Rafaël Harvey-Pinard: from potential 3rd line player to 13th forward

Following his rookie season in 2022-23, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard had many eyes wide open.

With his surprising 14 goals in 34 games, on a 24.1% success rate (double the NHL average), many quickly saw him as a potential good 3ᵉ line player.

A “bonified bottom-6 player” as they say so well in English hockey jargon.

And I was the first to see him in my soup, even though I suspected he’d never be a 2ᵉ line player (or a 1ᵉʳ line player, like when he played with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki).

However, with the 2023-24 season, we wonder if what we saw in RHP is gone.

A year ago, Rafael Harvey-Pinard looked like a possible longer-term fit for the #Habs. Now, he’s someone who could very well be on the bubble to make the team in the fall: https://t.co/YlYuGPWW8N

– HabsWorld.net (@habsworld_net) July 15, 2024

A paltry 10 points in 45 games, plus a couple of lower-body injuries that seem to have affected his game when he was playing, doesn’t bode well…

And it’s not as if he only played an average of 7-8 minutes per game, like Michael Pezzetta, since he was on the ice for almost 13 minutes per game.

Many saw him as a bottom-6 player who can produce when placed on the top two lines when injuries occur.

That’s exactly what happened in his first season, when the Habs were decimated by injuries and RHP got his chance (and took it) on the top line.

Obviously, RHP will never be a top-two caliber player, but he can help out by bringing energy and a certain offensive flair.

After last season, we’re now wondering whether he wouldn’t be a mere 12th or 13th forward in a healthy Montreal line-up.

And we’re not talking about up-and-coming youngsters like Owen Beck and Emil Heineman, or a potential top-6 addition like Kent Hughes would like to make.

In truth, RHP seems like a Pezzetta with more finesse and less aggression, but nothing more.

Overtime

– I’ll take Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen and Sergei Bobrovsky. I have to say that Igor Shesterkin also appeals to me.

If you were told you could make your own NHL roster from scratch, who would your first line be?

This includes Forwards, D-Men and a Goalie.

– BarDown (@BarDown) July 16, 2024