The Montreal Canadiens will be without Oliver Kapanen to start the season on Tuesday night in Toronto, but Alex Newhook will be more than happy to jump on the opportunity to play between Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov.
The Montreal Canadiens will be without their second-line center Tuesday night as they kick off the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oliver Kapanen is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and on Monday in Brossard, coach Martin St-Louis inserted Alex Newhook between Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov on his second line. It’s not a combination we’ve seen before, but on Saturday night, Phillip Danault centered Slafkovsky and Newhook, and the big Slovak had a three-point night. If they can recreate some of that magic, the coach would certainly be pleased.
Fresh off signing a new four-year contract after a strong playoff performance, Newhook has won over the coach. St-Louis explained his decision to put him on the second line as follows:
I feel like Newy, he’s worked himself into a great Swiss Army knife for us. He can do a lot. He’s grown a lot off the puck defensively; he’s using his speed defensively, and there’s not much that he can’t do. He can play wing; he can play center; he can play both PK and PP. That’s where he’ll start tomorrow.
It’s unusual for St-Louis to confirm on the eve of a game that a player won’t be available, and it felt like that confirmation might have slipped through his filter, but it was great to hear his assessment of Newhook.
While the Newfoundlander has had more than his fair share of injuries since joining the Canadiens, he didn’t let that derail his development. Last season, he started the year strong alongside Kapanen and Demidov, and although he broke his ankle and missed four months, he hit the ground running when he returned. He carried that momentum into the postseason, and his scoring touch proved invaluable. Of his 10 playoff points, seven were goals, and two were series-clinching lamplighters.
His eagerness to sign a new contract with the team before his current deal expires says a lot about his belief in what the Canadiens are putting together here, and he has the tools to be an excellent complementary player in this lineup. His speed and ability to play on the penalty kill are kind of reminiscent of Paul Byron, but Newhook needs to convert on the chances he creates on the kill to hold that comparison. Byron has 10 shorthanded goals in 521 NHL games; Newhook has yet to score a single one in his 338 career games.
If he stays healthy this season and Derek Lalonde’s new PK system pays off for the Habs, Newhook may get his first this season. Speaking about the opportunity to play between Slafkovsky and Demidov, he said:
Yeah, it’s exciting. I’ve played with those guys a little bit, obviously Demi more than Slaf, but we were together in the last preseason game; we got a little bit of familiarity there. I’m back for at least one game, and I think we’ll be a very dangerous line, so I’m excited for tomorrow night and to see what we can do.
Time will tell if the new line clicks, but as St-Louis often says, the intentions are there.
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