Montreal Canadiens: 2020-21 Report Card Grades For Every Player

Xavier Ouellet is a weird player to me. He only played 6 games with the Habs this season, playing most of his hockey as Laval captain. Whenever I watch him play, AHL and NHL alike, I think to myself that he just isn’t very good: minimal offensive and transition value to go along with shaky defence and a knack for running into his goalie. I honestly thought he looked worse in Laval than WHLers Kaiden Guhle and Gianni Fairbrother, not to mention Cale Fleury, Otto Leskinen, Josh Brook and Corey Shueneman. Despite this, Ouellet’s on-ice impacts seem very… fine in the NHL. His low PDO (.959) this season mitigates his slightly below 50% CF%, xGF% and HDCF%. Basically, he looked bad but was alright. Meh, he’s a fine AHL-callup I guess, I just prefer him not getting called him.. . . XAVIER OUELLET. C+

B +. I really enjoyed watching Otto Leskinen play this season. Only one of his games came in the NHL (and he played genuinely great in limited minutes) but his performances in Laval were tremendous. His offensive tools are plenty and dangerous and his defensive ability grew leaps and bounds from the previous season. He was named to the AHL Canadian Division All-Star Team after racking up 17 points in 33 games. Unfortunately, he is returning to Finland for at least the next two seasons. While the Canadiens will retain his rights, this may be the end of his time in Montreal.. . . OTTO LESKINEN

. . JON MERRILL. D. Jon Merrill is a really frustrating one for me. I was legitimately excited over his acquisition as his advanced stats along with the word from Red Wings fans and media seemed to bode really well. For context, Merrill was analytically a phenomenal defensive defenseman in Detroit prior to the trade to the Canadiens. Unfortunately, those positive results seemed to vanish as soon as he put on the Tricolor. He was downright terrible in the regular season, notching a 44.94 xGF%, a full 4.96% lower than the next worst among Habs defensemen, the aforementioned Xavier Ouellet; Merrill’s actual GF% was way worse though, at 13.33%, worst on the team. In the Playoffs, Merrill shared the worst xGF% and GF% among the defensive corps with Alexander Romanov. My expectations for Merrill were likely set too high, which does impact the grade I’m giving him, but he was the player who disappointed me the most this season.

A. I quite like Erik Gustafsson. Considering the expectations that normally accompany trade deadline acquisitions that only cost a 7th round draft pick, it was going to be tough for Gustafsson to flame out. The Swede was advertised as a good offensive defenseman that was a literal defensive black hole. While we were gifted some patented Gustafsson offensive zone lapses leading to breakaway goals both in the regular season and the playoffs (on the powerplay no less), Gustaffson’s impact was undoubtedly a very positive one. Luke Richardson did a tremendous job in ensuring that Gustafsson got easy even-strength minutes, which led to Gustafsson’s metrics in the playoffs outshining those of all of his teammates. Gustafsson led the team with 64.60 xGF% (exactly 8% better than second-placed Lehkonen), 62.91 CF% and was second to Jake Evans with 70 GF%. In Gustafsson’s 126 playoff 5v5 minutes, the Habs scored 7 goals and surrendered 3, a goals-against tally mirroring the expected result; not bad for a defensive black hole. Gustafsson also played good powerplay minutes. I’d like to see the Habs keep him on the cheap as a useful seventh defenseman who can infuse some life into the powerplay when need be.. . . ERIK GUSTAFSSON

. . BRETT KULAK. B. Kulak was tremendous in the bubble last year, to the point that I raved about his performances against Pittsburgh in an article. Despite the acquisition and subsequent signing of Joel Edmundson to take Kulak’s spot in the top-4, I expected Kulak to either force his way back onto a pairing with Jeff Petry or to be a really solid third pair defenseman with great results in transition. Kulak did play some minutes with Petry in the regular season when Ben Chiarot was out with a fractured wrist, but he mainly played with Alex Romanov on the third pair, a duo that put up some really good 5v5 results in 309 minutes: 55.94 CF%, 53.51 xGF% (both of which were better than the Edmundson-Petry and Chiarot-Weber pairings) and 61.11 GF% which was just slightly less than Edmundson-Petry. The playoffs were the exact opposite. Of course the top-4 were used almost exclusively, but the 10 minutes of Romanov-Kulak were ugly: 25 GF%, 4.06 xGF%. Independently, Kulak also struggled in the playoffs with 33.33 GF% and 41.87 xGF%. Basically, Kulak was great in the regular season and struggled mightily in the playoffs despite his positive value in transition.

