The panel discusses the motivation behind the Barron-Carrier trade. Montreal Canadiens winger Alex Newhook is not having a good season. While most of the fans hire seems to be directed toward Kirby Dach, Newhook is actually having a less productive season and is not coming back from a grave injury. The former has nine points while the latter has six (all goals) and both have played all 33 games. Last season, Newhook had picked up 34 points in 55 games, which was a 50-point production rate in an 82-game campaign. This year, he's on pace for just 15 points even though he's been playing on the top-six all along. Hopefully, the Christmas break will have been beneficial and he'll be able to turn over a new leaf in 2025. Back in 2021, when he took part in the World Junior Championship with Canada, he put up six points in six games. In the preliminary round when Canada obliterated Germany 16-2, Newhook kicked off his tournament with a three-point performance, scoring two goals and adding an assist. He was held off the scoresheet in the country's 3-1 win over Slovakia, but came back with two points (both assists) in the Canadian 10-0 dismantlement of Switzerland. In the final game of the preliminary round against Finland, he played five minutes and a half before leaving the game because of an injury. As a result, he would miss the quarter final game against the Czech which Canada won 3-0, thanks to a 29-save shutout from Devon Levi [https://thehockeynews.com/2022-olympics/devon-levi-is-back-for-more-magic]. Newhook was back for the semi-final and scored the Canadians' first goal less than a minute into the game, setting the tone for a 5-0 win over Russia. It was another great performance by Levi who made 28 saves in the win. After blanking two teams in the playoff round, Canada be on the receiving end of a shutout in the final as Team USA's Spencer Knight [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/spencer-knight-discusses-battle-with-ocd-resuming-nhl-career-with-panthers] made 34 saves to lead the Americans to the Championship. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains] Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens
