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

. . 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 +