B -. I won’t repeat all the advanced metrics for Romanov as he played most of his minutes with Kulak. From an impact perspective, he shone in the regular season and had a tougher time in the playoffs, despite his important goal. The reason his grade is lower than Kulak’s is not because of his performance but, rather, because of the high expectations in the young Russian defenseman, something largely inflicted upon him by the Habs’ front office staff and Marc Bergevin, in particular. Some believed Romanov would find himself on the team’s top pairing by the season’s end, he did not; instead, he was a (somewhat unfairly) healthy scratch through most of the postseason. Don’t get me wrong, I like Romanov a lot. I appreciate his defensive play, physicality and especially his skating, a strength not many Habs defensemen share. I see him as a really solid #3 defenseman down the road, I just think he was hyped up a bit much and potentially rushed a slight bit. Still, Romanov can count this as a successful first year in the NHL and he will almost certainly be an important fixture on the Habs blueline next season and for the decade that follows.. . . ALEXANDER ROMANOV

. . BEN CHIAROT. B -. Ben Chiarot is a player I have yet to really pin down after two years in the organization. Everything about him screams #5 defenseman with PK time to me, say hovering around 18 minutes a night. Instead, he is beloved by his coaches and teammates and played the most 5v5 minutes of any Hab on a run to the Cup Finals. I certainly believe that Chiarot is a far better playoff than regular season performer, but even then, he clearly seems like the weak link in the top-4 to me and yet received the most playoff minutes, he definitely struggled more this season than he did last year. His regular season was plagued with mental lapses, which translated more to his 40 GF% than it did to his 52.16 xGF%. While Chiarot’s playoff minutes likely were against the toughest competition, his xGF% of 44.82 was nearly 5% lower than any of the other big-4 who all hovered around 50%. His 38.24 GF% was also 3.5% behind Joel Edmundson, 8% behind Petry and 11.5% behind his defensive partner Shea Weber. Despite his frustrating lack of composure with the puck in the defensive zone under pressure that led to countless icings in the playoffs and multiple faceoff goals by the Vegas Golden Knights, I like Chiarot, just not in his role or at the salary he likely will command in a year’s time. He’s the name I’m both hoping and expecting to hear called at the Seattle expansion draft if Bergevin is astute enough to protect Joel Edmundson over him.

A +. I love Joel Edmundson. He is the steadiest defenseman on the Canadiens’ blueline, he just picked two inopportune moments to commit his first real blunders since the season opener against the Leafs: Game 3 of the Tampa season with a no-look pass off the boards behind the net and Game 5 of the same series where he failed to prevent Ross Colton from getting to the net and tipping in the sole goal of the game, ending the Canadiens’ season. I genuinely can’t remember Edmundson committing a real error this season discounting those two, something I can’t say for any other defenseman on the team. Edmundson is younger, more composed, more consistent and under contract for longer than Ben Chiarot, which is why I want to see him protected in the expansion draft. While his speed and mobility will never be strengths, they’re not exactly easily exploitable weaknesses either. I was really impressed with his transition defence and breakout passing ability this season and want to see him as a fixture at #4D on this team for the duration of his contract, he’s a great partner for Petry. He was also a +/- king this season, finishing at +28. His advanced metrics in the playoffs were decent, leading the big-4 in xGF% with 50.92. His .980 PDO hurt his GF%, which sat at 41.94%. On the other hand, his regular-season metrics were phenomenal, mirroring his calming presence on the back end. His 62.50 GF% was nearly 10% higher than the next best of the big-4 (Petry) and his 53.03 xGF% was just slightly behind Petry. While Edmundson has a similar profile to Chiarot, I see a lot more redeemable and enviable qualities in his play and he genuinely surprised and impressed me this season. I was expecting his contract to be a bad one and for him to be someone I’d hope to lose to Seattle, instead the very opposite is true.. . . JOEL EDMUNDSON

