By The Numbers: Canadiens Offensive Leaders Since January 1st

The new year has not yielded many good results for the Montreal Canadiens.

Martin St-Louis’ team has only secured 24 out of the 54 available points, continuing their slow, yet sure slide down the standings.

They’re among the bottom five in the league in several key statistical categories since Jan.1, including shot share (CF%), high-danger scoring chance share (HDCF%), and expected goals share (xGF%).

But opportunities are found within every struggle, and for a few members of the Canadiens, 2023 has served as a conduit to success, relatively speaking.

Raw Totals (Points, 5v5)

Even though they’ve played fewer games than their teammates, Jesse Ylonen and Alex Belzile are currently tied for fourth in raw scoring, with both call-ups earning nine points at 5v5 since Jan,1. They’re joined by Michael Pezzetta and Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who also have nine points over that span.

It’s an impressive, if not somewhat unsurprising result given the aforementioned players have risen to the challenge since their promotion from the AHL.

Pezzetta’s goal tonight, sponsor him @HeadandShoulder pic.twitter.com/23DAGNwqV4

— Habs Fan TV (@habsfantv_) March 8, 2023

But it’s top three where things get interesting.

Captain Nick Suzuki is third in scoring, with four goals and six assists in 27 games, which, despite all the factors at play, including the quality of competition and his quality of teammates, is rather underwhelming.

He trails two players, both of whom have been oft-maligned since arriving in Montreal: Josh Anderson and Jonathan Drouin, who share the team lead with 11 points.

All things considered, you’re rarely going to experience success when your top three point producers fail to reach a dozen points in over two months, but it is worth noting the play from the aforementioned Laval Rocket call-ups, not to mention, the production from Drouin.

Scoring Rates (Points Per 60, 5v5)

Given players like Anderson and Suzuki tend to enjoy a lot more ice time than the other players on the list, to even things out we can evaluate scoring rates.

In other words, how many points have the Canadiens players scored per 60 minutes of ice time at 5v5.

With three points in just under 60 minutes of ice time with the Canadiens, newcomer Chris Tierney leads the charge. Obviously the small sample size comes into play in his case.

But the rest of the players on the chart have all played a reasonable number of games, giving us more than enough data to work with.

Belzile leads all regularly used players, followed closely by Drouin. There’s a significant gap between Drouin and Pezzetta, who leads the next batch of players that includes Ylonen, Harvey-Pinard, and Anderson.. Justin Barron is the only defenceman that the cut in the top 10.

Brass Tacks

There’s more to hockey than just earning points. We’ll delve into other underlying numbers later this week, and that will keep usage in mind, but for now, we’re going to stick to production.

And when it comes to producing when the chips are down, no one has done a better job with the ice time that he’s been given than Jonathan Drouin.

A stick tap also goes out to some players who are playing for their next contracts, such as Belzile and Ylonen. They may not be the flashiest players on the ice, but they’re certainly providing good value to the Canadiens.

Harvey-Pinard has cooled down a little since joining the top line, but overall, the 24-year-old has maintained a relatively impressive production rate.

Finally, we should probably give a little credit to Anderson, who has received an abundance of ice time, but has managed to earn points while facing opposing teams’ best players.

All statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted. Via NaturalStatTrick.