There’s no power play time for Alex Newhook with the Montreal Canadiens this season, and yet, the 24-year-old center has already gathered seven points in 10 games. Yes, it’s a small sample, but over 82 games, that pace would mean 57 points, and he’s never had more than 34 points in a season.
The turnaround didn’t happen out of nowhere. Martin St-Louis looked at his options during training camp after he figured out a Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach, and Ivan Demidov line wouldn’t work, and he thought the youngster could be a good fit alongside Newhook and Oliver Kapanen. Demidov’s creativity has been a blessing for the line, but so has Kapanen’s ability to play on both sides of the puck and share the responsibility of the faceoffs with Newhook.
Canadiens: About Yesterday’s Big News
Canadiens Storm Back For Big Win
Canadiens: Book Review – Histoire de Repêchage
Like Josh Anderson last season, Newhook is reaping the benefits of trusting the coach’s instincts. Is he perfect on the penalty kill? No, he’s not. The Habs’ penalty kill lost three important pieces this offseason. David Savard retired, Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak walked away as free agents, and it takes time to get over that kind of loss.
As of now, the Canadiens’ penalty kill has a 75% success rate and is 18th in the league. Last year, it was ninth with an 80.9% success rate. It’s not good enough, but it’s improving, and Newhook, just like Josh Anderson last season, is just learning to play when down a man. He deserves to be given the time to learn how to best perform on this special team, especially since there’s potential there.
The speed Newhook has could be a deadly tool on the penalty kill, just like Paul Byron’s speed did wonders for the Canadiens not so long ago. By allowing Newhook to play with Demidov and Kapanen, St-Louis has allowed him to concentrate on his job on the penalty kill, because at even strength, things are rolling smoothly.
He may never be the center the Canadiens hoped he would be when they traded for him, but St-Louis is on his way to making him a complete hockey player, Newhook is buying what the coach is selling, and it’s working.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens’ page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.
Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens’ roundtable on The Hockey News.