A -. Jeff Petry is such an interesting defenseman. As he demonstrated this season, he can reach both astronomical highs and painful slumps. He started the season at a point-per-game pace for roughly 25 games and was getting some Norris attention, he was clearly the Canadiens’ MVP through the first half of the season. Then, the offence dried up and he played a more defensive game. In the playoffs, he had an important role on the defensive side of the puck but really struggled offensively, even before the injury to his finger, putting up just 6 assists in 20 playoff games. While he too had some defensive lapses and off nights – and when Petry has a bad night, it’s spectacular – his defensive play and skating seem to continue to improve as he’s reaching his mid-thirties. Petry was the team’s best defenseman from an analytical (and eye-test) perspective in the regular season and was on par with Edmundson for the top-performing big-4 defenseman in the playoffs. Petry’s 750k raise for 4 seasons kicks in next season and as long as his play doesn’t fall off a cliff, he will be worth the contract for at least the first three years.. . . JEFF PETRY

Similar to Petry, it was a tale of two seasons for Shea Weber: regular season and playoffs, but unlike his teammate, Weber struggled in the regular season and rolled back the years in the playoffs. Offence is no longer the name of the game for Shea Weber. While his slapshot still has the power to put a hole in the net, its accuracy has waned significantly, seemingly missing the target 90% of the time. Fortunately, the captain was as effective defensively as ever in the playoffs which made me breathe a sigh of relief after a genuinely tough regular season where Weber struggled with breakout passes, blown coverages and all-around uninspired play. Despite these struggles that were quite blatant to the naked eye, his advanced metrics were all between 50% and 53%, so the impact his struggles had on the games was seemingly minimal. In the playoffs, Weber put up metrics similar to those of Edmundson and Petry, which is especially impressive considering he spent most of his minutes with Chiarot, who struggled mightily without his captain. Weber played physically and with great decisiveness, especially on the penalty kill in the playoffs and despite being quiet offensively (1 goal, 5 assists) he was a big part of the reason the Canadiens were able to go on the run they did.. . . SHEA WEBER. B +

B -. Michael Frolik only played 8 games with the Habs in a fourth-line role this season. Despite the limited playing time, reports came out throughout the season that Frolik was always among the players that stuck around the practice facility the longest after every training day, putting in the work. He was a good depth piece for the team to have, they just didn’t end up needing him. When he did play he was exactly what everyone had expected: a hard-working fourth-line energy guy. B- is the grade I’m giving to players that pretty much exactly meet my expectations, and Frolik did just that.. . . MICHAEL FROLIK

B -. Belzile is one of those veteran pros that brings great energy on and off the ice and has experienced the highs and lows that accompany an athlete that clawed his way from the third tier of professional hockey to the top, albeit for short stints. Belzile only played two games with the big club this season, notching an assist, and played a big role for the Laval Rocket, scoring 14 points in 17 games. After his playoffs last season and the subsequent off-season additions the Habs made, I expected him to be a real leader in Laval and maybe get into a few NHL games, which he did.. . . ALEX BELZILE

B. Artturi Lehkonen is a guy I, and many Habs fans had envisioned to become a consistent scoring threat in the NHL, following his 18-goal rookie season. While that has not occurred, Lehkonen is a player just about every team in the league would gladly have on their roster. He can play a high-energy and responsible game up and down the lineup while also contributing on the penalty kill. He really entrenched himself as a swiss-army-knife type player this season: he spent significant time on the second, third and fourth lines as well as the press box. Lehkonen figures between 9th and 12th among the team’s 15 forwards who played at least 115 regular-season games in xGF%, GF% and CF%, his results were very much those of a fourth-liner. Playoff Lehkonen is a different beast though; he played most of his minutes with Danault and Gallagher in a shut-down role and was first among Habs forwards with at least 100 minutes played in xGF% with 56.6%, third in CF% with 49.75% and eighth in GF% with 41.67%. While he may not have played himself into a significant raise with his 13 points in 47 regular season games or his 3 goals and 4 points in 17 playoff appearances, Lehkonen scored what is likely the most iconic Habs goal since the team last lifted the Stanley Cup with his Game 6 OT winner to clinch the Habs’ first appearance in the FInals since that fated ’93 season.. . . ARTTURI LEHKONEN

