Canadiens: Three Players Underperforming So Far This Season

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The Montreal Canadiens stormed out of the gates with a much better record early on than anyone expected. It took some extra time, and a few third period comebacks, but the team was looking great after about 10% of the season.

Their record after eight games was 5-2-1 which put them in unfamiliar territory as they were firmly inside a playoff position. Obviously that was quite early in the season, and no one was changing their final predictions to include the Canadiens as a team that would have home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs, but it was a pleasant surprise to see them pile up 11 points in the first eight games.

Since then the team has lost three straight on a tough road trip out west. It started well as they outplayed the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights but lost in a shootout. That wasn’t all that troubling and a tough 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes followed. Their 6-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on the weekend was not their best effort, and it dropped their record to 5-4-2.

That is probably still a little better than most anticipated, but the quick three game slide has seen them drop back to the middle of the pack in the overall standings.

Yesterday, we looked at three players who have performed above expectations and helped the team get off to a better start than expected. Today, we look at the flip side of the coin, and focus on three players who have played below their expected level so far this season.

You can’t be greedy, as all teams will have players that play above expectations and some players that don’t play to the same level they have in the past. But it is interesting to wonder how good the team’s record could be if these three players got off to better starts this season.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard

At one time, not much at all would have been expected from Rafael Harvey-Pinard. He was a player that went undrafted twice before the Canadiens selected him with a seventh round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

He was a skilled player that piled up points in the QMJHL, but he was a bit undersized and NHL teams clearly didn’t think he could translate his style of play to the big league level while standing at 5’9″.

Harvey-Pinard did his best to prove he could handle the pro level by playing great for the Laval Rocket as soon as he turned pro. He had nine goals and 20 points in 36 AHL games as a rookie and then put up 21 goals and 56 points in 69 games the following season. He also showed up with a feistyness and battle level that far exceeded his height.

He became such a tough, in your face style of player that he was given the nickname Lavallagher as his play resembled that of Brendan Gallagher so much.

He was given a lengthy look at the NHL level for the first time last season and was terrific. He scored 14 goals and 20 points in 34 games and was playing that same tenacious forechecking and battling style that earned him praise from his teammates on a regular basis.

No one expected him to keep scoring at a 34 goal pace like he did last season, but he was given a prime position on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

That should have put him in a position to put up points, but he ended up with zero goals and four assists in ten games before being injured. It doesn’t sound like a long term injury, so he should be back and helping the team soon. We would expect him to start putting a few pucks in the net after he returns, but, surprisingly, he was not able to do that in the first ten games of the year.

Juraj Slafkovsky

Juraj Slafkovsky was drafted first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and didn’t exactly dominate in his first NHL season. He had some ups and downs in that rookie season, but overall he looked a little lost on the ice and kept getting run over by opponents without ever seeing them coming.

He finished the season with four goals and ten points in 39 games before being injured for the second half of the season.

With a taste of NHL action, and an offseason to recuperate and prepare for the rigours of the toughest league in the world, it was expected Slafkovsky would be better this season. I don’t know that anyone expected him to really break out and score at a point per game pace, but he was expected to look a lot more comfortable than he did last season. And surely he could score a bit more than once every eight games, right?

Well, no. Slafkovsky had a strong training camp, which led to the heightened expectations, and set up Alex Newhook for a nice goal on opening night of the season. After that, he had zero points in nine consecutive games. There were calls coming from everywhere to send him down the AHL’s Laval Rocket as he was struggling to get any results.

Slafkovsky instead was moved up to the top line and scored on Saturday night against the Blues. However, he still has just one goal and two points in 11 games, which means there are seven goalies with as many assists as him. That’s not ideal and I think more was expected from him this season.

Josh Anderson

Josh Anderson will earn $8 million this season. He doesn’t get that much cash each year, but he is right in the middle of his seven year contract that has an annual cap hit of $5.5 million, and earns far more than that in the 2023-24 season.

Anderson has shown plenty of tools in the first three years of his contract. He can fly down the wing, has a great wrist shot that beats goaltenders clean and he plays a physical, forechecking style that can wear down opponents.

But he can go colder than a reindeer’s hoof for long stretches as well. While he has looked okay at times this season, there has been no production whatsoever from Anderson. He has zero goals and just one assist in 11 games while playing in the top six all year as well as being planted in the slot on the first power play every night.

While there is an occasional burst of energy speed or a decent scoring chance turned aside, more is expected from someone earning more money than most of the league this season. While fans and media members alike piled on Slafkovsky for his lack of production, Anderson was mostly spared from the online rage, while earning about ten times the money and putting up the same number of points in the team’s first ten games of the season.

Anderson has regularly scored around a 25 goal pace over an 82 game schedule, but has none after 11 games this season. Far more was expected from the veteran winger, but we just have not seen him get the job done this season.

Next. Why Is Anderson Immune To Slafkovsky Criticism?. dark

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