2. Josh Anderson - 18 Goals
Josh Anderson is a streaky scorer to say the least. We saw the extreme ends of that in 2023 as he had a bit of a hot stretch late in the 2022-23 season and also an incredibly cold streak early in the 2023-24 campaign.
All in all, he ended up playing 70 games in 2023 and scored 18 times. He does have six of them this season after starting the year with zero goals in the month of October and November. There are only seven hockey playing months on the calendar and this guy was shutout for two of them, while also missing 11 games during a different part of the year.
That is not an endorsment of the Canadiens goal scoring abilities. A streaky scorer like Anderson should be a complementary piece overall, and not the team's second best goal scorer over a full year.
1. Nick Suzuki - 22 Goals
Nick Suzuki is Mr. Everything for the Canadiens. He is the captain, the first line center, the leading point scorer in the calendar year and also the team's top goal scorer in 2023 as well.
Part of that is due to health. While he played every one of the team's 81 games, Caufield was held to 45 though he had the best goals per game on the year. Suzuki did have a great 2023, scoring 22 times to lead all Montreal Canadiens players and also developing his defensive game to become a better all-around player.
This output placed Suzuki in a tie for 91st overall in the NHL in 2023 in goals scored, which isn't ideal for a team's leading goal scorer. Here's hoping for a big breakout from Juraj Slafkovsky and a return to dominance from Cole Caufield so we have someone inside the top 90 in goals scored in 2024.