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In Hainsight: What to Expect from Raphael Harvey-Pinard |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
It’s been a great offseason for 24 years old Raphael Harvey-Pinard, first, the Canadiens signed him to a one-way two-year deal with an AAV of $1.1 million and then, Kent Hughes managed to make some room on the Habs’ roster by shipping both Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick out of town. While he got his opportunity last season thanks to the wave of injuries which hit the Canadiens, this year, he won’t have to wait for injuries to make the line-up.
However, out of the Habs 14 forwards, he’s one of the two that doesn’t need to go through waivers to go down to Laval and that could play against him, especially since the other one is Juraj Slafkovsky and it would be surprising to see the team chance its course of action with the 2022 1st overall pick. While most fans would be on board with someone like Joel Armia being waived instead of sending down young players, I don’t think Hughes would entertain the idea.
The Canadiens’ GM wants to do right by his players, we’ve seen it in how he dealt with the trades of late and Jeff Petry mentioned yesterday that Hughes called him as soon as he acquired him and asked where he would like to play. Hughes made no promises, but Petry then landed in Detroit, which was at the top of his list. It’s hard then to imagine Hughes burying a veteran like Armia in the minors.
Last season, Harvey-Pinard spent 34 games with the Canadiens scoring 14 goals and adding 6 assists. The injury to Cole Caufield meant that he even got to spend some time riding shotgun with team captain Nick Suzuki on the first line. He also spent some time on the 4th line with Alex Belzile and Michael Pezzetta and wherever he played, he produced. That’s what you get in RHP, a versatile talented player who will play where you tell him to and gives his all whatever the assignment. There’s a reason we he was nicknamed Lavallagher when he played for the Rocket, his commitment and energy level is reminiscent of Brendan Gallagher in his best years.
That’s what we can expect from Harvey-Pinard, full commitment, wherever he lands in the line-up. Personally, if the team decides that Dach stays at center this year, I’d like to see him get a trial run with Suzuki and Caufield. He never got an opportunity there when Caufield was part of the line-up and I believe it’s worth giving him a shot, especially while Alex Newhook gets used to the Habs’ style of play before making his way to the top-six. I know Harvey-Pinard won’t be a fixture on the top line, but I’d still like to see it.
It's hard to estimate how many points the winger could wrap-up this season because it highly depends on where and how he’s used. Hopefully, Hughes can work out some more magic and find a way to ship Armia out of town which would mean no one needs to go down to Laval, time will tell. The Canadiens’ GM in his post trade presser did hint that more moves were coming to make the Canadiens cap compliant without using offseason LTIR. Chances are that referred to a goaltender being moved, but who knows, Hughes might have yet another ace up his sleeve.
Providing he stays in the NHL all year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Harvey-Pinard reach the 40-point mark, he’s showed that he does have a scoring touch and that he can make the best out of any situation, whoever his linemates are. Once everyone is healthy and settled, it’s more than likely that RHP will land in the bottom-six, but I do believe he can still be productive there. However, his shooting percentage can’t possibly stay as high as it was last season, 24.14% is an insane success rate and that’s bound to come down.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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