With yet another season near the bottom of the standings coming to a close, fans may begin to reflect on much of the team’s progression since October. Juraj Slafkovsky, fresh off of his first career hat trick, has blossomed into a completely different player than the one who scored just eight points in the team’s first 31 games. Nick Suzuki became the first Canadiens centre to score 30 goals since 1995-96, and the first player to score 75 points since Alex Kovalev in 2008-09. Mike Matheson has nearly doubled his previous career-high point total, and Cole Caufield has reached 60 points for the first time in his young career.
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However, despite the bulk of the team’s veterans suffering steep declines in production (Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, Tanner Pearson), one veteran player has stood above the rest by surprisingly producing career-highs after beginning the season in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the first time since 2015-16.
Armia Has Overcome Adversity
The Canadiens cut Joel Armia during training camp and he was not part of their roster on opening night of the 2023-24 season. Armia, 30, was coming off of his third consecutive 14-point season, and his play no longer reflected the four-year, $13.6 million contract he signed in the summer of 2021. With a plethora of young talent emerging and earning roles with the team, the Finnish forward’s struggles were much less of a priority than focusing on the development of their younger players through another season of rebuilding.
Armia handled his demotion with grace. Never missing a beat with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, he recorded an impressive six goals and nine points in just eight games before earning a call-up to the NHL (though the season-ending injury of Kirby Dach two games into the season allowed for this move). Despite the recall, he was still seeing limited minutes in the bottom-six, playing under 13 minutes in half of his first 12 games. He wasn’t immediately productive like he was during his AHL stint, either. He recorded just four goals through his first 21 games, failing to record an assist until Jan. 17 against the New Jersey Devils — his 28th game of the season.
However, partly due to injuries throughout their forward core such as Alex Newhook and Joshua Roy, Armia has seen his ice time soar since mid-February. Playing a season-high 20:19 on March 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers, he has only played less than 13 minutes once since the All-Star Break. After going pointless in his first two games following the break, the 2011 16th-overall pick has nine goals and 15 points in 27 games, including six goals and eight points in his last eight — nearly matching his AHL production.
Armia Climbing to New Heights
Armia finds himself fourth on the team with 17 goals, despite missing 16 of the team’s games. Thanks to his recent hot streak, he has established a new career-high in the category — topping his previous best of 16 in 2019-20. Though that season remains his best in terms of per-game production (30 points in 58 games), his resurgence has been nothing short of remarkable given he was cut from the team at the beginning of the season. Since being regularly deployed in the top-six, he has found chemistry with Brendan Gallagher and the recently-returned Alex Newhook on the second line.
Of his 17 goals this season, all but two have been at even strength (the other two have come shorthanded — a mark that leads the team). For comparison, only Suzuki (21) and Caufield (16) have scored more even-strength goals. Entering the season, surely very few fans could have predicted that Armia would only have one less even-strength goal than the young sniper who played at a 46-goal pace last season.
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Sitting eight goals away from 100 for his career, Armia has a legitimate chance at scoring 20 goals for the first time. With just four games remaining on the schedule, it may prove difficult, but with his recent pace, it is certainly not out of the question. His future with the Canadiens may appear to be uncertain due to the influx of younger players, his contract expiring at the end of next season and this being the first season he has lived up to its value, but the 6-foot-3 winger has provided the team with a quality and reliable secondary scorer that can step into a larger role should it be needed.
