Montreal Canadiens: 2020-21 Report Card Grades For Every Player
The Montreal Canadiens’ magical run came to an unfortunate end in Tampa. Let us take a look back at the season as a whole and grade every player on the team for their performance relative to expectations.
I really didn’t want to be writing this piece just yet. I always had the intention to do so once the season ended and already had an outline prepped after Game 4 of the Toronto series (I am not as optimistic as some of you wonderful fans). I wrote similar report card articles last season for the regular season, the Pittsburgh series and the postseason as a whole.
After Josh Anderson’s OT goal on Monday, my faith in a championship was partially restored; at the very least, it gave us one last genuine celebration for the 2020-21 season, something Nikita Kucherov didn’t seem to appreciate very much.
I would like to let you know that this is a very long read if you have the time, but the beauty of report cards is that you also have the option to simply fly through all the grades without reading the justification. Just a reminder that these grades are relative to expectations, so for instance, Joel Edmundson receiving a higher grade than Jeff Petry is simply indicative of him being better than he was expected to be, not that he’s a better player than Petry. Enough preamble, let’s start with the goalies.
A -. This was a tough grade to pin down. Price was mediocre at best in the regular season, barely squeezing above a .900 SV%, but he returned to Hart-trophy form in the playoffs. Unfortunately, that form ran cold in the first few games of the Tampa series before returning in the final two games. The only way the Canadiens were going to beat the Lightning was if they found a way to play their style of transition/dump-and-chase/hard defence hockey (they did not) and if Carey Price played like he had all playoffs, which wavered for a few games. Price was the team’s best player in the playoffs, though Nick Suzuki was a close second, but was part of the reason the Habs nearly missed the playoffs, to begin with. A mediocre regular season is a luxury Price won’t be able to afford in the Atlantic next season, but his playoff heroics won’t soon be forgotten.. . . CAREY PRICE
Without Jake Allen, the Canadiens’ wonderful Cinderella run never would have occurred; not because of his playoff contributions (he played 0 minutes) but because the Habs would have missed the playoffs entirely. According to Moneypuck.com, Allen’s 2.3 goals saved above expected (GSAx) was tenth in the league among goalies to have played in at least 25 games and eighteenth among all goalies. Allen’s save percentage of .907 doesn’t look amazing but his actual play outshone that of Carey Price quite significantly in regular-season play. Count me among those crossing their fingers that Seattle foregoes the opportunity to pick up this particular stellar 1B goaltender.. . . JAKE ALLEN. A
B -. For the players who played at least one game with the Canadiens but were also big contributors on the Laval Rocket, I will take their AHL performance into consideration, which I feel comfortable doing since I watched more than half of Laval’s games this season. Primeau demonstrated some struggles this season but still projects to be the heir of Price’s throne in net, long term. He only started four NHL games this season, of which he won one. He conceded four goals in each of his losses (one of which lasted just 20 minutes before being pulled). He was good in Laval, but not dominant. He struggled a little bit early on in the season but picked up his play in the second half; he was also named to the AHL Canadian Division’s All-Star Team. Primeau’s going to be good, but it may be best if he is still given a few years of development in Laval.. . . CAYDEN PRIMEAU