Montreal Canadiens: Top Five Habs Goal Scorers In 2023

The Montreal Canadiens, like everyone, closed the book on 2023 and look forward to an improved version of themselves in 2024. Before they head to Dallas to take on the Stars in their first game of the new year, we are looking back at some of their highlights from the past 12 months.

The calendar year of 2023 was not the greatest in franchise history, but we are shedding some light on the greatest players on the team over the previous year.

Here, we are going to look back at the top five goal scorers for the Canadiens in the year 2023. Now remember, the team was not all that great, going 31-42-8 in their 81 games over the past year which is the fifth worst record in the NHL over the past 12 months. They scored 230 goals which was the sixth least in that time.

So, let's take a look back at the Canadiens top five goal scorers in 2023.

5. Mike Matheson - 13

The first word that pops to mind when you think of MIke Matheson is not, sniper, but he does get pucks to the net on the power play and is never shy to jump into the rush to join the attack.

He was mostly healthy in 2023, though he started his first season with the Canadiens on injured reserve, and played a total of 74 of the team's 81 games in the calendar year. He quickly jumped onto the team's top defense pairing and was one of the ice time leaders averaging 24:53 per game. That put him 8th in average ice time among all NHLers in 2023.

Matheson doesn't have the booming slapshot of Sheldon Souray, but he loves to join the attack and often finds himself deep in the offensive zone with the puck. His 13 goals in the past 12 months rank 16th among blue liners in the league, and fifth among Montreal Canadiens players.