It was Montreal Canadiens goalie Jake Allen’s night, at least on paper. Awarded the Molson Cup for October prior to the Habs’ Nov. 7 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Allen had started the season with a 3-0-1 record, 2.63 goals-against average (GAA) and .930 save percentage (SV%).
Following a respectable performance against the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 2, he then proceeded to give up a goal on the first shot he faced against the Lightning. Then another… and another. By the time his night was over, there were still over three quarters of the game left. Pulled in favor of Samuel Montembeault, he now has a 3.35 GAA and .910 SV% after letting in four overall in an eventual 5-3 loss.
Related: Top Canadiens Struggling to Meet Expectations to Start 2023-24
Now, those aren’t horrible numbers, at least not relative to Allen’s stats since joining the Canadiens for the 2020-21 season. However, it’s definitely now impossible to include him on this list of the top Habs who are exceeding expectations to start 2023-24.
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A fast start for Allen has also kind of become customary around these parts. He steals a few games, stirs up something of a goaltending controversy and eventually sees his numbers stabilize over the course of the season. You similarly can’t assume the following five will continue to put up the numbers they are. They’ll always at least have the here and now, though.
5. Tanner Pearson
Similar to Allen, forward Tanner Pearson has cooled off some, but he’s still scored three goals and six points in 12 games. Granted, he only has one assist in his last seven games, but the 0.5 point-per-game pace is still a good sign after his well-documented injury from last season, which limited him to 14 games (and one goal).
In 2021-22, he scored at that same clip, providing some hope he can continue to put up points like he has. That would at the very least make it easy for general manager Kent Hughes to extract value out of the pending unrestricted free agent at the trade deadline.
4. Cole Caufield
In sharp contrast, Cole Caufield isn’t going anywhere. That’s following his eight-year contract extension, but also after he’s reinforced how valuable he is to the Canadiens’ future with 12 points through the season’s first 12 games.
True, his goal scoring has slowed down, to the tune of an average of one every three games. However, he’s also showing extra dimensions to his game, and not just with the eight assists (when he had just 10 in 46 games last season). He’s also contributing much more on the other side of the puck.
Everyone admittedly loves the goals. And it would truly suck if the Canadiens’ best shot at their first 40-goal scorer since 1993-94 (Vincent Damphousse) couldn’t so much as hit 30 this season. However, big picture, if Caufield becomes a legitimate point-per-game player, who plays a 200-foot game, no one will really complain.
3. Kaiden Guhle
Whereas Mike Matheson is inspiring doubt in the hearts of fans everywhere with his play, fellow-defenseman Kaiden Guhle continues to instill faith that his 16th-overall selection in 2020 was the right move. His four assists in eight games may not be the sexiest stat. However, on top of producing at the second-highest clip among Habs defensemen (0.5 points per game), he’s also driving play to boot.
That’s just something you can’t really say for Matheson, who may lead all Canadiens defensemen in scoring. He’s just not getting it done at the other end of the ice. In contrast, Guhle is the common denominator for each of the Habs’ dominant defensive combinations.
The hope is Matheson gets back to the level at which all Canadiens fans know he can play, obviously. However, if he doesn’t, the 21-year-old Guhle seems to be in the midst of securing the top spot on the left side on defense instead, not by process of elimination, but rather his strong overall play… helping to secure the entire left side, really.
2. Brendan Gallagher
Forward Brendan Gallagher entered 2023-24 with arguably the worst contract on the Canadiens. Little is going to change that, based on its $6.5 million cap hit and no-movement clause and his 31 years of age. At least he’s showing more offensive flair than he has in the recent past though, with a respectable seven points in 12 games.
If Gallagher can stay healthy and provide secondary scoring of over 30 points, a mark he hasn’t hit since before the pandemic, it will go a long way towards re-endearing him to Habs fans. After all, let’s face it: Everyone wants to get behind him for how he’s placed the team ahead of his own body for literally over a decade. It’s just hard to justify when his production has fallen off a cliff the last few seasons.
Now, the days of him receiving consideration as an elite winger in the NHL are long over. Time doesn’t just rewind. With that in mind, it may be time for him to stop throwing caution to the wind as far as skating to the dirty areas of the ice with reckless abandon is concerned. On one hand, that may be what makes him him. On the other, he’s currently showing what he can do when he’s relatively healthy. Everyone’s hoping he stays that way.
1. Sean Monahan
There should be little doubt part of the reason for Gallagher’s recent success is linemate Sean Monahan. In fact, Monahan can take some credit for Pearson’s renaissance too, with that line being the team’s most common so far this season.
At the end of the day, it’s Monahan, with 11 points and a team-leading six goals, who’s driving the team’s offense. That he’s been able to do it centering the team’s third line for all intents and purposes makes it that much more impressive. In fact, he’s not just the player who’s exceeded expectations the most. He’s just the most impressive overall.
To a degree, everyone should have seen this coming, based on his success to start 2022-23. He provided valuable secondary scoring while stabilizing the center position for the team, unfortunately suffering a season-ending injury in early December.
Now that he’s finally healthy (knock on wood), everyone’s bearing witness to what he has to offer as a still-29-year-old former sixth-overall pick. While that has led to arguments the Canadiens should re-sign him to a long-term deal, it would be wise to more so count one’s blessings the Habs are in line to (continue to) reap the rewards of the literally one-sided trade that brought him to the Habs in the first place.
In other words, Monahan is again (obviously) healthy now, probably for the first time since 2018-19. For some context as to how long ago that was (and how much can change in that time), we’re talking when Gallagher was still at the top of his game. No one should be pressing their luck Monahan at 29 a) stays healthy and b) stays as productive as he is now, heading into his 30s. If there’s one recurring theme in this piece it’s that success can be incredibly fleeting.
Monahan clearly signed the cheap one-year deal he did to be able to cash in next offseason. He’s successfully proven himself. Now it’s coming time for the Canadiens to cash in themselves at the trade deadline instead of ignoring all warning signs, including Gallagher himself. It may be tempting to secure his rights based on how well he’s played up to now, but that first-round pick they’re likely to get for him?
It should be more tempting. If the Canadiens’ latest skid has proven anything, it’s that they’re still far away from contending. There’s a close-to-zero chance Monahan will be playing like he is by the time they’re ready. In the here and now, though? He’s obviously blowing everyone away, including potential suitors, one has to believe.
