Nov 23, 2015
Montreal: Habs firing on all cylinders in strong start
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button assigns his letter grades for the Montreal Canadiens at the one-quarter mark of the NHL season. They are a straight A team that gets bumped to A-plus overall.
By Craig Button
The Montreal Canadiens burst out of the gate like few teams in NHL history, winning nine straight games on the strength of phenomenal goaltending, a terrific four-line game and an improved offence.
At the quarter mark, Montreal is top five in goals per game, goals against average, power-play efficiency, penalty-killing efficiency and 5-on-5 play. They are a straight A team that gets bumped to A-plus overall.
Below are the Canadiens’ individual player grades.
Three factors were considered in assigning grades: performance, results and expectations, as framed by age, previous performance and cap hit/contract average annual value (AAV). Skaters must have appeared in a minimum of 10 games and goalies, five, to be graded.
Spotlight Player Grade: Montreal has the distinction of boasting three A-plus players, two of which are hardly surprising – reigning Hart Trophy winner Carey Price and former Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban. What may come as small surprise is that 5-foot-9 winger Brendan Gallagher is shoulder to shoulder with them on the Montreal report card.
Gallagher has developed into one of the NHL’s most industrious and impactful players, earning a place on Team Canada’s World Cup radar. The whirling dervish is not only effective, he is cost-effective, delivering near point-per-game production (9-10-19 in 22 games) at a $3.75-million cap hit.
Gallagher is in the middle of everything – including the crease area with great frequency – and most definitively providing maximum bang for the buck. Gallagher’s no guts, no glory game put him in harm’s way Sunday when he fractured two fingers blocking a Johnny Boychuk slap shot. The injury put an end to a seven-game point streak and sidelined Gallagher indefinitely.
Editor’s Note: Follow TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button at @CraigJButton and join the discussion on his Interim Report Cards.
Grading System
A Excellent
B Very Good
C Satisfactory
D Poor
F Failing
Inc. Incomplete
Canadiens' Grades By Player
Goalies | Grade | Age | AAV | W | L | OT | Sv% |
Carey Price | A | 28 | $6.5 m | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0.933 |
Mike Condon | B+ | 25 | $575 k | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0.913 |
Defencemen | Grade | Age | AAV | GP | G | P | +/- |
P.K. Subban | A+ | 26 | $9.0 m | 22 | 1 | 19 | 9 |
Andrei Markov | A | 36 | $5.6 m | 22 | 2 | 17 | 5 |
Jeff Petry | B | 27 | $5.5 m | 22 | 3 | 9 | 5 |
Nathan Beaulieu | B- | 22 | $1.0 m | 22 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
Alexei Emelin | C | 29 | $4.1 m | 17 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Tom Gilbert | C | 32 | $2.8 m | 22 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
Forwards | Grade | Age | AAV | GP | G | P | +/- |
Brendan Gallagher | A+ | 23 | $3.8 m | 22 | 9 | 19 | 7 |
Max Pacioretty | A | 26 | $4.5 m | 22 | 11 | 20 | 8 |
Tomas Plekanec | A | 33 | $6.0 m | 22 | 7 | 20 | 8 |
Tomas Fleischmann | A | 31 | $750 k | 22 | 7 | 15 | 8 |
Dale Weise | A | 27 | $1.0 m | 22 | 9 | 14 | 8 |
David Desharnais | B | 29 | $3.5 m | 22 | 7 | 17 | 7 |
Torrey Mitchell | B | 30 | $1.2 m | 20 | 5 | 10 | 5 |
Alex Galchenyuk | C+ | 21 | $2.8 m | 22 | 3 | 13 | 1 |
Lars Eller | C+ | 26 | $3.5 m | 22 | 6 | 7 | -2 |
Brian Flynn | C | 27 | $950 k | 22 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
Paul Byron | C | 26 | $900 k | 10 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Devante Smith-Pelly | C- | 23 | $800 k | 21 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Alexander Semin | F | 31 | $1.1m | 14 | 1 | 4 | 1 |