2023-11-05 15:30:45
SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Without a goal in his first 11 games, Josh Anderson is having a difficult start to the season. He was unable to find his place in the Montreal Canadiens lineup and went from 1st to 2nd, then to the 3rd line in just 11 games, despite injuries to Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Kirby Dach. The occasional bursts of dominance he has accustomed us to are nowhere this year. He got some good chances, but mightn’t capitalize. Juraj Slafkovsky might notably have three or four more points if Anderson had taken advantage of the chances created by the young Slovak, points which might have done enormous good for the confidence of the 1st choice of the 2022 auction.
But it’s not just that Anderson has bad luck or lack of opportunism. He has had a net negative impact in the formation of the Habs so far.
Anderson’s negative impact is obvious when we look at the percentage of expected goals in favor of the CH of his teammates when they play with him compared to when they are separated. This stat is essentially a more detailed version of plus and month, which looks at the quantity and quality of shots from both sides when a player is on the ice rather than just goals. Fifty percent means there are equal chances on either side of the ice. Above 50% means that you have the advantage over your opponents and, obviously, below 50% means that the advantage goes to the opponent.
And I won’t be shy: all of No. 17’s most common teammates are absolutely and totally dominated when they play with him.
He started the season on the first line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki with disastrous results, as the line went scoreless in 40 minutes of play. He was then moved to the 2nd unit following Dach’s injury. Dach completed a trio that showed great promise with Alex Newhook and Slafkovsky. When Anderson joined the trio, their numbers once once more dropped drastically: no goals scored for the trio compared to four allowed in nearly 50 minutes of play and they were absolutely outshot 70-34 in shots attempted, including 28- 19 of the enclave. His trio with Newhook and Christian Dvorak didn’t do any better once morest Saint Louis, with 17 shots attempted by the Blues compared to only 6 for Montreal, good for a ratio of 18.8% of expected goals, which is simply unacceptable.
Anderson has been a downright black hole of production and positive play for anyone who finds himself alongside him. Slafkovsky notably had by far his best game of the year the minute he was separated from the power forward Saturday night once morest the Blues.
A one-dimensional player…with a missing dimension
In his fourth season in the blue-white-red uniform, we know very well what Anderson is like as a player. A big guy who is faster than you would think for his size, he uses his physical strengths and can occasionally dominate with strong north-south play. We also know that Anderson is not the most versatile player in the world. And when he fails to dominate this north-south aspect with his typical push towards the net, we see the results he has been giving us since the start of the season.
Anderson has yet to find the net despite taking 17 of his 21 shots this season from the slot. Only Barrett Hayton of the Arizona Coyotes has more scoreless shots from the slot than Anderson, with 18. The power forward gets his chances, but can’t capitalize and that’s problematic because he creates very few chances for his teammates.
With only five completed passes to the slot in 11 games, Anderson ranks 14th among CH players. That’s less than Jake Evans and Jesse Ylönen, who play almost exclusively on the 4th line and have played regarding 40 and 90 minutes less than Anderson, respectively, and don’t have the power play time that the big man has. winger. Ylönen, in particular, spent three matches in the press box and was still more active as a playmaker.
It’s as if, no matter which line he plays on, Anderson plays in his own way and doesn’t adapt at all to his teammates, who have to do everything in spite of him rather than with him. He doesn’t find chemistry and doesn’t create chances for his teammates in addition to not having a positive impact defensively. And when the goals don’t come either, he doesn’t contribute much other than a few hits.
With a contract that pays him $5.5 million annually for three seasons following this one, Anderson needs to look in the mirror and find the power forward who gives headaches to opposing defenses, because his current game deserves to find themselves in the stands.
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