Canadiens Need Shaw Back More Than You’d Think

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There is little doubt the Montreal Canadiens could fetch a hefty ransom for a healthy Andrew Shaw ahead of the trade deadline. Nevertheless, it might make sense to keep him, if the Habs are serious about making the playoffs this season.

Shaw the Straw that Stirs Habs’ Drink?

Shaw’s offensive contributions to the lineup generally slip under the radar, while his extracurricular activities take center stage instead. However, it’s hard to dispute just how valuable he is once you consider the facts.

Andrew Shaw
Andrew Shaw – (Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY )

It goes beyond his versatility as a forward who can play multiple positions up front or even his relatively impressive 24 points (11 goals) in 36 games. Even if over an 82-game schedule, those totals would represent career highs by a wide margin, it’s the impact he has on his teammates that is most important to the team’s offensive success. That’s what the stats show up to this point, anyway.

According to NHL.com, the Canadiens are averaging 2.96 goals per game. Since Shaw, who’s been out with a neck injury, last played on New Year’s Eve, they’ve only scored 10 in six games (1.67). It’s primarily due to an at-least-temporary resurgence of the old Carey Price in nets that the Habs have been able to earn a 3-3 record since then (two shutouts, .946 save percentage since returning on Jan. 3 from injury). However, Price only tells half the story. Maybe even a third.

While Price and Shea Weber are the team’s two towering pillars on the back-end and justifiably receive a lot of the responsibility and credit for the team’s success, Shaw is no slouch up front. Granted, he’s seen limited action over his three seasons with the Canadiens, never playing more than 68 games due to various ailments.

Domi, Drouin and Shaw

However, in the games Shaw’s gotten in, he’s proven to be a difference-maker, especially recently since being put on a line with Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin. Both currently sit at Nos. 1 and 2 among the team’s scoring leaders, but both have also been in slumps, since, you guessed it, Shaw was put on the shelf.

Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi
Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi – (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Domi, who had been averaging nearly a point per game, now has 39 in 46 games after notching just two assists in the last six games. Drouin, who has 34 points so far, has been limited to a single goal and assist in that same timespan.

Admittedly, you’d have to go back to mid-December for a goal on which any of the two actually connected with Shaw for a marker. That doesn’t take away from the fact that the threesome had a great deal of chemistry with one another. In fact, during the 17 games between the point at which they were put together and last connected for a goal, both Drouin and Shaw had 17 points apiece and Domi had 16.

In the eight games Shaw played since then, they each tallied a respectable, but unimpressive five points shuffling around, with just Domi and Drouin sticking together for all intents and purposes. As previously mentioned, things have taken a turn for the worse for the duo from a production standpoint since Jan. 1, though.

Shaw Provides Offensive Spark

Due to their droughts and that of the team in general, head coach Claude Julien’s hand was forced. He separated the two, in an attempt to find some kind of spark.

Unfortunately, that spark he’s searching for seems to be out until after the All-Star Game. There’s no timetable for Shaw’s return, but it’s clear the Canadiens need him back sooner rather than later. Ideally, well before the trade deadline, either on the off chance Bergevin decides to shop him… or he doesn’t.

Part of Shaw’s allure to would-be buyers has to be his ability to play anywhere in the lineup and get his job done as a so-called shift disturber. It’s abundantly clear, dating back to his time with the Chicago Blackhawks when he regularly rode shotgun with Jonathan Toews, that he belongs on a top line in a complementary role. It turns out, it might not be as much a complementary role as it is critical.