March 31, 2024
The Montreal Canadiens finished off the month of March with four games. On Sunday, they defeated the Kraken in Seattle with a 5-1 score. The Habs finished their road trip with a 2-1 win in Colorado on Tuesday. On Wednesday they were at home to greet and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1. Then on Saturday the Carolina Hurricanes were in town and the home team Canadiens suffered a 3-0 loss.
This is how I saw things go down.
Alex Newhook is laying claim to an important role for the Canadiens.
I suspect Newhook knows this coming summer will be huge for the Habs. He started the season on a line with Kirby Dach, the pair of them products of Kent Hughes using a rich pool of assets to land highly touted players that hadn’t found a place with the team who drafted them. He will do it again this summer with some combination of his stockpile of draft picks, his gaggle of NHL-ready defenders, and his kids knocking on the NHL door.
On Sunday night in Seattle, Newhook scored goals 11 and 12 on the season. With 25 points in 46 games, his pro-rated pace would have made this a career year. With nine games remaining, a career year is not off the table despite the games missed to injury.
Newhook is the kind of player I have in mind when I assert that the Habs need eight centres in their top 12 forwards. He may be more suited for the wing – the jury is still out on this one – but he is also competent as a centreman and brings those traits to any line he joins. That flexibility is solid gold on a competitive team.
The presumed bust has busted a record in Montreal.
Last season Juraj Slafkovsky looked like a boy among men. Of course, some of us understood chronological age enough to know that he actually was a boy among men and that patience was required. But there was a pretty large contingent who were sure he was a bust. Hughes had wasted his first overall pick on the player one guy called the Slovak Armia. That guy is looking a little silly these days on a couple of counts.
In Colorado, the big boy assisted on another Nick Suzuki goal – the pair of them really have a good thing going on – and broke a record in Montreal.
In Montreal! The most storied franchise in professional hockey has some records to break. Slafkovsky holds one of them now. With his 40th point of the season on Tuesday, the 19-year-old Slaf now holds the Canadiens record for the most points in a single season by a teenager. When you ink your name in this franchise’s history, that’s something to talk about.
On Thursday, in his last game as a teen, Slafkovsky made a beautiful pass on another Suzuki goal to make his mark a little deeper at 41. With points in nine straight games, this kid was made for Montreal and the Habs leadership knew it. The streak ended in Saturday’s shutout loss.
Are we convinced the Habs have a first line centreman yet?
Nick Suzuki is a man possessed. The determination and confidence are just oozing from him since the trade deadline. He seems to be scoring at will, potting a couple of perfectly placed shots in Seattle and Colorado. Remember when he would break in with Caufield and everyone knew he was passing? With 30 goals on the season, several of them with Caufield being the decoy, he’ll be making defenders think twice.
Suzuki is the first Habs centreman to score 30 goals in a season since Damphousse and Turgeon did it in the 90s. But my favourite this week was a non-goal. Against the Flyers on Thursday, Suzuki made a little stick magic to pot one, but one of his taps was a high stick. Still, the attempt shows the level of swagger the captain currently carries.
The Habs need to address blue line management with the man advantage.
I think we would all say that the power play is looking better these days than it has in a long time. Quick passing, multiple scoring threats and ultimately has resulted in increased effectiveness. But one problem remains.
On Saturday night Jordan Staal scored a shorthanded goal for the Canes, and he joins a considerable list of guys who have scored against the Habs while down a man this season. Marty and his boys are saying they don’t want to waste these games, but want to use them to improve. They don’t have to look far to see where to start.
The Lane Hutson love will have to wait.
The delayed gratification might be good for all of us. It might help us get the expectations right-sized.
Hab At Her 
I’m continually impressed at how much HuGo have fixed the Habs development system. Slaf is Exhibit A. Been paying attention to the Habs for awhile and I can’t recall a time when so many of their prospects were this newsworthy.
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