He is one of Martin St-Louis’s trusted players, and for good reason: he takes pressure off the shoulders of his teammates.
That being said, what is particular this season is that the forward has found a scoring touch. After all, at the beginning of 2025, he already had 10 goals, a very solid harvest for a guy who doesn’t even play on the power play.
However, what’s noticeable two months later is that Evans’ scoring touch has… visibly disappeared.
In fact, the Canadiens’ forward has only one goal since December 31. That’s a sequence of 23 games.
At the end of December, Evans had scored a goal in five consecutive games. He was scoring on about 30% of his shots, a ridiculously high percentage that was bound to come down… and it has come down spectacularly since.
It’s interesting to see that a good part of this drought occurred during the absence of Emil Heineman, his linemate.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Evans has become useless, far from it. He continues to be an important piece of Martin St-Louis’s team… but it’s still true that if we extrapolate this sample of 23 games over a 82-game season, we’re talking about a pace of less than four goals per season.
And in the context where he is reportedly asking for $20 million over five years, that doesn’t look very good, as good as he is defensively.
But despite all I’ve just said, I still think the following: the Canadiens wouldn’t make a bad decision if they didn’t trade Jake Evans before the trade deadline. I’m not saying Kent Hughes must absolutely keep him if he’s offered the moon for Evans, but the latter, even without a long-term contract as of yet, has value in town that’s superior to another draft pick.
In the best-case scenario, time will bring Evans and the Canadiens closer together in negotiations (especially since Evans’ recent offensive drought shouldn’t give his agent many arguments right now), and the two parties will agree on a long-term deal to keep a loved teammate and a support player developed by the CH in town. In the worst-case scenario, he will have been a “rental player” who helped compensate for the loss of Kirby Dach by not putting too much on the shoulders of the Tricolore’s young players.
– The better he is, the less pressure the CH has to sign Evans.
– A serious audition for Owen Beck.
– Wow!
– The emotions we’re experiencing right now.
– What a machine.
– David Pastrnak in 2025: 22 games, 19 goals, 19 assists, leading the NHL in goals and points. Even with the slow start, he’s still on pace for 101 points.
– Gary Bettman wants an outdoor game in Utah.
Bettman reiterates the NHL’s working with Utah on getting an outdoor game in the not-too-distant future.
