With the off-season starting to slow down a bit, we now have a better idea of every team's roster going into next season. Of course there will be other moves, but the craziness from the Expansion Draft and first day of free agency is officially done.
In this segment, we will be taking a look at two players from each NHL team who are set to bounce back next season. Sometimes players will have down seasons, but end up completely turning it around in the following one. This will inevitably happen for this upcoming year, too.
In this episode, let's take a look at the Montreal Canadiens. This past season was a very fun one for the team, as they shockingly fought their way to the Stanley Cup Final. They will be aiming to prove that they are the real deal next season. For this to occur, they surely are hoping these two players can bounce back. They definitely are capable to.
Last season was particularly hard for Jonathan Drouin, as he ended up taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. However, he thankfully feels ready to return and this is good news for Montreal. They lost some key players this off-season and having Drouin back upfront will help ease the pain. In 44 games this season, he only had two goals, but ended up with 23 points. Now with a clean slate, it would not be too surprising to see him get back to double digit totals in goals.
Ben Chiarot had his struggles this season. In 41 games, he scored a goal and recorded seven points. However, the real telling sign of his hard year was the fact that he was a -16. Therefore, not only his offense was down, but his plus/minus was the worst of his entire NHL career. With him being a defensive defenseman, this just was unlike him. Yet, he had back-to-back 20-point campaigns before this season, so it would not be surprising to see him do that once again. Expect the 30-year-old to rebound next season on both ends of the ice.
