Alex Newhook has the same career offensive output as Kirby Dach

If I gave you a magic wand to ensure that every Habs player would be healthy next year and asked you who would be on the club’s top-6 in 2024-2025, who would you name? Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky would be there. Kirby Dach too, probably.

But would Alex Newhook be there? Possibly, he’d be on a lot of people’s lists, but by default. Unlike Dach, Newhook isn’t exactly seen as a guaranteed top-6 pick for the future.

Is it his size that changes things? The fact that we’re wondering if he belongs under center in the long term? I’m not sure.

In any case, the main player wants to give himself a chance to show that he can aspire to a top-6 spot next year. And that’s even if Kirby Dach, Joshua Roy, the first pick in the next draft or the inevitable youngster that Kent Hughes could add via transaction have the same goal.

Yesterday, for example, he scored a beautiful goal with what is known in the jargon as a National League shot.

Looking at his numbers, he still has 13 goals and 17 assists in 50 games. His 30 points would turn into 50 if he were to play 82 games at the same pace.

In 2021-2022, he had 33 points, but in 71 games. And last year, he had 30 points (and 14 goals) in 82 games in Denver.

Since arriving in the NHL, he has played 209 games. He has collected 96 points along the way, including 40 goals and 56 assists. Clearly, that’s not bad production.

But have you ever compared his numbers to Kirby Dach’s?

As Maxim Lapierre tells us, it’s true that if you look at the numbers of the two men, who played more or less 150 or 160 games in the West before arriving in Quebec, you can see some similarities.

In fact, it’s very similar.

Because Dach arrived in the NHL in 2019 and Newhook arrived in the Bettman circuit in 2021, the latter is less likely to go on the injured list.

It’s also worth noting that Newhook scores a little more: 40 goals vs. 33, that’s a noticeable difference.

Of course, you’d think that if Dach had played the entire 2023-2024 season, he’d have improved to the point of surpassing his career average of one point every two games. I also think that a year from now, we’ll be saying that Dach (if healthy) is ahead of Newhook in the pecking order.

But don’t underestimate Newhook’s development. After all, Dach’s numbers don’t prevent us from seeing him high in the pecking order… and sometimes, what’s good for pitou is good for minou.

In bursts

– Still…

– To watch.

– Logical.

– He’s doing well.

– He’s still waiting.