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For Michel Bergeron, Alex Newhook is not an NHL player
Félix Forget
For Michel Bergeron, Alex Newhook is not an NHL player
Credit: Getty Images
When looking at the statistics for the Canadiens this season, it is noticeable that Alex Newhook is having avery difficult campaign. In fact, if we consider the 12 regular forwards on the team (including Emil Heineman), none of them have scored fewer points than the former Avalanche player.

Christian Dvorak has the same number of points as him (16), butall the others have more.

Considering that Newhook plays on the top-6 and on the power play, that is quite disastrous. The club did pay a good price for his services (the 31st and 37th picks in 2023), but he doesn’t seem like a guy worthy of playing in a top-6.

More and more, one might think that if his future is in Montreal, it will probably involve a spot on a third line.

However, for Michel Bergeron, it’s even worse than that. During his appearance on JiC tonight, the Tiger stated that for him, Newhook is outright not an NHL player.

Nothing less.

The former coach is clearly not a big fan of Newhook, whom he sees as “a fourth-line player who is fast.”

And clearly, he does not think that his vision of the game is particularly excellent either…

On the power play, I think that he himself, if you opened the doors behind him, he would leave for the Zamboni. – Michel Bergeron

It goes without saying that Newhook’s season has been quite difficult so far. In the current state of things, it is hard for the Canadiens to see Newhook as a future piece of their top-6… which is not ideal in a context where there are also doubts about Kirby Dach’s position.

At least, Ivan Demidov seems to be a fairly safe bet at that level, and Michael Hage could become one… but as the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And right now, Newhook is not exactly the “bird” in that saying.

There is a world in which Newhook becomes a quality piece on a third line in the long term. That said, for a role in the top-6 long term, it seems increasingly clear that the Canadiens would be better off looking elsewhere.

A strong finish to the season from Newhook could change things… and we’ll see if the break from the Four Nations Tournament will do him good.


In brief

– Kaiden Guhle: we should have news in a few weeks. We need to wait for the wound to heal.

– Make your predictions.

– Ryan Hartman is appealing his suspension.

– Not easy, the Mike Cammalleri treatment.

– A notice to baseball fans.

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