With the regular season now officially concluded following the final game of the Vancouver Canucks season series against the Calgary Flames, it’s time to hand out the A Winning Habit awards for the 2020-21 season, for the Montreal Canadiens.
With my colleague Patrick Lortie having already decided Team MVP, let’s take a look at the three finalists for this year’s Best Defenceman, but first, here are some honourable mentions.
Montreal Canadiens: Honourable Mentions
Shea Weber
After posting 14 goals or more in three of his first four seasons with the Bleu Blanc et Rouge, injuries and a continuing lack of foot speed made for an overall lost season for the Canadiens’ captain. In spite of this, Weber still managed to show glimpses of the offensive force he’s always managed to be, and at times looked to be able to adapt to a more stay-at-home role, especially when paired with a more fast-paced defenceman like Alexander Romanov or Brett Kulak. While it was his worst season statistically since 2007-08 with 6-13-19 totals over 48 games, Weber was still an important part of the Canadiens’ roster when healthy and should look to serve a similar role in this year’s playoffs.
Brett Kulak
Speak of the devil, Kulak has managed to become quite a stable presence on the Canadiens blueline, having gone from a top pairing role in the AHL to a reliable part of Montreal’s third pairing. Kulak put together a solid season overall after struggling through most of the previous campaign. With 2-6-8 totals over 46 games, Kulak’s +3 rating is indicative of the contributions he made to the Canadiens this season. Entering the first round of these playoffs, Kulak’s lack of hesitancy when moving up ice, coupled with his excellent rebound-generating wrister, should make him an interesting player to look at against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Montreal Canadiens: Best Defenceman Finalists
Jeff Petry
It seems like forever ago, Petry was nothing more than another depth acquisition for the Montreal Canadiens, having given up just two picks for the 6’3 blueliner’s services back in 2015. Well, six years later, and I think it’s safe to say that Montreal has gotten quite good value out of that transaction. Following two average-at-best seasons with 16 and 28 points respectively, Petry has since been the heart and soul of the Canadiens backend, and one of the most impressive players on their roster. In a statistic that still amazes me even as I’m writing this, Petry has now put up four straight 40-point seasons with Montreal, an amazing feat for a defenceman in the modern NHL.
In spite of some minor scoring droughts here and there, this season was more of the same, finishing second on Montreal (and seventh amongst NHL defencemen) in scoring, with 12-30-42 totals. He was a key part of the Canadiens roster for a good chunk, if not all of this season, and is now, in my opinion, one of the best offensive defencemen in the NHL. He’s a key part of this Canadiens roster through and through and is someone Toronto should keep their eyes on come Game 1.
Joel Edmundson
Edmundson was a pleasant surprise for me this season. Plain and simple. I had heard of the veteran 6’4 blueliner prior to his arrival in Montreal and knew he had played a key depth role on the 2018-19 Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues. After a satisfactory season in Carolina, Edmundson found his way to Montreal and has since been a figurative – and literal – rock on the Canadiens’ backend.
His +28-rating tied for third in the NHL, and his 3-10-13 totals over 55 games were on pace with his career average, so nothing worrying there. Simply put, when all else failed this season, it seemed as though Edmundson could always be relied upon to make the right play and was a perfect complement to Petry on Montreal’s second pairing.
Alexander Romanov
Yes, I know he won’t be playing come game 1 of the first round, but that’s an entirely different can of worms. The point is, I will completely and totally eat my words when it comes to my viewpoint on Romanov. Prior to his debut this season, I made a few pieces questioning the effect that the tremendous hype Romanov was seeing would have on his performance when he arrived in Montreal. Well, when I said he would have difficulty adjusting, I was wrong. Plain and simple, I was wrong.
Romanov impressed me tremendously this season and was a key part of Montreal’s backend. He’s extremely physical, smart on and off the puck, can skate, has confidence moving the puck up ice, and again, is a threat in the open ice with his thunderous body checks. He’s a perfect example of the wider, open space style of play in leagues like the KHL. And he adjusted brilliantly to the smaller-ice surface in his first season. Had it not been for his struggles alongside the apparently more capable Jon Merrill, his overall numbers may have been even better.
Montreal Canadiens: Best Defenceman Winner – Jeff Petry
Now, I know that Lortie had already named Petry as Team MVP, but honestly, there’s no one else more deserving of the award for Best Defenceman. Montreal’s defensive unit was plagued time and time again this season by inconsistencies, lack of speed, and at times, lack of focus. When key players like Weber were healthy, they, at times, struggled or looked out of sync. Trade deadline acquisitions like Merrill and Erik Gustafsson did little to help matters either, in spite of their supposed importance come playoff time, as compared to rookies like Romanov.
However, in spite of all of this, the one consistent thing on the Canadiens backend, both offensively and defensively, was Petry. He’s the most important player the Canadiens have now, and when healthy, is invaluable to this team. He’s the blood to the beating heart of this team that is Brendan Gallagher, and there’s just so much to his game beyond its base level.
Lortie had already gone into much of this, but not to sound too repetitive, Petry has amazing vision and IQ for the game. He reads plays exceptionally well and is one of, if not the best skater on the team. He has a lethal wrister that’s dangerous from almost any angle, and above all else, makes those around him better, including Romanov, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki. As mentioned in the Team MVP piece, his setups for Caufield’s first two NHL goals were nothing short of magnificent.
Petry is the foundation of the Habs’ backend and should be an immediate threat in the first round. Ultimately, when all else failed this season, there was always Jeff Petry, and for that, I consider him to be far and away, the Montreal Canadiens best defenceman this season.