It’s safe to say Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Newhook silenced the doubters, at least temporarily after his two-goal debut performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 11. Nevertheless, they’re out there, fans and analysts alike who argued the Habs maybe gave up to too much to acquire him from the Colorado Avalanche this past offseason.
Related: Canadiens Keep Adding to Forward Depth with Newhook Trade
After all, Newhook was coming off an underwhelming sophomore season. So, first and second-round picks in a by-all-appearances stacked 2023 NHL Entry Draft (plus prospect Gianni Fairbrother) seemed steep. Still, those picks are far from guarantees to pan out into NHL players. In Newhook, at the very least, the Canadiens have got an everyday player. Based on his debut, they’ve got something more.
That having been said, everyone at least acknowledged Newhook’s upside, as a player who got drafted immediately after Cole Caufield. So, Newhook just misses being considered one of the most underrated Canadiens for this coming 2023-24 season. Here are the top three who made the cut:
3. Tanner Pearson
Forward Tanner Pearson obviously has a lot to prove. However, it’s as a 31-year-old, 10-year veteran. He’s obviously coming off a disaster of a season, in which he was limited to 14 games due to injury, which he felt was mishandled by the Vancouver Canucks, conceivably causing slighted feelings on both sides… and them to include him in the Casey DeSmith trade.
As someone the Canadiens probably didn’t need, Pearson faces an uphill battle to endear himself to fans. The fact he likely won’t be here for long as a pending unrestricted free agent doesn’t help either. However, when he was last healthy for all intents and purposes, he put up a decent 34 points in 68 games in 2021-22. At his production peak in 2019-20, he scored 45 points in 69 games, meaning he has something to offer the bottom six, even if expectations for him are low.
2. Christian Dvorak
Low expectations are also a good way to describe Christian Dvorak, especially with him starting the season on the shelf. Furthermore, with Kirby Dach having earned his old second-line center spot and the Habs having numerous other options down the middle, Dvorak is seen as almost as good as gone once he returns. At least that’s assuming general manager Kent Hughes can find a taker for the two years left he’s got under contract at a cap hit of $4.45 million, with a modified no-trade clause to worry about to boot.
However, is it really that bad of a deal? His defensive numbers admittedly haven’t looked as good as they did when he was with the Arizona Coyotes, especially through the lens of a team that had acquired him to replace defensive-specialist Phillip Danault. Still, we’re talking about a weak defensive team overall, and he has generated decent offense, scoring 61 points in 120 games with the Habs, numbers in line with what Danault contributed to be fair.
Most notably, Dvorak scored 17 points in 22 games under head coach Martin St. Louis, when the latter was first hired at the end of the 2021-22 season. So, the potential is there, on both sides of the ice. It’s just a matter of him putting it all together consistently, in which case that contract looks pretty decent.
The question really only becomes, due to the log jam up front, where do you play him once he comes back from injury? He’d need decent deployment to show how much he can contribute, even if it’s to showcase him for the purposes of a trade, in which case he’ll obviously end up playing in another city altogether.
1. Johnathan Kovacevic
Whereas people are already trading Dvorak and Pearson this season, they’re trading Kovacevic in a few seasons. On one hand, it’s incredible foresight, but incredibly shortsighted all the same, as Kovacevic is just 26 and has proven to be a good fit, including from an analytical standpoint, finishing among the team leaders in relative expected goals for (five on five) last season.
Kovacevic’s production undeniably leaves something to be desired, with 15 points scored in 2022-23. However, he has untapped offensive potential based on the preseason, during which he scored three points in three games.
Granted, it’s a small sample size, and it is the preseason. So, it may not mean all that much in the eyes of many. However, we’re also talking about the same preseason that left many salivating over the likes of prospects David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux, for just two examples. Neither one enjoyed as much success as Kovacevic.
It’s kind of a paradox in the sense Kovacevic is both relatively established as an NHLer at this stage and proven to a degree, which is more than can be said for the aforementioned prospects. They may be seen as having higher ceilings, fair enough. However, it’s not enough to justify Kovacevic acting as the odd defenseman out in everyone’s projected lineup cards even two seasons down the road. Based on his steady play, you’d think that, if the Canadiens develop into a playoff team in that time, he’s going to be big a reason why. Why not keep him around in such an instance?
