Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Who Have Far Exceeded Expectations This Season
Alexander Romanov
The best thing to come out of this lost season for the Canadiens is that a number of young players have taken huge steps forward.
Following last season’s playoff run, a lot was expected out of forwards Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. They were two of the top three scorers on the Habs in the postseason and were expected to play like first line forwards this season.
They didn’t at first, but sure are now. You could say they have exceeded expectations for the past two months, but over the course of the season they are really producing as expected, or maybe a little below.
The same can’t be said for defence man Alexander Romanov.
The 22 year old defender’s value can’t defined by the same numbers as Suzuki’s points or Caufield’s goals, but he has taken a huge step forward this season. Romanov was a healthy scratch in all but four of the Habs playoff games, being passed over for veterans Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson on a nightly basis.
The same thing wouldn’t happen again now.
To begin this season, Romanov only reached the 20 minute mark in two of the Canadiens first 17 games. Since St. Louis took over two months ago, Romanov has played under 20 minutes just four times and has never played less than 19 minutes in a game.
The Canadiens most recent contest was a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and their high flying offence. Yet, there was Romanov taking plenty of shifts against Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Romanov has improved at both ends of the ice seemingly every night this season. He has gone from healthy scratch in the playoffs to a legit top four defender and perhaps a guy who can soon be a trusted top pairing defenceman on a nightly basis.
His point totals aren’t an indicator of his strong play, but the fact he played 25 minutes against the Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers recently shows his coach trusts him against the top offences in the game.
That’s an enormous step forward from where he was at the beginning of the year.
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