Montreal Canadiens forward Owen Beck finally has his first NHL point… not that it really matters.
Now, the point itself matters, to be clear. Assisting on Alex Newhook’s 3-3 game-tying goal against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, Beck was relatively instrumental in helping the Canadiens eek out a point in their eventual 4-3 overtime win. The argument is, Beck’s production in general doesn’t matter and that, despite the fact it took him nine games to get there, the Habs should keep playing him between Newhook and Patrik Laine, at least until the injured Kirby Dach can return to the lineup (so the rest of the season, unfortunately).
St. Louis Makes Right Decision with Beck
Seeing as the Canadiens have won both games in which Beck has played since his latest call-up from the American Hockey League, it’s unlikely head coach Martin St. Louis will suddenly rejig his lines. It’s far from his modus operandi anyway, and if you need proof to that effect consider how he continues to play Sam Montembeault game after game, including against the last-place Sharks, despite finally having a trustworthy back-up in Jakub Dobes.
You’d think, when general manager Kent Hughes explained the understandable decision to demote Cayden Primeau as having to do with Montembeault’s workload and trying not to run the No. 1 goalie into the ground, the Canadiens would actually take steps so as not to, you know, overwork him from that point forward. Think again, apparently.
Related: Canadiens’ Dobes Deserves at Least 10 More Starts in 2024-25
While that’s not exactly here nor there considering the topic of this specific piece, it all goes to show St. Louis is far from above criticism or that he at least shouldn’t be. He makes questionable decisions all the time, but he also makes plenty of good ones too. Playing Beck on the second line is one of them, when it would have been all too easy to simply make new lines following Dach’s injury and drop Beck on the fourth with limited chance of success.
Absolutely no exaggeration, no one would have so much have as batted an eyelash there. And that’s in part because Beck projects as a bottom-six forward, albeit an above-average one who could probably slide into the middle six in the event of an injury. So, eventually calling him up to replace Emil Heineman, who had gotten injured following a collision with a car as a pedestrian, on the fourth line, like the Canadiens did back in January, made all kinds of sense. It may not have placed Beck in the traditionally best position for him to find success (i.e., in the top six), which is where you theoretically want to play relatively top prospects. However, it placed Beck in the best position to gain experience in the role he will likely fill, once he makes the team full-time.
Beck Auditioning for Full-Time Role
It’s looking more and more like that will be sooner rather than later, maybe within the next few days by the trade deadline with Jake Evans, the centre Beck could conceivably replace in the lineup, likely to be shopped as a pending unrestricted free agent. For the time being though, the fourth line of Evans between Heineman and Joel Armia has proven to work along with the third for all intents and purposes of Christian Dvorak between Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher.
So, rather than split up one, two, or even three lines that had been clicking, St. Louis made the logical decision to fit Beck into the lineup simply by putting him in Dach’s place. Granted, it was made a lot more logical based on the fact the Dach line had probably been the least effective at its prescribed role. After a fairly successful 2022-23 debut season with the Canadiens, Dach himself has struggled significantly trying to get back to where he was, after missing all but two games of 2023-24 due to injury. He scored 38 points in 58 games back in 2022-23 (a 54-point pace). He has just 22 points in 57 games so far in 2024-25 (32). So, Beck’s lack of production so far, as he acclimates himself to the NHL, shouldn’t be a concern, especially if the line in general works. Seeing as Laine (four total points) and Newhook (two points) have reached the scoresheet in each of Beck’s latest games, it’s fair to say things are working just fine.
Of course, things are unlikely to stay as rosy as they are right now, with the Canadiens on a modest three-game winning streak. However, even if they got by the last-place Sharks by the skin of their teeth, there’s an argument the Habs are back to winning regularly because St. Louis has the luxury of keeping his forward lines largely intact relative to how they were when they had gone 16-6-1 over their most successful stretch of the season starting on Dec. 3. Beck obviously represents a significant difference there. And, while he’s not necessarily an offensive upgrade compared to Dach (from a production standpoint at least), he’s clearly not hurting the team.
In other words, Beck is proving he belongs. It just remains to be seen where exactly in the lineup he sticks. It likely won’t be on the second line, but it’s incredibly encouraging to know he doesn’t stick out there.
