How Former Canadiens Players Performed With New Teams
· Yahoo Sports
The Montreal Canadiens are a team in constant evolution, which means there’s bound to be a certain level of roster turnover every year.
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With that in mind, let’s take a look at how the players who departed the roster in 2025-26 performed with their new teams. As a reminder, even though the natural inclination is to downplay the results of a former player, it’s important to remember the NHL is a business, and most decisions go beyond a players desire to stay with a particular team. We don’t fault any player for moving on. Such is life in a professional sports league.
Christian Dvorak
Following a season in which Dvorak scored 11 goals and 21 assists in 82 games for the Canadiens, the 30-year-old centre signed a five-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers that carried a $5.15M annual average value (AAV). He would go on to score 18 goals and 33 assists with the Flyers, representing an impressive increase from 1.6 points per 60 with the Habs, to 2.1 points per 60 with his new organization.
All things considered, it’s safe to say the Canadiens wouldn’t have been able to offer Dvorak as much ice time as he received in Philadelphia, and a five-year contract with a hefty price tag was out of the question for a bottom-six centre.
The Flyers are happy with the centre reinforcements, Dvorak received a decent amount of stability, and the Canadiens avoided adding an aging player to the roster for half a decade.
That’s not to say Dvorak could not have helped the Canadiens in the past season, especially as they struggled with centre depth, but he simply did not fit the long-term plans established by general manager Kent Hughes.
Joel Armia
Even though he enjoyed an elite game every 20 or so matchups, it was clear that Joel Armia’s time with the Canadiens was coming to an end. The 16th overall pick at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft provided the Canadiens with some great shifts, and important scoring once in a blue moon, but he only managed to reach the 30-point mark once in his career.
He was also a victim of Montreal’s ideal age range, which is closer to 20-26, while Armia is 33-years old.
That being said, he will always be a hard-working player that has the ability to outmuscle most opponents in 1v1 battles. And he’s an elite presence on the penalty kill.
After scoring 11 goals and 18 assists in 81 games for the Habs, he signed a good-value deal with the Los Angeles Kings that carried a very reasonable $2.5M AAV. He would go on to score 13 goals and 12 assists in 67 games for the Kings, signifying that he still brings value to the table, despite his age.
Logan Mailloux
Even though Mailloux’s introduction to the NHL with the St. Louis Blues came with a heavy dose of brutal underlying numbers, he did improve his stats as the season unfolded.
It’s also essential to remember he was playing for a team that struggled in general, finishing 22nd in the standings.
That being said, there’s no denying he had a hard time in his rookie season. He managed to score five goals and eight assists in 67 games, though his offensive acumen was never in doubt. It’s his lack of defensive awareness that is the biggest issue in his style of play.
While Mailloux was on the ice at 5v5, the Blues were outscored 33-48 (40.7%), outshot 856-914 (48.3%), and outchanced 169-200 (45.8%).
He may end up becoming an above-average defender, but the Canadiens simply did not have room in the lineup for a young blueliner who struggles in his own zone.
Emil Heineman
The Canadiens landed exactly what they needed most when they acquired Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders: a minute-munching defenceman who is fantastic in the offensive zone, excels at recovering pucks, and quickly starts plays with accurate outlet passes.
But to acquire an elite player, you need to pay up, as evidenced by Dobson’s price tag, which ended up costing the Canadiens a pair of first-round picks, and forward Emil Heineman.
Heineman played an underrated role for the Habs prior to the trade. He was the player who landed the most hits per 60 on the team, and he seemingly made something out of nothing every time he hit the ice.
His excellent shot led to 10 goals and 8 assists in 62 games with the Canadiens, though it’s worth mentioning an unfortunate accident in Utah directly led to a down tick in results once he was ready to return to play. We’re not going to blame Heineman for being hit by a car, and we’re quite happy that it wasn’t a serious injury, but the fact remains that he was on fire prior to the accident, and cooled off significantly afterwards.
The good news is that he enjoyed a fantastic inaugural season with the New York Islanders, scoring 22 goals and nine assists in 82 games. He was given over 16 minutes of ice time per night, considerably more than the 11 minutes he received with the Canadiens.
He also signed a ‘show-me’ deal with the Islanders that carries a lowly cap hit of $1.1M. Once his contract is up next summer, the sniper is due for a considerable raise.
Former Montreal Canadiens player statistics via Elite Prospects.
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