Montreal Canadiens: Examining the Four Forward Lines
By Joshua Rosa
Second Line: Jonathan Drouin – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson
The other big offensive acquisition, and the one that will be ready for the start of the season is Christian Dvorak. With Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi leaving, the Canadiens were in dire need of centre help, and Dvorak should help in that regard.
It is hard to analyze what exactly Dvorak brings to the table. He has previously played his entire NHL career with the Arizona Coyotes, who have not iced the most respectable team in the league, but Dvorak has put up respectable numbers in his career so far.
Dvorak has scored at least 15 goals in each full year he has played in the NHL, and his numbers suggest that he could be getting better and better. If this past season was a full NHL season, Dvorak was on pace to put up career best goal and point totals.
And a big plus is he gets to play with a healthy Jonathan Drouin and Josh Anderson. These players are undoubtedly better than his teammates in Arizona, no offence. But Drouin is one of the most gifted offensive players on the Canadiens, and they don’t make many players like Josh Anderson, a big and fast power horse.
Dvorak will come into Monteal as probably their best faceoff man, especially with Danault out of the picture. Drouin is looking to come back to the Habs after a leave of absence and reach his full potential. This could be a line that absolutely dominates by using speed and skill. The problem is that those skills aren’t really in the goalscoring department.
Drouin will not score goals. Even the new and improved, best that he can be Drouin, he will not score many goals. 10-15 goals for sure, 20 maybe if its a good year, but that’s about the ceiling. Dvorak has scored about the same amount, 15-20 goals, but he could score more with better teammates. His goals pretty much all come from good positioning and pouncing on juicy rebounds.
Josh Anderson is an intriguing player. He has scored 27 goals in a season as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and shows flashes of brilliance. His start in Montreal was fantastic. Two goals in his first game against Toronto is a great way to endear your way to the Montreal faithful. But he would score 9 of his 17 goals in the first 13 games of the season, and finished the season with a lengthy pointless streak.
Anderson is capable of these fantastic rushes up the ice, and can beat pretty much any defender to the outside and cut into the middle for a dangerous chance. But too often, he would be too close to the goalie to put a meaningful shot on net and there were times when he would miss the net or not even register a shot.
Drouin has the skill to get the puck to Dvorak and Anderson. The jury’s still out on whether they have the goalscoring ability to score on a regular basis. Its also pretty unknown how this line will be used. Dvorak was brought into as a replacement for Danault, many have said, so does that mean this line will be lining up against the other team’s top lines? It would free up Suzuki’s line for more offensive opportunities, but Drouin’s strengths are definitely on the other side of the ice. This will be a line to watch.