By Bob Trask – After a difficult season Montreal Canadiens fans could use a dose of optimism – so here it is.

Last year the Canadiens ranked 27th in the league in terms of goals scored with 221. Florida led the league with 340 goals, Washington rounded out the top ten with 275 goals and the league median was 253.

With a fresh approach from Martin St-Louis, some new additions to the team and minor rebounds by some of the veterans, what can we expect from this year’s edition of the Habs? We can take a look by applying some realistic production numbers to each player.

All of these totals are in line with historical production numbers for veterans and with modest improvements and/or contributions from the younger players on the team. It also considers the amount of ice time that maybe available to each player.

By the Numbers

NAME	G	A	PTS
Nick Suzuki	24	46	70
Cole Caufield	34	26	60
Evgeny Dadonov	26	30	56
Jonathan Drouin	15	35	50
Christian Dvorak	21	27	48
Kirby Dach	15	29	44
Josh Anderson	21	15	36
Brendan Gallagher	18	17	35
Juraj Slafkovsky	16	18	34
Rem Pitlick	12	19	31
Mike Matheson	10	18	28
Chris Wideman	7	18	25
Jake Evans	10	15	25
Joel Edmundson	6	15	21
David Savard	4	15	21
Joel Armia	9	9	18
Justin Barron	3	9	12
Michael Pezzetta	5	6	11
Jesse Ylonen	5	5	10
Jordan Harris	1	4	5
Corey Schueneman	2	4	6
All Others	8	12	20
Total	272	393	665

All of this adds up to potential for significant improvement for offensive production. These totals put the Canadiens within a whisker of being in the top ten teams when it comes to scoring. And none of the targets for the players are wildly unrealistic.

Under St-Louis, the Canadiens scored at a pace of 263 goals over an 82 game schedule reinforcing the idea that 272 goals is not a stretch – particularly if the power play can come to life.

While it is unlikely all players on the list will be with the Canadiens when the puck drops, it provides some context on which we can individually base our expectations. If nothing else the team has the potential to be far more exciting than what we saw in the first half of last season.

More reading…

• Oui The North: Still Canada’s Team by JD Lagrange
• A Different Slant: Skillset by Bob Trask
• Projection Based On Startling Statistics by Bob Trask