B +. It’s impossible not to love Paul Byron. He’s the underdog story personified and overcame the adversity of being waived in 2015 and did so again this season, passing through waivers three separate times for cap management purposes. His contract may be slightly rich for his impacts, but he proved to not only be a useful depth piece this postseason but that he also has a flair for the dramatic, coming up big when the team needed him most. He scored the insane game-winner in Game 1 vs Toronto, had the primary assist on the Kotkaniemi overtime goals that forced Game 7 in the same series (in front of the home crowd for the first time in over a year, no less), scored the game-winner in Game 2 versus Vegas and notched the overtime primary assist the next game with a gorgeous fake shot. He notched another two points in the next two games that weren’t on game-winners, but a ridiculous 4 of his 6 playoff points were on game-winners. While 16 points in 46 games isn’t ideal for a forward earning $3.4 million a year, Byron’s leadership, work ethic and penalty-killing ability (both offensively and defensively) all make him a player the Habs clearly appreciate.. . . PAUL BYRON

JONATHAN DROUIN. B +. I know this grade is likely to be the most controversial one I give. I know some would give him an F and some could maybe give him a B -, but B + seems way too high. I stand by it, though, even considering that the expectations were relatively high for Drouin heading into this season following a solid playoff display last year, against the Flyers especially. Drouin had the role of offensive top-6 forward and only scored two goals in 44 games, which is where the criticism for his performances stems from. But it must be noted that Drouin hugely progressed in his off-puck play this season: he had the work rate, he played in the defensive zone, he showed creativity as a playmaker and he really seemed to buy in with the team. While Drouin only scored two goals, he was expected to score 5.42, so he was getting some poor luck. In Ducharme’s first game as head coach, which came against the Winnipeg Jets, Drouin seemed to have been freed from limitations that Julien seemingly placed upon him and he played his best period as a Hab in the first: his vision and playmaking were superb and I became extremely hopeful that he could actually become a star, albeit as a complementary piece rather than a play-driver. Unfortunately, he seemed to revert to old habits in his last games before taking his leave. Despite this, I saw quite a bit of growth in Drouin this season which makes me think that if he elects to continue his hockey career, he could be a really solid playmaking second liner in the NHL. I hope he stays in Montreal and that the emergence of Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli and Cole Caufield as this team’s primary offensive weapons relieves some pressure from Drouin and frees him up to just play his game. Drouin was about the seventh-best forward on the Habs from an analytical standpoint this season (53.98 CF%, 51.7 xGF%), and if his shooting luck had been better, he likely would have been fifth or sixth, which is also exactly where I think he should slot in on a forward depth chart. Above all, I hope he makes the right choice for himself, whether it be retirement, hockey in Montreal or hockey elsewhere; if this pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that mental health plays such a huge role in our lives and that ignoring it does nothing but hurt ourselves.. .

. TOMAS TATAR. B -. Tatar played his last game as a Hab over a month ago. While I am not one of the fans willing to burn the world down because elite offensive player Tomas Tatar was kept out of the lineup in the playoffs, I certainly think he was mismanaged. Tatar formed the NHL’s very best possession line with Danault and Gallagher for the last three seasons. While I have heard a narrative that those results went downhill this year, that quite simply is untrue. In 253 minutes together, the Habs scored 18 goals and conceded 3; that is not a typo. They posted a ridiculous 68.48 xGF%, for context, when none of the three were on the ice, that figure sat at 51.55% and when Danault and Gallagher were on the ice without Tatar, it was 54.16%. They were a phenomenal trio, and breaking them up when times got tough in the playoffs by extracting Tatar from the lineup hurt the Habs. I think Ducharme’s biggest mistake in the playoffs was the failure to reinsert Tatar after the Game 2 loss to Tampa. His 10 goals and 30 points in the regular season were sixth and fourth on the team, respectively. While I look forward to seeing Danault and Gallagher playing with Jake Evans or Artturi Lehkonen next season, assuming Danault and Lehkonen re-sign, I will miss Tuna on that line..

