The Montreal Canadiens used strong goaltending to halt a four-game losing skid and post a 4-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
It’s make-or-break time for the Montreal Canadiens this season. The match in Anaheim was stop two of a five-game road trip with the challenges enormous considering the injuries keep piling up. Raphael Harvey-Pinard and Jordan Harris are both back in Montreal with long-term lower-body injuries.
The win in Anaheim was notable, given that the Ducks are surprising this season with their strong play and prospects who are developing beautifully.
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It was the first game for Jayden Struble in the NHL, and he did not look out of place in the slightest. Struble made nothing but smart decisions. He was successful at his outlet passes. He was poised and smart. The longer the game went, the more comfortable Struble looked.
Struble said that his mom cried when he played his first game in the AHL. She cried when he got called up to the NHL. And she cried when he told her that he was playing in Anaheim on Wednesday. She’s likely bawling now after watching in person how successful her boy was in his first game. He very much looked like a player who has an NHL career in front of him.
The Canadiens have such an abundance of defenders in their rebuild. They’re without David Savard, Jordan Harris, and Arber Xhekaj with injuries and they still have competent replacements waiting to go in Laval.
If they get more injuries on the blue line, Mattias Norlinder, William Trudeau, or Logan Mailloux could also step up from Laval. Soon Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher will be trying to crack the line-up. It’s the Mariana Trench of blue line depth in Montreal.
Sticking with the theme, the defenders helped significantly in this one with Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson scoring. Suzuki made a great pass on the Matheson goal, and Jesse Ylonen had an outstanding feed on a 2-on-1 on the Guhle goal. Ylonen is shining brightly these days with a wicked shot, creative passing, and solid two-way play, though he and Michael Pezzetta did not see the ice in the third period.
It’s bizarre that criticism of Alex Newhook in Montreal has found an audience. Newhook is succeeding at a level far higher than he has previously in the NHL. If anything, this might just be a breakout year for Newhook. Newhook had two goals on the night, including the late winner.
Newhook’s career high is 14 goals and he is on pace for 25 this season. Newhook’s career high in points is 30 and he’s on pace for 45 in Montreal. This is exactly the growth that GM Kent Hughes was looking for when he acquired Newhook from Colorado.
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The scoring totals could have been better as well, if he wasn’t asked to play centre when Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak were both injured. Since playing back at his more comfortable wing position, Newhook’s game has improved. Newhook had five high-danger chances in the contest.
The expectation is that Newhook will improve as he continues on the wing, continues with Suzuki, gets power play time, and acclimates to his new surroundings. The frustration that he couldn’t carry Juraj Slafkovsky to great heights should be in his past fairly shortly.
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The Sean Monahan line had a struggle with Josh Anderson and Tanner Pearson. Jonathan Kovacevic found the going rough as well. Justin Barron was overmatched a number of times.
There were some mistakes, for sure, thanks in large part to the vast talent of Mason McTavish as he looks like he’s going to be a tremendous NHL player. McTavish skated circles around the Canadiens and one couldn’t help but notice that Montreal does not have that level of dominating forward yet in their rebuild.
However, thanks to another strong game from Samuel Montembeault, the Canadiens claimed a victory in Anaheim, so concentration is focused on the positives, and also the potential blockbuster positive in the Wilde Cards.
Wilde Cards
Rumours are getting stronger that the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of a blockbuster trade. The Oilers are in desperate need of a goaltender who can stop the puck better than a .855 rate, and the Canadiens have three of them.
The word from insiders like Sportsbet’s Eric Engels and TSN’s Darren Dreger is that the Oilers have the greatest interest in Samuel Montembeault. Jake Allen may be too old considering they would like to answer their goalie issue for a longer term, while Cayden Primeau is unproven on a regular basis, and the Oilers don’t need that issue yet again.
However, it isn’t just an exchange of goalies that makes the two excellent trading partners. The Canadiens are still in a rebuild and their value of aging veterans is low, while the Oilers need to win now as Connor McDavid isn’t getting any younger.
By the time the Canadiens are ready to rise out of the basement, many of their veterans will be at the end of their careers. The Canadiens vets’ top value is now to the Oilers, while the players who Montreal is interested in are Edmonton’s youth.
Several names fit into the mould that the Oilers are looking for.
Acquiring Sean Monahan would allow the Oilers to line up McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together for maximum output while keeping their centre strength with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as a centre and Monahan as a solid two-way centre, and face-off winner in important defensive situations.
The Oilers could also be interested in Josh Anderson who is not converting at the moment, but scored 21 goals last season before injury. Anderson leads the league in lowest goals scored above expected. This means he is creating chances, but not converting. While fans in Montreal may feel sour on Anderson at the moment, in the league, he is a well-respected player who would be valued in the playoffs.
It is even possible that the Oilers could be interested in David Savard for some depth on the blue line.
These are just names that fit the profile, and not necessarily names that will, for sure, be dealt. Montreal would also have to retain cash to make the deal possible for the Oilers who are up against the cap.
The return from the Oilers would be youth, draft picks, and a big contract that Edmonton has little use for anymore. The draft pick would be a first rounder and it would have to be non-protected. The entire job for General Manager Kent Hughes is to be taking this year’s Oilers first rounder as it is likely to be the only one that is a top-15 pick through the years.
The big contract return could be a portion of Jack Campbell’s or even Stuart Skinner’s. It’s difficult to know how it would shake out, but Edmonton must lose salary, if they’re going to pick up veteran players. The math has to work.
That leaves us with the young player that the Canadiens might be interested in. For some reason, Evan Bouchard is being scapegoated in Edmonton as making too many errors. This is nonsense. Bouchard is one of the big up-and-comers in the NHL. He could be a star. If General Manager Ken Holland listens to the silliness swirling around Bouchard right now, that would be a Hughes miracle moment. Don’t expect it.
The more likely player to be dealt is Dylan Hollaway. He is a former first-rounder who has his future in front of him, but who has not lived up to his advanced billing. Hughes has to get a player with some pedigree. The Oilers have many who they wouldn’t mind to deal, like Raphael Lavoie, Xavier Bourgault or Philip Broberg. Hughes doesn’t need another AHL question mark, though of the three, a defenceman at 22 has the best chance of having his best days still in front of him.
All the names mentioned are simply a logic-based analysis. They are not mentioned due to inside information of cell phone conversations. Let’s all wait together to see if the two teams can find common ground to nail down this blockbuster, which many insiders say is close to happening.
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