The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a last-place season in 2021-22. They followed that up with a winless preseason. While putting stock in preseason wins is a bit tough, having a goose egg in that column is a reason for some concern.
The season is going to be a long one. The Montreal Canadiens are rebuilding. While this is not news to many, it was known that this was the case, but it’s still going to make for a rough season.
One of the issues is going to be finding offense on a rebuilding team. Scoring is going to be down, and finding ways to get the puck into the back of the net is going to be hard at times. For young forward Jake Evans, it’s going to put him in a tough spot.
He’s coming off a career season where he broke out and got things going with the offense. Evans will be tasked with trying to produce the same or continue at that pace in an offense that will struggle to create offense.
Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans with a tough task ahead.
Maybe I’m wrong. The core forwards like Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Kirby Dach might tap into their scoring side and find ways to score. But the track record for a team that is rebuilding is not high to produce a ton of offense.
This leaves Evans in a tough spot, having to try and sustain the level of performance he showed in 2021-22. He played in 72 games, scoring 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 total points for the Habs last season.
The Habs invested in Evans last season, giving him a three-year extension with an annual value of $1.7 million. He ended up performing well and finding a good role in the Habs offense. While last year’s team was brutal, too, and he mustered up 29 points, it will be a tall ask for him to do it again.
It’s not that Evans does not have the ability. He’s shown his ability to perform at the NHL level with his performance last year. But for the Habs, there has to be hope he can perform at the same level as last season.
Evans has his work cut out for him. He’s not the only one, as the whole Habs offense will have their work cut out this year. But it will be interesting to see how Evans bounces back this year after the 2021-22 season.