A +. Tyler Toffoli is signed for another three seasons at $4.25 million and he is coming off a season in which he scored 28 goals in 52 games and led the Habs with 44 points as well; that’s one hell of a team-friendly contract. While Toffoli failed to score in his final 9 games and going pointless in 8 of those, despite playing with the red hot Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in all but two of the final 9 contests, I can’t bring myself to demote his grade to even an A, since he was so clearly injured during that stretch. While Toffoli isn’t exactly quick or mobile when fully healthy, he was visibly stiff for the second half of the playoffs. Despite these significant scoring struggles, Toffoli finished the playoffs as the Habs’ second-best scorer with 5 goals and 14 points, trailing only Nick Suzuki in both categories. In the regular season, Toffoli was fifth among forwards with at least 100 minutes in CF%, sixth in xGF% and seventh in GF% with each metric figuring at or above 50%. From an advanced stats perspective, Toffoli struggled more in the postseason with his 38.46 GF% being the worst among the forward corps, though he was sixth in xGF% so he got some rotten luck. That said, Toffoli had a phenomenal first season as a Hab and he should continue scoring no matter where in the lineup he finds himself next season. <em>NOTE: Toffoli is a natural right-winger but played almost exclusively on the left-wing this season, which is why he’s on this slide.</em>. . . TYLER TOFFOLI

A. Jesse Ylonen surpassed all expectations in his first season in North America. He was the most exciting regular on the Laval Rocket, more so than Ryan Poehling (who had a fantastic year), Raphael Harvey-Pinard (equally good year) and powerplay superstar Jordan Weal. Jesse Ylonen has a whole bunch of flair, blazing speed and a wicked shot, assets that earned him 9 goals and 17 points in 29 AHL games; he’s really fun to watch. Give him another year or two in Laval and the Habs just might have themselves a valuable top-9 scorer. He only played in the Habs’ final game of the regular season, as a reward for his solid AHL play, and didn’t impact the game particularly much, but the young Finn’s future looks significantly brighter now than it did a year ago.. . . JESSE YLONEN

. COLE CAUFIELD. A. “[Cole Caufield is] going to be a tremendous player in this league for a long time. He’s going to score a lot of goals.” Corey Perry said this in the team’s end-of-season press conference and it’s a sentiment most Habs fans can’t help but echo, this team has not has an offensive player with the ceiling of Cole Caufield, at least in terms of goalscoring, in decades. The expectations were astronomical when he signed his ELC, they rose even higher when he scored 3 goals and 4 points in 2 AHL games. Then, after a long time on the taxi squad, Cole Caufield was inserted into the NHL lineup and scored 4 goals and 5 points in 10 regular-season games, his first two goals were overtime winners. After being left in the press box for the playoffs’ first two games, he showed the world that his ability not only translated to the NHL but that it shone at the very highest level of hockey in the world: the final two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, where he scored 4 goals and 8 points in 11 games, right after picking up the series-clinching OT primary assist vs the Jets. Caufield was touted as a goalscorer, but his playmaking ability shone just as bright in the playoffs. On top of offensive ability, Caufield was fifth among Habs forwards with at least 100 5v5 minutes played in the playoffs in CF% with 49.42, third in GF% with 45 and third in xGF% with 52.73. Caufield also notched a point on every 5v5 goal the Habs scored with him on the ice, something no other regular player did in for the Habs in the postseason and that only four other players with at least 150 playoff minutes accomplished: Josh Morrissey, Blake Wheeler, Blake Coleman and Martin Necas, pretty good company for a player not even playing his rookie season yet. He not only hung with the team’s established offensive players, but he outshone most of them. His 12 points were third in Habs playoff scoring and averaged 17:23 minutes played. Despite the team not getting him the puck all that much on the powerplay in the playoffs, he led the team with 1.47 individual expected goals on the powerplay, he scored twice which was tied for the team lead. This kid isn’t going to be good, he already is; he’s going to be great, he’s not even of legal US drinking age yet..

