Max Domi was officially traded today and after spending two up and down seasons with the Canadiens, he will no longer be wearing the CH. His short stint, which saw him achieve his greatest heights in the NHL has ended with what seemed like an inevitable divorce.
When Max arrived in Montreal, he was viewed as a talented forward who had regressed from his rookie season-number in successive seasons. After exploding onto the scene, with 5-goals and 6-assists for 11 points in 10 games, Domi followed that up by producing at nearly a point-per-game for the rest of the season, to finish with a career-best 72 points in 82 games.
After the 2018-19 season, Domi had become a fan-favorite in hockey-mad Montreal, a dream come true for most Canadian kids. Many habs fans wanted Domi signed to a major long-term contract. Playing on a two-year bridge contract, if Domi reproduced his season he would command a lot of AVV money in arbitration.
That gamble worked, as Domi regressed to a more modest 44-points in 71-games. After the season resumed, Domi was put on the 4th-line; his frustration showed in his play. Max sulked his way through Montreal's 10 postseason games, to produce 3 assists in 10 games. Even worse, those 3-assists came in Montreals 5-0 win over the Flyers.
Max showed his frustration through his disengaged paly and with that poor performance on the mind of management, it was decided there was no longer a spot on this team for Domi.
Montreal, clearly needing a top-six winger to fill out the roster was unwilling to put Domi in that spot. They felt they needed to move off him and move in a different direction, a bigger direction.
Josh Anderson is 6ft 3-inch 220 pounds, dwarfing the 5ft 10-inch195-pound frame Domi brings to the table. Outside of his height and weight, he doesn't hold the bigger numbers between the two.
Anderson is coming off a horrible season where he produced 4-points in 29 games. Coming back from a shoulder injury, which contributed to his poor offensive numbers, the question remains to be seen if his shoulder is 100% healthy.
Although he is also considered to be a better goal-scorer than Max, his career-best 27-goal mark from the 2018-19 season is one shy of Domi's career-high, from the same year. Anderson's 20 assists from that season aren't even half of the 44 Domi produced.
When you consider that Josh is older, more injury-prone, and is coming off the worst season of his career, you would think Columbus would have to entice Montreal into this deal. Yet, the habs are giving up the 78th pick in the upcoming draft to land what could be seen as a downgrade.
Over the past 20-years, the 78th overall pick has yielded 3 NHL regulars; Robert Bertuzzo, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Ilya Sorokin. While the pick itself hasn't produced stars, the later rounds of the NHL draft surely do. Look at the 79th pick in the 2014 draft, after Sorokin you have a player named Brayden Point. I hear he is pretty good.
This trade was a forced maneuver by management that certainly has the potential to back-fire. My biggest frustration with the trade is that Bergevin sold low on his asset and could have potentially received a larger return in the future.
Bergevin is trading a player who is coming off a "down" season, in which he produced 44-points. A player who has reached the 40-point mark or better in 4/5 NHL season, who also plays the most coveted position in the NHL. He traded Max for a player who has only broken the 40-point mark once in six seasons, an older player with a history of injury.
Anderson for Domi, one-for-one would have been a gamble, as Domi has produced at more than double the rate of Anderson in the NHL. To throw in a pick, that was crazy-town.