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

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