B +. After the Jets series, I heard some members of the national media tout Armia as a breakout player in the playoffs, something I haven’t heard since. This is because of something all Habs fans have come to realize, Joel Armia is invisible in 85% of games and a dominant force in the other 15%; that 15% showed itself early in the playoffs rather than later. Armia is a player I’d love for the Habs to keep at a reasonable cost, he’s great on the PK, responsible defensively and one of the league’s very best puck protectors; he even has a wicked wrister he doesn’t use with any regularity. Armia’s advanced stats were also above average in the postseason, figuring between 4th and 8th among team forward with over 100 5v5 minutes, and they were even better in the regular season: 2nd best GF% with 60.98 and 5th best xGF% with 52.73%. Armia is a solid player whose play is a lot more consistent defensively than it is offensively.. . . JOEL ARMIA

Corey Perry was expected to be a good 13th forward who got into a few playoff games. He started the season on the taxi squad, but once he was inserted into the lineup following Joel Armia’s nasty concussion from a predatory Tyler Myers hit, he made it clear that he can still thrive in the NHL. He was ninth on the team in regular-season points with 21, and seventh in goals with 9. In the playoffs, he naturally stepped up his play; his three goals were tied for eighth and his 10 points were fourth on the team behind notable offensive pieces Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli and Cole Caufield. Perry’s advanced stats don’t shine quite as bright as his production, though they’re by no means terrible, but as a fourth-line scorer, his production matches that of good third liners so his play has defied all expectations. He has also been a phenomenal mentor to young offensive players in Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Cole Caufield especially. Perry has already voiced his desire to re-sign with his childhood team next season; hopefully, Bergevin is smart enough to work out a cheap deal.. . . COREY PERRY. A +

B +. Gallagher had a good season; he scored 14 goals in 35 games in the regular season (33-goal pace) and added 9 assists. In the playoffs, he was not only assigned the most shutdown role imaginable alongside Phillip Danault but was so clearly injured. While the medical press conference only revealed that Gallagher was suffering from a groin injury, his wrist was quite blatantly injured, when he did use his shot in the postseason, it lacked its usual power and accuracy, one of his muffins went in in Game 7 vs Toronto and he scored his only other goal on a rebound against the Jets. Despite the injuries hampering his offensive production (6 points in 22 playoff games, on par with Joel Edmundson) Gallagher played a crucial role in shutting down opposing offensive weapons. Phillip Danault is receiving nearly all the credit for shutting down Matthews, Marner, Wheeler, Connor, Pacioretty, Stone, Kucherov and Point at 5v5 but Gallagher’s impact should not be overlooked; without him, the Habs lose to the Leafs. Gallagher was also by far the Habs’ best forward from an advanced stat perspective in the regular season and playoffs alike. Habs fans shouldn’t worry much about his 6-year contract worth $6.5 annually kicking in next season, he should be well worth that amount for the first four seasons if he fully heals up this summer; the last two years may or may not be worthwhile, but after everything Gallagher has done for this team, that isn’t important.. . . BRENDAN GALLAGHER

JOSH ANDERSON. A -. As you have likely noticed, I am quite a big believer in the use of advanced stats to determine a player’s contributions to their team. It should be noted, though, that these statistics are far more revealing when contextualized by actually watching the player play; the eye test is far from obsolete, though it can be just as misleading as advanced stats when it isn’t given context. Josh Anderson is a player advanced stats don’t like very much. He was bottom-five among Habs forwards with at least 100 5v5 playoff minutes in CF% and xGF%, though he somehow came second in GF%. In the regular season, he is also in the bottom half of forwards in most metrics. More in-depth models don’t love him because he has virtually no playmaking ability and is not very adaptable, he either drives the net or he drives the net. Despite this, Anderson was second on the team in goals in the regular season with 17 (27-goal pace) and was tied for second in playoff goals with 5, two of which were crucial OT winners. Anderson brings physicality and speed to the lineup along with his goalscoring ability. Some of the people harping on Anderson’s playmaking are the same ones that were complaining about the lack of goalscorers on the team a few years ago and that everyone was “just a playmaker”. Anderson is far from a perfect player but he is built for the playoffs, is a hell of a lot of fun to watch and he brings a dimension to the game that no other Hab does. You need diversity in the lineup in terms of playing styles and Anderson does just that; his contract doesn’t worry me one bit, and if his play takes a nosedive in his thirties (I doubt it will), his contract is built to be bought out as soon as 2024.. .

