Habs News: Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Philip Danault, Jonathan Drouin, Joel Armia, Claude Julien, Marc Bergevin
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — With the Canadiens finishing 19th in the league in goals per game averaging 2.93 per game in the regular season and 17th in the post season with 2.30 goals per game, it was evident that Marc Bergevin would be looking to improve the offence ahead of the 2020-21 season. The team also needed to improve the power play that finished 22nd in the regular season with 17.7 percent success rate and 17th in the post season with 15.2 success rate.
To help the club in that respect, Bergevin acquired Josh Anderson from Columbus before signing him to a long term contract, and then signed free agent Tyler Toffoli to a four-year contract. Those two players were identified by the general manager for the need to add a power forward and goal scoring.
Projected Lines
The offensive group has been upgraded with the additions of Anderson and Toffoli to the roster. It’s certainly the best group of forwards that Claude Julien has had in his current tenure with Montreal.
“Marc [Bergevin] and I always have discussions, and we agree on things. One thing that Marc doesn’t want to do is to bring a player to Montreal and say ‘I give you this player and take him even if you don’t like him.’ It’s work that’s done in group,” Julien explained his influence on the acquisitions.
When Julien recently met the media, he didn’t want to talk about his line combinations because he said that they can change at any time. He didn’t fool me though. I’m convinced that Julien prepared his line combinations as soon as Toffoli signed the contract. These are the lines that I think the coach would set if the regular season started today:
Danault’s Role
The hot topic at the end of the of the Canadiens’ stint in the bubble was Philip Danault‘s role going forward given the performances of Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Many experts and fans see Danault in a more defensive role on a shut down line against opposition’s best forwards. Danault clearly stated that he wasn’t interested in that type of role.
“His role never changed. He continues to be a reliable center, and really good on faceoffs. He helps produce on his line. His line was really good five-on-five, one of the best lines in the league if you look at the stats,” Julien spoke about Danault. I don’t believe that he has any intention of changing that trio.
Drouin and Suzuki Chemistry
After a slow start in the post season, Jonathan Drouin had a strong finish playing to the left of Nick Suzuki. “Getting to play with Dru [Drouin] is awesome. He sees the ice so well,” said Suzuki. “We built a lot of chemistry over this training camp and short playoff stint, but it’s a treat to play with him.”
The key word from Suzuki’s quote is that it was a short playoff stint. Consistency has been Drouin’s biggest downfall with Montreal. “We’re banking on the fact that hopefully he can stay healthy and he can give us that consistency that he had from the start of the year, and at the end of the year, and run it through a whole season,” said the coach.
The addition of Anderson on that line should help the trio generate chances in the offensive zone. Anderson doesn’t hesitate to go in front of the net, an area less familiar with Drouin, that will allow him to put the puck in the net.
“We got bigger on the right wing, he skates well, good forechecker, he’s good in front of the net, that’s also capable of scoring goals,” said Julien on Anderson.
Threat from Third Line
Toffoli adds an offensive threat to the third line, as he has shown in his career that he can consistently score 20 or more goals in a season, and will benefit from Kotkaniemi’s playmaking ability.
“That’s one thing I take pride in for myself. Entering the League with L.A., that the way that we played… if you didn’t play the right way, then you weren’t going to play at all. So that’s kind of one of those things I try and bring throughout everywhere I’ve been going. I feel like everybody sees that now,” said Toffoli on his play in the defensive zone.
I don’t think that anyone has any more doubts on Artturi Lehkonen‘s contribution on the defensive side of ice Montreal, and Kotkaniemi used his size on both ends of the ice in the bubble.
Armia Fourth Line
The fourth line is most likely going to be impacted due the Canadiens being slightly over the salary cap. As it stands right now, Julien would be able to trust his fourth line of Jake Evans down the middle with Paul Byron and Joel Armia on his wings.
Evans quickly earned the trust of the coaching staff after his recall from Laval. Byron works hard at both ends of the ice, but has been plagued with injuries over the last couple of years.
Armia has size, and is strong with the puck. I feel that playing him on the fourth line would be not using his skills to the fullest. In order to find a spot for him on one of the three top lines, Toffoli or Armia would need to move to the left side.
“[Toffoli] told us that he had played on the left side with Los Angeles and that he was feeling very comfortable on both sides, so that’s always a possibility. Joel Armia is a guy that we also used occasionally, not often, on the left side,” Julien answered on those options.
Balanced Lines
With the current roster, the coach will be able to roll four good lines against the opposition. “That’s the nice thing about our forwards: we can move players around here and there and still have good lines. It’s exciting; we have some depth and we have choices we can make as we go along, from game to game or even in the middle of a game. It gives our team more balance,” said Julien visibly happy about the forwards that he has to work with.
The coach was never a fan of labelling a first line, second line, and so forth, and doesn’t plan to do so this season. “With the number of players up front that are able to score, that are able to do good work, we can easily eliminate ‘line number one, line number two, line number three,’ it will be a question of which trio will play the best during the game,” Julien said.
“I feel very comfortable with the group of players that we have available to us to be able to play against any team,” confidently added the coach.
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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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