Montreal Canadiens: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Josh Anderson

Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin is no stranger to the big earth-shattering offseason trade. In 2016, it was trading away star defender P.K. Subban to Nashville for current captain Shea Weber. In 2017, it was the trade that brought Quebecois player Jonathan Drouin for blue-chip defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev. Last year, it was the swap of Max Domi and Josh Anderson, with the Canadiens giving up a third-round pick to land Anderson.

It was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time. the Canadiens were looking for a landing spot for Domi since he had dropped all the way down to the fourth line in the playoffs in 2019 and set to become a restricted free agent, and a 72-point season the year before would drive up his worth. The Columbus Blue Jackets obliged by giving him a two-year deal worth $5.3 million per year.

Josh Anderson was kind of the opposite. A steady grower in Columbus, each year he topped himself in goals and points, that is before 2019-20. A shoulder injury kept him out of most of the season, limiting him to 26 games and one goal and four points. Instead of Columbus’ short-term deal for Domi, Bergevin locked up Anderson long-term for seven years and $5.5 million per year.

It was a doubly strange deal. Domi was a hot commodity that people were talking about being a major piece in a trade that could bring in Patrik Laine. But it took a sweetener as well as Domi to bring in Anderson, who is decidedly not Laine, who only scored one goal last year. Some people were disappointed but saw this as a move that could save money. Anderson only made $1.85 million the year before and didn’t have the leverage Domi had of a 72 point season. But then Anderson got more term and more money than Domi.

Skepticism was the name of the game when it came to Anderson’s debut. If you knew him from his time in Columbus, you knew what he was capable of. He is big, fast and willing to play a physical game. The contract goes until he is 32 and contains a modified no-trad clause after the first year.  The threat of physical decline is there, but he should just be entering out of his prime when the contract ends.

Then, he played his first game in a Habs’ uniform.

It was a losing effort, but Anderson scored two goals, one a wrist shot as time was expiring in the first period and the second goal was the stereotypical Josh Anderson goal. He took on John Tavares, blew past him at the blue line and scored a beauty. And his first month as a Canadien went a similar way, with four goals and five points in eight games. The second month, it was the same as the first: five goals and seven points in 11 games. By March, his production had dropped to six goals and eight points in 17 games. That is a drop-off from 0.625 points per game to 0.470.

The month of March was bad, but April was worse. In all six regular-season games in April, Anderson failed to register a point. Combined with the last five games of March, that means Anderson went 11 games without registering a point.

The first game of the playoffs made Canadiens fans hopeful for the return of Josh Anderson. He scored the first goal of the series against Toronto, but then went silent again. This time he went 12 playoff games without a point before his two-goal game against Vegas in the third round. Anderson then finished the postseason registering one assist in Game 5 of the Vegas series, and two goals in Game 4 against Tampa.

And that is the big problem with Josh Anderson. In one game, Anderson looks like he could be one of the most dominant players in the league. He truly is a one-of-a-kind player. The speed of McDavid with the size and physicality of Tom Wilson without any of the nastiness.

But then, in the next game, he is invisible. He can, at times, sway the game in Montreal’s favour with a big hit or a thrilling rush up the ice. But too often he just does not contribute when he is not putting points on the board. He has the chops to be a Brendan Gallagher type, but doesn’t quite have the ability to drive play like Gallagher does.

If there is one thing that Josh Anderson is good at producing, is that about once per game he will get a step on a defender and rush the net. It worked against Tavares and Frederik Andersen in the first game of the season, however it rarely turned into goals, especially in the playoffs. Every time he would rush down the ice, butts would be brought forward in their seats, only to slide back in disappointment.

Runs like these made McDavid a human highlight reel, but he would put those pucks in the net. Too many times those runs would not even register a shot for Anderson, fizzling out behind the net, or ending up too close to get a good shot. These rushes are among the most exciting moments in a game, but Anderson needs to find a way to turn these chances into goals, especially come playoff time.

As Dr. Jekyll, he can blow the game right open, like in a game against Edmonton, where McDavid and he scored goals eleven seconds apart. His goal in the Final looked like a work of art as he slid through the Tampa zone on his back celebrating. But his only other goal in the Tampa series was in that game, and he lacked impact in the whole series and quite often in the playoffs as Mr. Hyde. If the Canadiens are going to go far next season and if Anderson wants to justify the amount of money put into him, he is going to have to find more consistency.

He makes a lot of money for someone who doesn’t score points in 11 and 12 straight games. And with the addition of Mike Hoffman as a top-six winger, Anderson, who found himself on the third line often in the playoffs, might find his spot on the roster in jeopardy. Hopefully, he can return to his 27 goal form and be a bit more Dr. Jekyll than Mr. Hyde.