. . ERIC STAAL. B -. Eric Staal was a tough player to grade considering his regular season was extremely disappointing while his playoffs were very good; as a result, I figured they cancelled each other out. In the regular season, Staal was on the ice for 2 5v5 Habs goals for and 11 against, which was the worst GF% on the team. That figure jumped to 45%, tied for third amongst forwards in the playoffs. His 50.91 xGF% in the playoffs was fourth amongst forwards, while his regular season’s 44.64% was also the worst on the forward corps with at least 100 5v5 minutes played. From an advanced stats perspective, Staal was the team’s worst regular forward in the regular season and was among the four or five best in the playoffs. This is also reflected in his point totals. While his debut OT winner is a goal I will forever remember (being very connected to Thunder Bay and growing up a fan of the Staals as a result), he only notched one goal and one assist in his 20 other regular-season games in the Tricolore, he was also a minus-10 with the Habs and a minus-30 overall, tied for second-worst in the league. In the playoffs, Staal scored 2 goals and 8 points in 21 games and was a minus-2. While Staal will, in all likelihood, retire or sign in either Minnesota or Carolina, I’d quite like to see him return as a 13th forward next season; his fourth line with Perry and Armia was quite revelatory in the playoffs.

. JAKE EVANS. A. I have a real soft spot for Jake Evans; he has worked his tail off to get to the NHL after being selected in the 7th round and doing his four years of college at Notre Dame followed by nearly two full seasons in Laval before cracking the Habs’ roster at the end of last season following the Nate Thompson trade to the Flyers. Expectations were for him to just be a decent fourth-liner this season, and in my mind, he has proven that he can be significantly more than that. I still think there’s offence to be unlocked in him, but whether or not that happens, Evans is already looking like a Danault-lite. Evans only played in seven games these playoffs, but his ice-time surpassed 16:45 in four of those games. I also thought his best performance of the year came on his birthday, on a line with Brendan Gallagher and Phillip Danault, in which he scored the insurance empty netter but was concussed by Mark Scheifele’s predatory hit on that very wraparound goal. Evans finished both the regular season and playoffs at over 50% in faceoffs and in his 17:21 of playoff PK time, the Habs did not concede once, a stark contrast to the regular season when the Habs conceded 16 goals in his 86:40 on the PK. Speaking of not conceding on the PK in the playoffs with Evans on the ice, the Habs scored three goals and conceded none in Evans’ 108:40 in the playoffs, his xGF% also stood at 53.46, good for third among Habs forwards having played at least 80 5v5 minutes. In the regular season, his GF% stood at an even 50 and his xGF% was at 50.36. All in all, it was a very good season for Evans and I see him as a great fit with Danault and Gallagher next season if his ability to play centre is not needed on the fourth line, a role I’m hopeful Ryan Poehling will be able to fill..

I know a lot of people adore Jesperi Kotkaniemi and believe he will be a great 1B centreman on this team a few years down the line, I also know a lot of people are really low on him and would like to see him moved while his value is still high since they think his upside is limited. I find myself falling between the two camps. I think Kotkaniemi has the tools to be a really solid second-line centreman in this league for a long time, growing into the role of a power forward with a wicked shot, all the while quarterbacking the second powerplay unit. He only turned 21 in the last week and has a lot of time to figure his game out. That being said, KK didn’t really demonstrate the ability to take control of a game this season that Nick Suzuki did, he either faded into the background or demonstrated great playmaking while not exactly driving the offence on his line. My worry with KK is that he has yet to figure out how to use his wicked shot, as he needs a really long time to get it off, time he isn’t given in the NHL, and that he has shown so much inconsistency offensively. I just think these limitations will end up preventing him from reaching that star level. In the playoffs, Kotkaniemi’s advanced metrics come in around 8th best of the 12 forwards to have played over 100 5v5 minutes. He did however score 5 goals, tied for second on the team; while these goals prompted a decent amount of media attention as his 9 playoff goals before hitting the age of 21 were on par with Gretzky and Crosby, this was fueled by a career playoff shooting percentage of 23.08%. For context, his career regular-season shooting percentage sits at 7.97%, so his playoff goalscoring rate is unsustainable. As a whole, Kotkaniemi showed some progression in his playmaking and vision from last season and his results, especially in the regular season (5 goals, 20 points in 56 games) were hurt by the constant shuffling of his linemates. If he’s given consistent linemates with some offensive acumen (such as Drouin and Anderson) next season, his totals should jump and we should be able to form a fuller opinion on the young Finn’s play.. . . JESPERI KOTKANIEMI. B

