Marc Dumont
If the Montreal Canadiens have truly been considering moving winger Josh Anderson on the NHL trade market, they may be reconsidering now after his last two games. In fact, they may want to even start asking themselves if Anderson should be wearing the C as the next captain of the Montreal Canadiens?
If longtime Habs winger Brendan Gallagher isn’t with the team next season, there is speculation that Nick Suzuki would become the next captain. There’s also the chance that they wait on giving Suzuki the C and potentially giving it to another long-standing veteran and dressing room favorite Paul Byron. What about Anderson though?
If Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman is correct, Anderson may not even be around when the Canadiens’ new hockey ops regime and coaching staff choose a new captain. On Monday’s Jeff Marek Show, Friedman wondered aloud if the new hockey ops regime led by executive vice president Jeff Gorton and new general manager Kent Hughes are entertaining the inquiries they’ve been getting on Anderson’s availability on the NHL trade market?
“I think Montreal is going to have a lot of people out there, and everybody knows that Montreal has a lot of people out there. The interesting one is going to be one of our Hometown Hockey feature guys from tonight. There’s a Josh Anderson piece airing, I believe, and I think he’s going to be an interesting one. I’m very curious to see how the Canadiens feel about him and what his role is in their future,” Friedman told Marek.
Marek then asked whether a potential Anderson trade could happen before the NHL trade deadline or in the offseason?
“Both. Both. I think there’s interest in him. I get kind of mixed reactions on what Montreal is thinking there. Does he stay or no?” Friedman replied.
Anderson led the way Monday night in front of a half-packed Bell Centre and scored two goals in the Habs’ 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Anderson has scored in two straight games after head coach Martin St. Louis decided to put him on the top line with Suzuki and Cole Caufield last Thursday in the 3-2 Canadiens win over the St. Louis Blues.
How to not give up on a loose puck, a memoir written by Josh Anderson: pic.twitter.com/1faKiKPMEr
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 22, 2022
He has been a major factor in the Habs’ current three-game win streak both on the scoresheet and as a leader and protector of his two younger teammates. He has five goals and three assists in 15 games since returning from an upper-body injury on January 17 and has repeatedly stated his intentions to stay with the Canadiens as they start to build for next season and the future.
Anderson has already made it clear that if given the opportunity he’d prefer to play out the seven-year, $38.5 million contract he signed prior to last season with the Canadiens and not get moved on the NHL trade market.
“Coming into Montreal on a long-term deal with a great team, I still believe that we can still do some pretty good things,” Anderson said back on January 20. “Obviously, we’re in a tough situation right now. But I think that we have the right people to make this thing work. I love it here in Montreal. I signed a long-term deal for a reason to stay in Montreal and to win here. So I’m honestly very excited with that. Like I said, I think they have the right people to make that happen.”
That was before the Canadiens fired head coach Dominique Ducharme and hired Martin St. Louis as the new interim head coach. Since St. Louis came into the fold, Anderson’s intensity on a game-by-game basis has picked up even more and now his offensive touch seems to be returning as well, earning him the promotion to the top line.
“I think he brings a lot of pace and size to two smaller forwards that have a great east-west game,” St. Louis said of Anderson prior to the win over the Leafs Monday. “He does his best work when he goes north-south and can push people back, can be physical, can keep an eye on the other two. There’s a lot to like. We’ll keep at it and get them to create that chemistry and I can see this line being together for a long time.”
If the Canadiens are trying to use the NHL trade market to weed out those who don’t fully appreciate the value and honour of wearing the CH, then Anderson shouldn’t be part of that exodus. Who can forget how embarrassed and blunt he was after the 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 8 that sealed Ducharme’s fate?
“We got embarrassed out there tonight,” Anderson said. “We had a couple of mistakes that cost us goals (in the first period). You’d think after the break that we’d be refreshed and ready to go. But you guys witnessed it out there. I feel embarrassed, to be honest with you. So we better be ready to go next game.”
Thanks to the spark St. Louis has provided and players like Anderson, Caufield, and Suzuki buying in, the Canadiens have been much better since that debacle to the Devils. They have also been playing for one another and sticking up for each other, and no one has done that more than Anderson. In Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders, and again on Monday, Anderson came to the defense of Caufield and Suzuki.
“When you have stars, you gotta protect them,” Anderson said. “That incident that happened [Sunday], I gotta protect [Caufield] but also not put out team in jeopardy like I did, but [Monday], the game was getting a bit carried away there and when big hits are made and just like when I’m on the other side of it and doing it to their star players, they’re not going to be very happy with that. So, we’re here to protect our guys really no matter who it is.”
No one can blame Hughes and Gorton for doing their due diligence into what Anderson could garner on the NHL trade market but hopefully, they realize that they have a leader who wants to be part of the solution and is willing to be there for his teammates no matter what. Oh and by the way, when healthy and playing his game, he’s one of the better power forwards in the NHL. That’s why Anderson should be in Canadiens captain rumours and not NHL trade rumours.
