Wednesday night saw the Montreal Canadiens get another strong night from veteran forward Josh Anderson. He tallied two goals in a 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals.
It also marked his second straight night putting a shot in the back of the net.
The 32-year-old winger has been a significant piece of the offense early in the season. He has four goals and two assists for six points across seven games. He’s tied for the most goals with the captain, Nick Suzuki, and is third on the team in points overall.
Of the 21 goals scored by the Habs so far, he played a role in 28.5% of them. It’s not anything monumental, but it’s a sign that he’s off his strong pace relative to what we normally see from him.
By comparison, of the 279 goals scored by the team last year, he got on the score sheet for 8.2% of them.
He averaged 0.32 points per game in 2025-26. So far in 2026-27, he’s averaging 0.85 points per game. What would that translate to over 84 games? 72 points. He’s also on pace for 48 goals.
It would be his career-best for either year by a wide margin. His 27 goals and 47 assists in 2018-19 with the Columbus Blue Jackets are both of his career highs. It’s the season that convinced Montreal to flip Max Domi for him.
Since then, he hasn’t really come close to either stat, apart from his 21 goals in 2022-23. That doesn't mean he hasn't been valuable to the team, but offensive production isn't always expected.
For now, he’s helping elevate an anemic offense that would be in a tighter spot without him.
Could it be that this is the moment that bigger production arrives?
Uh, we’ll see. It’s been seven games. If he’s doing this around American Thanksgiving or beyond, he can have a more serious conversation.
Sample sizes are everything. Last year, he had an eight-game stretch in November where he posted six points, including four goals. He had 15 points in his 51 remaining games. One-fifth of those points came in a single three-point game.
If you’re the Canadiens, you ride the wave while you can. It’s certainly offensive production they can’t afford to go without right now.
Other key players just haven’t stepped up, or they’ve been hurt. Juraj Slafkovsky has been off to a slow start, though he had a solid night against Buffalo recently. Meanwhile, Ivan Demidov has played only played in two games and Oliver Kapanen has yet to take the ice this season.
Even when Slafkovsky gets going and Demidov gets healthy, the Habs will still want this production. It would help absorb a potential drop-off from Anderson, but the more guys doing their part, the better.
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