. PHILLIP DANAULT. A. Without Danault, this year’s playoff run would likely have ended by Game 5 of the Toronto series. His shutdown ability has never been more heavily leaned-on than it was in the 22 playoff games and I don’t think a forward with a single goal and four points has ever received this much positive media attention for their performances. While the Canadiens conceded 6 goals and only scored 4 with Danault on the ice at 5v5 in the playoffs, those 6 conceded goals came against lines comprising some of the most talented offensive players in the league and in 330 minutes of ice time. On a per 60 basis, the Habs conceded just 1.09 goals when Danault was on the ice, and this against the league’s best players; he was defensively phenomenal, to the point that when Tampa succeeded in matching the Point-Kucherov line with any line but Danault, and usually the Suzuki line, the Habs’ net was filled with pucks, but once Danault was given the matchup, the goalscoring dried up, curious… Danualt’s season ended on a real high, but it didn’t start that way, with many fans wanting to see him scratched at times as a wake-up call. Still, Danault’s regular-season possession numbers were ridiculously good and his impact in the playoffs is immeasurable. The Habs need to sign him; I don’t care that Jake Evans and Ryan Poehling could take on the bottom-6 centre positions on the cheap, players that force the opponents to tirelessly work matchups in the playoffs to allow their stars to produce are rare and tremendously valuable. The way I see it, the Habs could easily trade Danault for a great return if he gets pushed way down the depth chart by younger centremen, but until such a time comes, Danault is integral to this group and easily worth up to $5.75 million per season on a six-year deal. Sign him Berge, please..

A +. I was on the edge between A and A+ for Suzuki, but he ends up being the only player to retain an A+ grade from last season. I was a little bit hesitant because Suzuki went through a major slump in the midseason (2 goals and 6 points in 23 games), but he really cemented himself as a #1C in the playoffs and giving him anything other than an A+ felt wrong. Suzuki matched last season’s point total of 41 in 15 fewer games and he scored two more goals. While Suzuki shared the team lead in points last postseason with 7 in 10 games, he held the sole lead in goals and points these playoffs with 7 and 16 in 22 games. Suzuki’s creativity and true dual-threat ability as a passer and a shooter were on full display and his chemistry with Cole Caufield bodes extremely well for both the next year and the next decade. His playoff advanced stats were very middle of the pack among Habs forwards, but do consider the impact that a very high quality of competition would have on his numbers, especially since he spent most of his time alongside pre-rookie Caufield; good as they are, they’re exploitable. While his xGF% of 54.46 in the regular was fourth among forwards, his other metrics were also middle of the pack. One thing Suzuki has really improved on since last season has been his powerplay ability, the first unit really flowed through him all year; he was both the unit’s most dangerous passer and shooter, the latter title he may well lose to Caufield next season. While Suzuki’s skating has really progressed to NHL-average, if he can train to find that extra gear in the offseason, I think his progression to 1C may go all the more smoothly. His offensive abilities are clear for all to see and his defensive game is already at an elite level, the only aspect of his game in desperate need of improvement would be in the faceoff dot. his faceoff percentage fell from 46.28% last year to 43.97% this season. In the playoffs, that figure did rise to 45.73%, but it still needs to get a good boost, especially if he wants to complete his elite defensive game.. . . NICK SUZUKI

Next. Cole Caufield for Calder 2022. dark