It’s never easy to evaluate Joel Armia’s season. He’s a talented player, but has been cast as a supporting player due to the fluctuation in his performance. After the 2021 Stanley Cup final, former Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin gave him a four-year deal with a $3.4 M cap hit. After all, he got eight points in 21 games and showed some flashes of offensive talent, but it was just a flash. Two years into his contract, he was waived and sent to the Laval Rocket from training camp, and it seemed to sting him deeply.

In the AHL, he picked up nine points in eight games. Once he was called back up due to injuries to regular players, he produced 25 points in just 66 games during the 2023-24 season. This past season, he played 81 games, during which he scored 29 points. He was even given a shot on the second line following Patrik Laine’s injury during a preseason game, but he didn’t exactly seize his opportunity.

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He did, however, settle in nicely on a line with fellow pending UFA Jake Evans and rookie Emil Heineman. The trio was an effective forechecking weapon for Coach Martin St-Louis throughout the year. While Heineman looked like a man possessed at times, landing 173 hits (fourth on the team in just 62 games) and Evans followed suit with 124 for fifth place on the team, Armia landed a more modest 87 hits.

Still, when Heineman and Evans forechecked and knocked pucks loose, Armia had the talent to handle them and dish them out. Furthermore, alongside Evans, he was an integral part of the Canadiens’ penalty kill, and he was frequently called upon.  

Now a UFA, Armia is free to test the market, but he has let it be known during the end-of-season media availability that he would like to stay, and that wasn’t new information. When Laine joined the team last August, he was asked what his countryman had to say about Montreal, and he replied, “Army loves it here, and he would like to finish his career here”.

In the tail end of the season, Armia was playing injured and couldn’t even shoot the puck, but he kept on playing and pushing through the pain. Evans was also hurt around the same time, and Heineman struggled to find his rhythm after missing 20 games thanks to being hit by a car in Utah, but they kept pushing and delivering quality play. For these reasons, I give the Finn a B-grade for the season.

The ball is now clearly in Kent Hugues’ camp, and the GM will have to decide if Armia is one of the veterans he’d like to keep around.

Photo Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

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