Montreal Canadiens: Top Five Point Producers 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 count down the top five point producers for the Canadiens in the year 2023.
5. Justin Barron - 26 Points
Somewhat surprisingly in the top five of point scorers for the Canadiens is Justin Barron. He is an offensive minded defenseman, which makes sense since he is on this list, but he also started this season as a healthy scratch and had to work his way into the regular rotation of defenders.
Since then, he has become a valuable offensive contributor this season. The Canadiens are among the top teams at getting scoring from their blue line and Barron's six goals and 11 points in 31 games are a big part of the reason why. He also closed out last season as a regular member of the defense and had a total of 26 points in 69 games played in 2023.
As we move forward into 2024, Barron can be more confident in the fact he has solidified himself as an everyday player at the NHL level. He also continues to develop chemistry with Kaiden Guhle and the pairing could be a formidable duo in the Canadiens top four for a very long time.
While Barron's developing nicely, it does say a lot about the current state of the Montreal Canadiens that a player with 26 points in 69 games was the fifth highest scorer in the year 2023.
4. Josh Anderson - 31 Points
Josh Anderson had a ridiculously long dry spell to begin this season of hockey. He entered the 2023-24 season as a potential fit on the team's top line or possibly an option to play on the second line with Kirby Dach, but his lack of production quickly became almost unbelievable.
Anderson had just two points, both assists, in his first 23 games of this season. That means he was pretty much shut out in the months of October and November even though he played every game. He was also injured for a little while early in the calendar year, missing 11 games, which is about a month's worth of action.
Still, even though he missed a month and didn't get any points in two others, he is the third highest point producer on the Canadiens in 2023. A hot streak nearing the end of the year catapulted him ahead of a few others and close to the top of this list.
Anderson finished the year off with a total of 31 points in 70 games played. He is a tremendously streaky player and had some of the lowest of lows a player can imagine in the year 2023. He is locked in on a long term deal with a nice cap hit but must have been incredibly frustrated for the first two months of this season as he could not find the back of the net at all and only had an assist per month.
Yet, he is the third highest point producer on the Canadiens in 2023.
3. Cole Caufield - 32 Points
The Canadiens have long been known as a team that lacks elite offensive talent. During his entire career, Carey Price only had one teammate score 80 points and that was Alex Kovalev during Price's rookie season.
The Canadiens have not had a 50 goal scorer since the 1980's and it has been nearly 30 years since they even had a 40 goal scorer. The player most likely to finally end that streak of futility is Cole Caufield.
The 22 year old sniper has dealt with some ups and downs in his NHL career this far but has shown the potential to be a thrilling goal scorer. He was injured for much of the second half of the 2022-23 season, and hasn't been filling the net with pucks to begin the 2023-24 season, but still managed the fourth most points in 2023 for the Canadiens.
He was limited to just 45 of the team's 81 games in the calendar year, but still had more points than all but three of his teammates. His 32 points don't sound like a ton but it put him close to a 60 point pace over a full season. That makes you worry less about Caufield's production, but still highlights the fact the Canadiens don't have many offensive weapons when 32 points over a full year's worth of games puts him third on the team's list.
Hopefully Caufield can greatly increase that point total in 2024 and let's all hope the Canadiens have more than four players reach the 30 point mark over the next year.
2. Mike Matheson - 55 Points
When he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Matheson was seen as more of a cap dump by the Pens, or at least a necessary cap maneuver to acquire Jeff Petry. It didn't take long for the Pens to regret the trade, and the Canadiens to look very wise for getting a lot for a player that wanted out.
Petry was not able to be a difference maker for the Penguins in his one season there, and was eventually moved back to the Canadiens so the Penguins could make room for Erik Karlsson. He was quickly then flipped to the Detroit Red Wings but is collecting pay from the Pens, Canadiens and Wings as no one wanted his full cap hit.
Meanwhile, Matheson has blossomed into one of the busiest defensemen in the NHL as his ice time skyrocketed upon arriving in Montreal and so did his production. He did miss some time to begin last season, but was able to suit up for 74 of the team's 81 games in 2023.
Matheson scored 55 points in the year, which put him comfortably inside the top 20 among defenders in points. It also put him well ahead of the Canadiens third highest scoring player making him one of the most valuable members of the team in 2023.
The Canadiens have a plethora of young defenders working their way into full time duty at the NHL level, but Matheson remains the team's unquestioned number one defender for now.
1. Nick Suzuki - 66 Points
Nick Suzuki has become the player that just does it all for the Montreal Canadiens. Since being acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights for Max Pacioretty he has just gotten better and better each year.
That trend continued in 2023 as Suzuki saw his defensive game continue to grow as he works towards being a trusted penalty killing option and a player that can shut down the opposition in key situations as well.
Of course, Suzuki continued to add plenty of offense as well, and though no other forward had more than 31 points, he more than doubled that with 66 of his own. It is one thing to put up impressive offensive numbers in the NHL and it is quite another to seemingly do it all on your own. While he had some help, he remains well ahead of any other forward on the team.
Suzuki is a key part of what the Canadiens are trying to build in Montreal, but if this list shows us anything, it is that the team is going to have to find more help for him if they want to have more success in 2024, 2025 and beyond.
A first line center who can put up 64 points in a year when no other forward reached 34 is a great start and since Suzuki is just 24 years old he should be even better in the coming years. Now he just needs someone to join him.