Montreal Canadiens: Trying to Fix the Broken Offence
By Joshua Rosa
Second Line
The second line of Josh Anderson – Christian Dvorak – Jonathan Drouin has been Montreal’s best line so far. It hasn’t been perfect, but Drouin leads the team with two of the four Montreal goals. Josh Anderson has one assist on a beautiful pass to Drouin for Montreal’s first goal of the season. Dvorak also has just one assist.
To tell you the truth, this line has not produced enough offence. It would be fine, but there has been absolutely no help from the rest of the team. Drouin has been the bright spot this season offensively, but Dvorak has been doing something special.
So far this year, Dvorak has won 59 faceoffs. That is good for 4th in the league, behind Leon Draisaitl, Bo Horvat and John Tavares. This is good for 55.1%, or 15th best in the league. 15th best in the league, but he has taken the second most faceoffs in the entire league behind Horvat. Its safe to say that if you double the amount of faceoffs Anton Lundell or Joel Eriksson-Ek or Derek Ryan, their percentages fall back down to earth.
Dvorak has always been good for winning faceoffs his entire career, and he is reliable defensively. Drouin is not really. He is one of the most talented offensive players on the ice, and his vision and passing ability are almost second to none, but his physical play and defensive ability leave much to the imagination. But the good thing is that Dvorak can make up for that.
Josh Anderson is a pure force on the ice. He does not always get results, but is a livewire and can galvanize the team with a big hit or a exciting rush up the ice. But there is something not working with this whole offense, so something has to be changed. With Dvorak’s faceoff winning percentage and defensive capabilities and Drouin’s playmaking, an offensive goalscorer would be a perfect one.
The question is which one. Mike Hoffman and Tyler Toffoli are good options. Hoffman has a great shot, but as previously stated, is a powerplay specialist, and I don’t know how much I like the idea of him playing top 6 minutes on the team in even strength situations. Tyler Toffoli has been on the top line for the last little while now, and scored 28 goals last season. Toffoli has never been an out-and-out sniper, and more uses his positioning and hockey smarts to score goals rather than his shot.
And there is someone that I think could use the lack of defensive responsibility, easier match-ups and Drouin’s passing ability, and that is Cole Caufield. Caufield would benefit from a lot of ice time to build up his confidence, but these linemates might be perfect to shelter his mistakes, and get his offensive game going.