No one expects every Montreal Canadiens player to have a good season every time around. Not only is it inherently rare for something like to happen in the best of times, but such a situation would imply everything going right. And, even if only based purely on the injuries the Canadiens have sustained over the last few seasons, that’s a fairly foreign concept.
Lucky? The Canadiens? The two concepts cannot be used in the same sentence, unless it’s something to the effect of, “Wow, the Canadiens sure wish they were as lucky as literally any other team in the NHL.”
So, it should be no surprise at least a few players on the non-playoff 30-36-16 Canadiens struggled through 2023-24. That isn’t to say that, had everyone had career years, the Habs would have been shoo-ins for a playoff spot, only that it should be crystal clear not everyone pulled their fair share… fairly prominent members of the team to boot.
With that and with heightened expectations heading into 2024-25, they must be counting on several players to rebound significantly. Here are the top five:
5. Christian Dvorak
In no uncertain terms, the Canadiens don’t need Christian Dvorak any longer. He’ll be a pending unrestricted free agent next season and, with the emergence of Alex Newhook at centre, push come to shove, it’s possible Dvorak ends up only being the team’s fourth-best pivot, above Jake Evans. And, with Evans having performed fairly admirably with increased responsibility last season, even that isn’t for sure.
Related: Canadiens Must Solve Christian Dvorak Conundrum at Centre
To a degree, Dvorak is a victim of circumstance. He himself has failed to stay healthy over his three seasons with the Canadiens, playing just 150 games. However, considering he’s scored just 70 points in that span, including just nine in 2023-24 (30 games), it’s not like he made the most of his ice time when he was healthy. So, now that he uncharacteristically returned from injury earlier than expected, the Canadiens themselves are in a position where they must take advantage instead and perhaps trade him this offseason.
If general manager Kent Hughes can’t find a taker, though? There is no reason why he should re-sign Dvorak. So, the Canadiens simply trade him, ideally after he has built back up some value on the market. He’s just 28 and far from a lost cause. Another team could realistically want him at the right price. He just failed to live up to expectations time and again to the point they’ve been lowered so much that anything of significance coming back would be a nice-to-have, expectations of a decent return having plummeted in turn. So, his No. 5 ranking should be no surprise.
4. Jesse Ylonen
Two years isn’t a long time. Still, it took that amount for Jesse Ylonen to go from depth player on the rise in the organization (from ‘Canadiens by the numbers: Jesse Ylonen offers more than meets the eye,’ Montreal Gazette, June 17, 2022) to on the verge of being an afterthought, scoring eight points in 59 games last season.
Ylonen can still theoretically find his niche, according to Montreal Hockey Now’s Andrew Berkshire. However, as someone who almost exclusively played on the fourth-line, whenever he did get in the lineup, Ylonen clearly is deep down on the team’s depth chart to the point some may view him as being an obstacle in the way of the development of some of the team’s other young players, emphasis on the word “other.”
Ylonen is still just 24 (going on 25). So, his 2022-23 season, when he scored an encouraging 16 points in 37 games, isn’t so far removed from the present that it can’t be a sign of things to come. Granted, those points largely came playing on a line with Nick Suzuki (and Rafael Harvey-Pinard). However, the fact Harvey-Pinard was rewarded for his rookie campaign with a two-year, one-way deal, and Ylonen only got a one-year, two-way deal is a bad sign, especially when he would have been eligible for waivers had he been cut.
So, with Ylonen’s deal expiring, his future within the organization is uncertain at best. And, if it’s uncertain the Canadiens so much as re-sign him, it’s hard to say they need him in any fashion, least of all to bounce back, when he wasn’t arguably ever put in a position to move up/forward in the organization to start.
3. Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Harvey-Pinard is in a similar boat as Ylonen, in that his sophomore season was a statistical bust. However, the Canadiens have simply more invested in him, even if he’s poised to make just $1 million next season.
All due respect to Ylonen, but it’s a sad state of affairs when he scores twice as many goals as you. And that’s exactly the position in which Harvey-Pinard finds himself, despite having gotten a relatively significant amount of time playing with Suzuki and Cole Caufield this past season (before getting injured).
That having been said, Harvey-Pinard’s playing style is more versatile than that of Ylonen. He can more easily be plugged in anywhere in the lineup. So, a successful 2024-25 for him won’t necessarily be measured in goals (considering his salary)… even though they would certainly be nice and everyone knows firsthand he’s capable of scoring them.
2. Josh Anderson
Josh Anderson is obviously a forward on whom the Canadiens actually relied for a huge amount of offense heading into 2023-24. Right or wrong, based on how he’s never scored more than 32 points for the Canadiens, that’s just a fact. Head coach Martin St. Louis actually had him complementing Suzuki and Caufield on the top line before Harvey-Pinard to start the season, despite all indications it wouldn’t work, as the combination rarely had before.
Case in point, the fact Anderson has never scored more than 32 points despite that having been the Canadiens’ top line combination in 2021-22. They returned to it to a lesser extent in 2022-23, but one gets the sense the Habs have finally learned Anderson simply is not a top-line player. Still, there’s a difference between the middle-six player everyone should acknowledge he is at this point and the one who over long stretches last season seemed incapable of hitting the broad side of a barn from two feet away.
No one could have predicted Anderson struggling to the tune of a meagre nine goals and 20 points over nearly a full season’s worth of work (78 games). At the end of the day, Anderson is only 30 and a 20-goal scorer at the very least. Say what you want about his overall game or lack thereof. He nevertheless holds value as a power forward with the speed he has.
With three years left on his contract at $5.5 million per, Anderson is likely staying put. Reports that the Canadiens had gotten calls about him a few years ago may as well have been completely fabricated, because they have no bearing in the new reality the Habs and their fans face when talking about how far his value has fallen off a cliff.
However, the notion of playing him where he deserves after the season he just put together (on the fourth line or worse, not at all) is far from appetizing based on that very same contract? So, the solution? Chances are, Anderson gets another chance in the top six, just hopefully not with Suzuki and Caufield (again). So, look for him to get time on the second line instead. Whether or not he makes the most of it, is anyone’s guess, though.
1. Kirby Dach
Forward Kirby Dach obviously makes this list for a different reason than everyone else. Ultimately, the Canadiens would still love to see more out of him, just literally, with him having gotten injured for the balance of the season just two games in, after he had effectively won the second-line-centre job, no less.
Some assess his upside down the middle as being even greater than No. 1 pivot Suzuki’s, which should tell you all you need regarding his worth to the organization. Just looking at the 14 goals and 38 points he scored in 58 games in 2022-24 (54-point pace), it becomes clear how much of a positive impact he should have when healthy.
Consider the fact the Canadiens just lost 27 games by a single goal, missing the playoffs by 15 points. If they win about half those hypothetical games next season, the Habs will effectively realize their potential as a playoff contender next season, and that’s not even taking into account the projected development of the team’s other stars in the making.
Something that no one should forget is the Canadiens are a young team. At just 23, Dach theoretically has a lot more upside. What’s a scary thought for the teams who would be competing against the Canadiens for a spot next season is, if all Dach does is produce offense at the rate he did, they’ll logically join an already crowded field down the stretch. He just needs to stay healthy… and develop the slightest bit to push them over the top.
