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In Hainsight: What to Expect from Josh Anderson |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Back in October 2020, Marc Bergevin signed newly acquired Josh Anderson to a 7-year deal with a $5.5 million AAV and I remember thinking “yikes, that’s a lot with so many unknowns to factor in”. After all, Anderson had yet to play a game as a Hab, we didn’t know how he’d do in the Montreal fishbowl or if his injured shoulder really was healed. Three years on, Anderson has yet to play a full season and has earned 32 points in each of the last two seasons. His career high remains at 47, a total he reached once in Columbus while skating in 82 contests. Had he played all games last year and kept the same production rhythm, he would have ended the year with 38 points and that’s not enough for a top six forward.
At 29 years of age, Anderson’s best days will be behind him when the Canadiens are ready to contend and as a power forward, he remains an attractive commodity on the market (look at the contract Tom Wilson got yesterday, GMS do like power forwards). Last year, Anderson more or less told the media to stop asking about the possibility of being traded, saying he signed a seven-year deal and that was because he intended to spend those years in Montreal. It does seem like the Burlington forward would like to stick around, but I doubt he’ll finish his deal in town.
I don’t see Kent Hughes rushing to trade him though, the Canadiens’ general manager is not in the business of selling low and he’ll want to wait until Anderson has shown he can play a full season and find his scoring touch back. Furthermore, Anderson’s modified no trade clause means he can submit a list of eight teams he doesn’t want to be traded to right now and starting next season, that number goes down to five teams, giving the Canadiens’ more leeway to find a trading partner.
Now in the fourth year of his contract, it’s high time Anderson increases his offensive output. On paper, he’s a perfect fit to play with Caufield and Suzuki to bring some much-needed weight to that line and shake things up a bit, but on the ice, there doesn’t seem to be as much chemistry as one would like. The Canadiens keep auditioning forwards to play with their dynamic duo but they’ve yet to hit a winning combination. So far, I’d say Kirby Dach has been the best fit, but ideally, you want him to center his own line. Perhaps one day Juraj Slafkovsky will be given a chance there, but I don’t think he’s ready yet and has for Alex Newhook, he needs to be given some time to learn the team’s style of play before being cast in such a big role. It seems to me that by default, Anderson should get yet another kick at the can with the Habs’ most talented players. Time is running out though and he needs to make the most of that opportunity before other players are ready to take over.
With the Canadiens having made some changes on the health and medical side of things, injuries should hopefully be better handled this season and if Anderson does manage to stay healthy, he needs to get closer to the 50-point mark to avoid being overtaken by younger players in the team’s depth chart. In other words, the pressure will be on this season for the big forward and I hope to see a career year from him, but I’m not entirely sure he can do it. I’d be curious to see what could come of a Monahan-Dach-Anderson line, if things still don’t click with Caufield and Suzuki, I hope the coaches decide to give that a go. Considering Monahan was limited to just 25 games last season, we didn’t get to see a lot of him, but we seen he’s a great playmaker (17 points in those 25 matches including 11 assists) and the Habs have nothing to lose by giving him some ice time with different players.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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