
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
Thanks Bob. I always have room for optimism. Just don’t want enough to get us to the mushy middle.
It’s will be a long climb to get to the top. Finishing in the middle this year would be a step forward and as long it is not the last step forward I’m okay with that. Middle of the pack in 2022-23 and moving toward contending in 2023-24
If Price can play and we can acore more than 3 goals a game we could be middle if the pack wuth 80+ points.