proved his worth by delivering an amazing 28 goals and led the team with 44 points as well as being the author of 5 game-winning goals, tied with Josh Anderson for most on the squad. Not to mention he’s a pretty good writer too.

Jeff Petry

Had it not been for Petry‘s contribution, the Canadiens wouldn’t be in the playoffs. Plain and simple. He has been miles ahead of everyone at the blue line in virtually every category and has been a true leader as well. For a couple of months, he was starting to garner some consideration for the Norris trophy but that honour will likely fall to the Rangers’ Adam Fox in my opinion. Still, Petry ranks 7th in points amongst defencemen in the league with 42, only 6 behind Tyson Barrie’s 48 for the lead.

Nick Suzuki

This might come as a surprise nomination as I’m sure most of you will likely vote for Jake Allen to win it all, but hear my argument on why #14 has been one of the best all season.

First of all, a fun stat that even caught me by surprise. Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi are the only 2 players on the Montreal roster to have played the entire 56 game season. Only Petry and Joel Edmundson come close at 55, and Alexander Romanov at 54. Suzuki has been clutch during the final stretch literally flying all over the ice and making everyone around him better. Many people, including one of our own, Maria Bouabdo, have laid claim to him and Cole Caufield becoming a dynamic duo. Let’s not forget he’s done the same thing with Jonathan Drouin this past off-season and at the beginning of this season. He helped Josh Anderson get things going and he has gotten more and more responsible on the defensive end as well. Say what you want about him, this kid is the number one center we’ve been waiting for for so long.

Montreal Canadiens: MVP Winner – Jeff Petry

To be perfectly honest, I changed my mind back and forth between Petry and Toffoli. Toffoli has been incredible having played both sides of the wing and played up and down the top 3 lines. His stats are hard to ignore but in the end, my vote goes to #26.

Barring an absolute disaster or injury, Jeff Petry will retire a Montreal Canadien. His four-year $25 million extension will bring him to his 37th birthday where, if history shows, he will be ageing like fine wine. Since the 2017-18 season and including this one, Petry has regularly put up at least 40 points and a dozen goals (except last season where had 11). His goal counts are 12, 13, 11,12. His assists are 30, 33, 29, 30. And his total points: 42, 46, 40, 42. Heck, he even goes to the penalty box consistently, amassing 28, 28, 26 and 20 penalty minutes.

However, what’s incredible in his game goes beyond the statistical consistency. Petry’s defensive play and overall hockey IQ only seem to get better with time. You don’t need advanced analytics to realize how good Petry has been this year both at even strength and with the special teams. At 33 he’s going to eventually have to reduce his team-leading 22 minutes on the ice, but then again, Kristopher Letang is also 33 with similar stats and works 24 minutes a night.

Jeff Petry just gave us his 7th and best season since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers at the 2015 trade deadline for a 2nd and 5th round pick. He’s on board for four more and although he’s not a highlight reel type of player, he’ll still give us a few gems as proven by his setups of Cole Caufield’s first 2 career goals.

That’s Hockey IQ, I say. Time and time again this season we have seen Petry do the small plays. For anyone who has played defence, whether competitively or recreationally, you know that it’s a mentally exhausting position. Petry has covered all 200 feet of the ice with expertise and consistently (that word again) made his team better when on the ice.

Again, Toffoli and Allen are legitimate choices for the MVP this season. However, I’m convinced that Petry won us our fair share of games by doing the little things.