Montreal Canadiens Hot Takes to Agree or Disagree With
Montreal Canadiens Hot Takes to Agree or Disagree With
It’s the off-season. Not just the off-season, actually; it’s past the start of free agency where hockey news dwindles and many writers are looking for subjects to touch upon.
That said, I analyze a few takes that have made their way to page walls over the past week. Here are two that stood out:
Cole Caufield will reach the 50-goal mark
This take comes from A Winning Habit and claims that Cole Caufield will reach the 50-goal plateau in this upcoming campaign. The piece also states that Juraj Slafkovsky will get 80 points with 30 goals himself, but for this article, we’ll stick to the former take.
While I agree that the top line for the Habs will improve upon last season's momentum and that Slafkovsky will outperform last year’s 50-point season, Caufield reaching 50 goals is not the bar I would set for the young American sniper.
Caufield salvaged a slow start in 2023-24 to finalize the calendar with 65 points in 82 games. While being a perennial 30-goal scorer is how fans evaluate him. 50 just feels too high for next season. Don’t get it twisted, it would be an incredible story to write about, but statistically, it doesn’t align with production in the past.
The best goals-per-game season of Caufield’s career came two years ago when he scored 26 in 46 games for an average of 0.57. If he stays healthy enough to play all 82 regular season games, that equals roughly 46 goals. Additionally, he has yet to reach the 30-goal mark in a season, so let’s aim for a consistent pace and stick to it before asking for a 20-goal jump.
Brendan Gallagher starts the season on the second line
Daily Faceoff released their predictions for the 2024-25 opening day roster concerning Montreal, and in it, they placed veteran Brendan Gallagher on the second offensive line alongside Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook.
Gallagher has a few milestones on the horizon next season. If the hockey gods shine good health and decent production unto the Edmonton-born attacker, he would move into the top-20 in Canadiens history for both games played and goals.
With the injury to Rafael Harvey-Pinard keeping him unavailable for the next four months, shuffling the bottom of the lineup makes sense and I expect the newly acquired Alex Barre-Boulet to get his chance to fill the role. I don’t hate the notion that Gallagher plays on the second line. The top line (Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Slafkovsky) needs to stick together, while the second line of Dach and Newhook stay as well.
It may be a case of finding the right fit on the second line, and as a longtime Hab, Gallagher can handle that role. I just don’t see him handling it for a long tenure if another option proves to contribute more. I liked seeing how Joel Armia played with him, and if another prospect—like Joshua Roy—got a promotion and proved to be a solid option on the second line, then Gally can return to a third-line status.
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