Montreal Canadiens' Max Domi celebrates after scoring against Tampa Bay Lightning during first period NHl hockey action in Montreal, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Marc Bergevin says it takes a certain type of player to excel in the spotlight.
The general manager of the Montreal Canadiens appears to have found one in Max Domi.
“It’s easy to play in a non-hockey market,” Bergevin said. “It’s a little more difficult in a market like Montreal or Toronto or Vancouver – a Canadian market. You’re more exposed.
“Max thrives on that. It shows in his play.”
Acquired from the Arizona Coyotes for Alex Galchenyuk in June’s trade of young forwards badly in need of a fresh start, Domi entered Wednesday’s action tied for eighth in NHL scoring with 22 points in 18 games, while his 10 goals were good for a share of 11th.
Moved to centre after mostly playing as a winger in Arizona, Domi had three assists in his first four games with Montreal. He has since exploded with 19 points in 14 outings since Jonathan Drouin joined his line.
Domi, the 12th pick in the 2013 draft, has five goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak, although his unusually high shooting percentage of 26.3 is bound to regress.
An 18-goal, 52-point player as a rookie, he scored nine times to go along with 29 assists in an injury-hit 2016-17 campaign before again putting up just nine goals – including four empty netters – in a 45-point season last year.
Bergevin pointed to life under the microscope in a hockey hotbed as one of the reasons for the resurgence of the skilled son of former Maple Leafs tough guy Tie Domi.
“He’s a Toronto kid who played great at the world juniors, big stage,” Bergevin said. “He’s doing the same for us.”
And it’s not as though the trade hasn’t benefited the Coyotes.
Galchenyuk, the third pick in 2012, missed the majority of October because of injury, but has three goals and five assists in 10 games.
Drafted as a centre by the Canadiens, the 24-year-old spent most of his time in Montreal on the wing, but appears to have found a home down in the middle in the desert.
“We traded a good player for Max,” Bergevin said following Tuesday’s meeting with fellow NHL GMs in Toronto. “Hopefully it works out for both teams.”
Bergevin added he’s constantly on the lookout for players like Domi – ones in need of a change of scenery – when talking trades.
“It’s always a nice thing to do, especially if the guy’s with his first team,” he said. “If a guy’s on his fourth, fifth, sixth team, it might not make a difference.”
Montreal, which wasn’t expected to do much this season, currently sits a surprising four points out of first in the Atlantic Division and is holding down the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Bergevin, who also dealt captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights in September for a package that included winger Tomas Tatar and forward prospect Nick Suzuki, said increasing team speed has been crucial to the Canadiens’ early success.
“You don’t go in the summer saying, ‘I want to get slower,' " Bergevin said with a chuckle. “Sometimes the players are not available. It’s not only players that are fast, but players that play fast.
“That’s how the league’s going now. We’re playing faster and we’re getting results.”
WHO ENTERS THE HALL IN 2019?
With six new members inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this week – including five-time Olympic medal winner Jayna Hefford and league trailblazer Willie O’Ree – 2019 is shaping up to be another interesting class. But unlike this year, there won’t be a slam-dunk inductee such as Martin Brodeur. Vincent Lecavalier, Patrik Elias and Brad Richards will join a pool of potential Hall additions that includes Daniel Alfredsson, Curtis Joseph, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Zubov.
BRODEUR’S WORKLOAD HARD TO FATHOM
Speaking of the Hall, Brodeur’s career workload might never be matched. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and four-time Vézina Trophy winner played 70 games in a season 12 times during his career, including a span of 10 straight from 1997-98 to 2007-08 with the New Jersey Devils. “It was great to go to bed the night before a game and know who your goalie was going to be, and what type of performance you were going to get,” said former Devils president and GM Lou Lamoriello.
NYLANDER, LEAFS STILL AT ODDS
With a Dec. 1 deadline looming for Toronto to get restricted free agent William Nylander signed so he can play in the NHL in 2018-19, Leafs forward Mitch Marner is contemplating what life without the talented winger might look like for an entire season. “It sucks thinking about it,” Marner told reporters in California this week. But it’s not as though Toronto has missed the 22-year-old Nylander, who is coming off back-to-back 61-point campaigns. The Leafs sit second in both the Atlantic and the East at 12-6-0, one point back of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Toronto could sign Nylander, trade him or have the Swede sit out the season.
NWHL ALL-STAR GAME
The Predators, who hosted the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, will be playing host to the 2019 NWHL all-star weekend capped by an NHL-NWHL doubleheader on Feb. 10. This is the third straight year the NWHL has held its all-star weekend in an NHL market, starting with Pittsburgh in 2017 and Minnesota in 2018.
Nashville will play host to St. Louis with a morning faceoff, and fans will be invited to stick around for the NWHL all-star game starting soon after the NHL matinee. The all-star game will feature a pair of 25-minute halves with Shannon Szabados, goalie for the Buffalo Beauts and a three-time Olympian with Canada, captain of one team and Minnesota defender Lee Stecklein, a U.S. Olympic gold medalist in February, captain of the other team.
PENGUINS EXTEND RUTHERFORD’S CONTRACT
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed GM Jim Rutherford to a three-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season. Rutherford managed the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, becoming the only GM since the 1967 expansion to manage multiple teams to NHL titles. He also won a Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. The 69-year-old native of Beeton, Ont., is in his 25th year as an NHL general manager and his fifth season with the Penguins. He currently ranks eighth in NHL history among general managers in both career wins (850) and games managed (1,834). The deal extends Rutherford’s existing contract, which was scheduled to run through the current season.
With a report from The Associated Press