Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson
The line of Paul Byron, Josh Anderson and Jesperi Kotkaniemi played together a lot in the postseason. They were fine, but they struggled to score goals consistently. With Danault gone, Kotkaneimi moves up the lineup and that opens this third line centre spot for Evans.
If these wingers struggled to score goals with Kotkaniemi as their centre, there is no reason to believe they’ll take off with Evans in the middle. Byron had just five goals in the regular season and though he had a couple of huge goals in the postseason, he really shouldn’t be penciled into a third line from day one of a season.
Evans showed he can handle the defensive responsibility at centre ice, he scored just three goals in 47 regular season games for the Canadiens this year. I’d have no problem with him playing on a shutdown line, but he doesn’t belong in the top nine until he shows a little more offence.
Upgrading third line centre and left wing should be looked at this offseason.
Artturi Lehkonen – Ryan Poehling – Jesse Ylonen
The Canadiens entire fourth line from the playoffs are slated to be free agents next week. Corey Perry, Eric Staal and Joel Armia were a formidable trio in the offensive zone. They all have size and know how to grind it out down low to win puck battles and maintain possession. This made them difficult to play against, but they could all be gone.
Right now, that would leave a fourth line of Artturi Lehkonen, Ryan Poehling and Jesse Ylonen. While Lehkonen certainly belongs on the fourth line regularly, Poehling and Ylonen aren’t proven to be NHL regulars yet. Poehling had a really strong season for the Laval Rocket and Ylonen was pretty solid as well.
If the Canadiens upgrade their third line left wing and centre there will be a natural trickle down here that could leave a shutdown fourth line of Lehkonen, Evans and Byron. That would be terrific and Poehling could battle the three of them for minutes as well, creating some tough competition at the bottom of the lineup. Ylonen could use another year in the AHL before cracking the NHL lineup.