4 Big Questions for the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-2021
Here are Four Big Questions for the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-21.
The Montreal Canadiens have not made an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since the 1992-1993 season, and have not even seen the Eastern Conference Finals in a decade. Some Hockey fans might go as far as saying that Montreal has let the career of one of the best goaltenders of a generation go to waste in Carey Price.
Even last season’s Playoff appearance in the Bubble had some controversy attached. Despite going 31-31-9 before COVID-19 halted the 2019-20 regular-season, the NHL magically came up with a postseason scenario that included both the Chicago and Montreal markets. In hindsight, both the Blackhawks and the Canadiens pulled off big upsets in the play-in round which made for some entertaining hockey. So complaints became a whisper.
The NHL selecting a scenario that put the Canadiens into the playoffs may have done more for the club than any other recent management move. From the outside looking in, Montreal’s unexpected postseason success seems to have been the catalyst for the front office to be very proactive this offseason.
This leads us to the first big question facing the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020-21 NHL Season…
4. How will the Canadiens’ offseason acquisitions perform?
If you watched the World Junior Championships (WJCs) you saw the Canadiens 2019 First-Round pick Cole Caufield win the Gold Medal with Team USA. Unfortunately, Caufield might not quite be NHL ready for another year or two. Instead, Montreal made big additions through both Free Agency and via trade.
Perhaps one of the more surprising moves made this offseason was Montreal trading away Max Domi for Josh Anderson, then promptly signing Anderson to a long-term seven-year deal. The Canadiens have got to be expecting very big things from Anderson as they also shipped off a Third-Round pick with Domi. Anderson did score 27 goals in the 2018-2019 season but battled injuries last season, scoring only one goal in 26 games.
The biggest signing of the offseason, however, was that of Tyler Toffoli who signed a four-year deal that averages $4.25 million per year. Toffoli is a top-six winger who has experience with winning a Stanley Cup in Los Angeles in the 2013-2014 season. He will add much-needed scoring from the wing in Montreal.
Depth, depth, depth was a huge story last season in the Bubble, and this year with travel, taxi squads, and regular COVID testing it will be more important than ever. The Canadiens have made plenty of depth moves too. They signed veterans Corey Perry and Michael Frolik to round out their forward core, as well as trading for the rights to sign Joel Edmunson from the Carolina Hurricanes before signing him and keeping him off the free-agent market.
New additions could just not work. The lack of chemistry is one of the risk factors of any roster addition. The best example I always go back to is that while playing for the dynastic Colorado Avalanche of 20+ years ago, Hall of Fame forwards Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic never really played together consistently.
So will these veteran additions mesh? A lot of that will depend on the returning players for Montreal and their ability to get everyone on the same page. This brings up a very seamless transition to our next question…
3. Do the Canadiens have the center depth and skill to be successful?
Phillip Danault is the most experienced center for Montreal. In an 82-game season, he is a 40-50 point producer. He is a very valuable two-way forward. He can kill penalties and take important face-offs. But he is not going to consistently be setting up one-timers to Toffoli or defenseman Shea Weber.
The responsibility of driving more offense will fall on 21-year-old Nick Suzuki and 20-year-old Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Suzuki was drafted 13th overall in 2017 by the Vegas Golden Knights and was acquired by Montreal in the Max Pacioretty trade. Kotkaniemi was drafted 3rd overall in 2018 by Montreal before Brady Tkachuk (4th overall by Ottawa) and Quinn Hughes (7th overall by Vancouver).
Suzuki scored 41 points in his first season of NHL play, including seven points in ten Stanley Cup Playoff games. The performance was worthy of 17 votes and a 9th place finish for the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2019-20. For context, last season was a historic year for NHL rookies including Cale Makar and the aforementioned Quinn Hughes, so9th place was an accomplishment for Suzuki.
Kotmaniemi, on the other hand, did not have a good 2020. In 36 games he scored six goals with two assists. He was sent down the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate the Laval Rocket. In his AHL time, he was a point-per-game player and earned an invitation to the Playoff Bubble with Montreal in which he scored four goals in ten games.
Templated as the team’s fourth-line center is a former Team U.S.A. World Juniors hero, Ryan Poehling. The St. Cloud State product was the MVP of the 2019 WJCs. He has seen action in two NHL seasons, playing a total of 28 games and tallying five points. As a former First-Round draft choice Poehling has certain expectations but has yet to find his groove at the NHL level. He is still very young at the age of 22 and could end up meeting those expectations, but in 2021 Montreal is looking for him to at least prove he can be a regular starter.
Youth up the middle is an understatement for Montreal. There is a reason that centers come at a steeper cost than wingers in the NHL. The success of the Canadiens is directly tied to the success of their very young centers in the 2020-2021 season.
2. Is $15 million in goaltending worth it?
Carey Price has been the most consistent thing going for the Canadiens over the past decade. Price was drafted fifth overall in 2005 by Montreal, has been an All-Star six times, and in the 2014-2015 season was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Ted Lindsay Award, the Vezina Trophy, and the William M. Jennings Trophy. In 2014-2015, Price was not only the best goalie in the NHL but the best player as well.
Maybe the best goalie in the NHL is worth an eight-year $84 million contract, but Price is now 33-years-old and not the clear-cut best in the NHL. The 13-year vet is a top-ten goalie for sure, and arguably more like top-five. Either way, his services are costing the Habs $10 million a season.
One would assume that Carey Price’s backup goalie would be a carousel of borderline NHL level goaltenders. If for no other reason than salary cap management. Well, Montreal had money to spend this offseason and traded for former St. Louis Blues starting goalie, Jake Allen.
Allen has had seven years of NHL experience and has racked up 148 career wins with a .913% save percentage. We cannot forget the grace he showed when rookie sensation Jordan Binnington took the starting job from him in the 2018-2019 season and then led the Blues to a Stanley Cup ring.
The Canadiens are now spending $4.3 million on a backup goalie, and a monstrous $14.8 million overall on goaltending on the NHL roster (not including a Taxi Squad goalie). Is that going to pay off?
Worst case, Carey Price and the Canadiens will start the season with the confidence that Jake Allen will usually put them in position to win a game. Best case, Allen provides a winning record when in the net and provides the Montreal Canadiens the opportunity to keep Price well-rested in a season that will regularly have four games a week.
1. How will Montreal’s young defensemen perform in 2020-21?
Leading the Montreal Canadiens defensive core is 35-year-old Shea Weber and 33-year-old Jeff Petry. That means both experience and the possibility of diminishing returns. I am a fan of both defensemen, but I doubt that means anything to the Canadiens.
The next tier of Montreal defensemen is not as clear cut. All pairings seem bound to be adjusted as the season or even individual games unfold. The Canadiens expect big things from 22-year-old Victor Mete, who is going into his fourth season of NHL action. Even more excitement surrounds 2018 Second-Round pick Alexander Romanov who is predicted to make his NHL debut this season.
Mete has been serviceable to this point in his young career showing growth as his points-per-game numbers have risen in each of his three seasons so far. Mete finished the 2019-2020 regular season with 11 points in 51 games, while playing as a defense-first type of blueliner.
And, while Romanov might not have league-wide hype, he was stellar in the 2020 World Junior Championship, scoring six points in seven games for Russia and he has the skill-set needed to take the NHL by storm in 2020-21.
Next. 4 Big Questions for the Wild in 2020-21. dark
If these two young guns can be more like cannons than pistols, then the Montreal Canadiens will not only succeed in 2020-21, but it will also set up the team’s future success. After all, Jeff Petry and Shea Weber cannot play forever.