The Montreal Canadiens are having a great start to the season, but there's one line that isn't clicking and one player who just hasn't done enough yet, it may be time to call someone up from Laval...
While the Montreal Canadiens are off to a great start to the season, finding themselves third overall in the league after 15 games (last season, they were dead last at this stage), not everyone is meeting expectations. The top line is firing on all cylinders with Nick Suzuki being 10th in the league for points, Cole Caufield being first in goals, and Juraj Slafkovsky is finally playing a consistent physical game. Ivan Demidov is electrifying and raising Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook’s ceiling in the process. Kirby Dach is beginning to find his legs after overcoming a couple of serious knee injuries, and his play has significantly improved now that Brendan Gallagher has joined the line he centers with Zachary Bolduc.
It's not as rosy on the fourth line, however, as Jake Evans and Josh Anderson are struggling to make any impact. They started the season playing with Patrik Laine, who wasn’t comfortable in the role he was asked to play, even though he tried as hard as he could. They then played seven games alongside Brendan Gallagher; during that span, two of Anderson’s three points came, and the same is true for Evans. Their other point came when Evans scored against the New Jersey Devils, and Joe Veleno, who has completed the line for the last two games, had nothing to do with the goal, which came off a faceoff.
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The pair have proven in the past that they could be efficient with the right linemate, but Joe Veleno just isn’t it, nor was he when he played alongside Dach and Bolduc. In 10 games, the Montreal native is pointless. In the four games Dach played with him, he obtained one point just like Bolduc. Furthermore, Veleno is not playing a great defensive game either. In the game against the Utah Mammoth, he was responsible for a goal after completely losing his man, and it wasn’t the first time. He was minus-two in a 6-2 win, that says something...
It’s not that Veleno doesn’t have offensive instinct; he’s proven that he has in the past, but Martin St-Louis cannot seem to find a suitable spot for him, and he’s making Evans and Anderson less effective. While some will say it doesn’t matter since the other lines are doing so well, there’s nothing wrong with striving to ice the best lineup.
Meanwhile, in Laval, Jared Davidson is having quite the start to the season with 10 points in 11 games, 19 penalty minutes, 35 shots, and three power-play goals. The 23-year-old is making a real difference in Laval, and he could potentially be the missing piece in Montreal. The Canadiens could recall him without even putting Veleno on waivers, granted they wouldn’t accumulate as much cap space with a bigger roster. Still, it would be worth it if it meant managing to ice four functional lines, especially since this side doesn’t look like it desperately needs some reinforcements at the trade deadline.
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