Last year it was sometimes unfortunate that Evgenii Dadonov got ice time instead of the younger players.
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Now that Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Drouin and he are elsewhere, it will be the turn of other veterans who will have to be under pressure to play well enough to not appear to be stealing playing time from the young talent.
Given that CH is still not that interested in making the playoffs, the presence of veterans can certainly prove essential, even if they are less good than young guys. These prospects need to dominate and succeed in the American League rather than survive (or burn out) in the NHL. Veterans can also play an important mentoring role.
And it is also a question of contract. A veteran might be average, but if he’s making $4 million for two more years, it’s impossible to trade him.
In case it was possible to get rid of them, I asked the Sportlogiq robots to evaluate the overall play of four CH veterans to find out whether they are still useful to the team and where their careers are headed. The robots maintained 9 categories and ranked each attacker relative to the rest of the team.
Joel Armia, things aren’t going well
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
His greatest strength is his defense. But the robots notice that she’s not doing well, her defensive attitude. At 30 years old, the former first-round pick is at risk of becoming too much for CH’s young talents. With a salary of $3.4 million, he is not tradeable until next year. Offensively, we all know his problems. He scored 13 goals in two years. That’s $261,000 of the goal. Last year, 18 CH attackers were better than him in completed passes to the slot (on average per game), the Robots reveal. In other words: As a playmaker, he is practically the worst on the team. Defensively things are also going downhill for the big Finn. Two years ago he won an average of 2.7 individual fights per match, which was one of his great strengths. Last year it fell to 1.6. Another telling statistic about his defense is what is categorized as “defensive play.” This is a combination of blocked passes, blocked shots, spiked pucks, and checks that force a loose puck. Armia went from an average of 4.6 to 3.8 per game in three years.
My conclusion: Armia no longer has its place.
- Over QUB radiothe general director of the new Montreal Professional Women’s Hockey League, talks about ice hockey with emotions:
Christian Dvorak is slowing down significantly at 27 years old
Getty Images via AFP
Since joining the Canadiens, Dvorak’s offensive impact in the NHL has waned. He has a hard time getting a shot from the slot per game. According to the robots, there were 14 CH attackers who posed a greater threat than him entering the zone last year. In other words, it’s very rare for anything to happen when he gets the puck into the opponent’s zone. Defensively, the Robots notice that he is also slowing down, although he continues to be very strong and reliable for Martin St.Louis. Two years ago, he won an average of three one-on-ones per game. Last year there were only two. He continues to excel at blocking passing lanes and is one of the best options for faceoffs. While he is very useful defensively, his “defensive plays” (see above) increased from 5.2 to 4 on average per encounter, 3. He was the fourth best attacker on the team in this regard.
My conclusion: Dvorak can be a very good 4th center and an average 3rd center.
Jake Evans in freefall on offense but still useful on defense
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
He is the fourth center with a perfect defensive character. He takes over work on faceoffs and has become the team’s most used attacker on the penalty kill. Evans dominates most defensive categories among the team’s forwards. Among other things, he is third in blocked passes, fourth in one-on-one duels and fifth in defensive plays. But things are going downhill offensively. Although he totaled 30 points in 2021-2022, no one expected him to become an offensive threat, but his two goals and 17 assists in 54 games last year quickly disillusioned those who believed he would one day Philippe Danault could replace. Evans ranked 19th out of 20 forwards in expected goals and shots from the slot last year. He was fifth on the team in completed passes to the slot during the 2021-22 season, showing some potential as a playmaker. But last year, 11 strikers were better than him in this regard. , which is completely normal for a center player.
My conclusion: Evans can be a good 4th center, nothing more.
Josh Anderson: He’s getting harder to play with
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
By donating $38.5 million to Josh Anderson, the Canadian knew that the team was betting on a special power forward that is rarely found. Nobody expected a great playmaker. But to play in the top 6, an attacker still needs to have a minimum level of game intelligence to complement his trio partners well. However, Josh Anderson averaged 0.4 passes per game to one of his teammates in the slot last year. It’s cruel. There are 16 attackers on the team who have done better than him. Certainly his strength lies in running to the net and shooting. That’s what he gets paid for. He leads the team in average shots from the slot per game. But he has put up 32 points per year over the past two seasons. So there are times when Anderson has to realize that a pass is a better idea, at least once in a while. Defensively, Anderson doesn’t bring much to the Canadian. There are eight attackers who were better than him in tackles last year, for example.
My conclusion: Josh Anderson has a top-six salary, but doesn’t have the talent to be there.
*In collaboration with Sportlogiq