Two veterans will be playing the last year of their contract with the Montreal Canadiens this season, will they be able to convince Kent Hughes to give them a contract extension? That's up to them, and they youngsters challenging for their roles.
The Montreal Canadiens will have a couple of veteran forwards playing their contract year when the puck drops on the new NHL season: Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson. It will be interesting to see what kind of performance they give and whether the Habs will be tempted to give them a contract extension.
The pivot, who was acquired just before the Christmas roster freeze from the Los Angeles Kings last season, will be playing the sixth and final year of a contract with a $5.5M cap hit. He had a dreadful start to the year with the Kings, only putting up five assists in 30 games played. Once in Montreal, he recorded 12 points (six goals and six assists) and became a key contributor on the penalty kill and a faceoff specialist with a 54.8% success rate.
In the playoffs, his faceoff win percentage was 58.4%, and he was often on the ice when the Canadiens needed to protect a lead. He quickly earned Martin St-Louis’ confidence, and there’s no reason to think that’s going to change anytime soon. The Victoriaville native will turn 34 in February. While he could be a hot commodity at the trade deadline with his effectiveness at the playoff dot, chances are the Canadiens will not be sellers but buyers.
Kent Hughes has shown in the past that he’s not opposed to letting a pending UFA walk in the summer when he believes that’s the best course of action for the team (Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak). That year, captain Nick Suzuki had asked the GM not to split up the group ahead of the deadline, and the GM respected his wish.
Will Danault be able to put up more than 17 points in 75 games? That’s not out of the question; he fit much better in the Canadiens’ lineup than he did in the Kings’ and he said himself that feeling he had his coach’s trust was a game-changer. Will that be enough to earn him a new contract? It will largely depend on how the coming season unfolds. While there’s no doubt that a team needs to have veteran presence, Mike Matheson is now 32, Jake Evans is 30, and Nick Suzuki will be playing in his eighth season, just like Noah Dobson. The young Habs are getting older and becoming veterans themselves.
However, the Canadiens' depth at center is not great, and most of their pivots are right-shot (Suzuki, Evans and even Michael Hage and Owen Beck in the system). This may lead Hughes to consider signing Danault to an extension. However, the deciding factor is likely whether Beck and Hage are ready to make the jump, either this year or next. The Habs GM has always said he wouldn’t block his young players’ progression by signing aging veterans.
As for Anderson, he’s about to embark on the final year of the 7-year deal he signed with the Habs when he was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in October 2020 for Max Domi and a third-round pick. Back then, Marc Bergevin hoped he would be an impactful power forward with strong offensive production. After all, in 2018-19 with the Jackets, Anderson had scored 27 goals and added 20 assists for 47 points before missing most of the 2019-20 season due to a posterior labral tear in his left shoulder that required season-ending surgery. Unfortunately for the Canadiens, Anderson has never put up more than 32 points in a season since joining the Habs, and he has never come close to his 27-goal output with the Ohio outfit.
Last year, the rugged winger scored only 14 goals and added 9 assists for a meagre 23 points. However, he became a mainstay on the first penalty-kill unit over the last two seasons. Will that still be the case in the future? With Derek Lalonde likely to be in charge of the PK, it will be interesting to see if Anderson keeps that role.
What may advocate for a contract extension for the 32-year-old is his gritty style of play. In the regular season, he landed 129 hits, the fourth-highest total on the team. In the playoffs, he was third in that department with 46 hits in 19 games, behind Kaiden Guhle, who had 51, and Zachary Bolduc, who had 47. Incidentally, Bolduc’s performance and growth as a power forward may play a role in Anderson’s future, just like Florian Xhekaj.
The younger Xhekaj is expected to compete for a role at training camp this year, and physicality and grit are a big part of his game. Much like Brendan Gallagher this past season, Anderson may find himself pushed out of the lineup if younger players become more efficient than him in his role. Such is the life of a hockey player.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.
