Brian Wilde Sees Surprising Player Breakout

Look at it this way, Newhook was centring a 2nd line for much of last season with Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach (the two would swap between centre and wing), who were both players who weren’t at their full health, recovering from knee injuries. With that being said, this upcoming season, the 2nd line features a healthy Patrik Laine and a rookie Ivan Demidov, who is expected to have a big first season in the NHL. 

Both wingers have formed a ton of chemistry at Complex CN in Brossard throughout the summer. It’s very possible that if the chemistry continues when the season starts, whoever their centre is will benefit greatly by playing with this potential dynamic duo. This is where Newhook could come in as the beneficiary of playing with dynamic players, which would result in him upping his points total.

Wilde mentioned that Newhook has the potential to score 20 more points next year with the Habs, because he and Marinaro started talking about a video that surfaced showing Newhook working with faceoff specialist and future Hall-of-Fame Patrice Bergeron on taking draws. This is where Marinaro brought up that he could be the 2nd line centre to start the year, and he could be working to improve on an area that he struggled in greatly last year to re-take the role he finished in. If this work helps Newhook improve on his draw, then this could be a big win for the player.

For those who have watched the Sick Podcast over the last few years, Wilde has compared Newhook and his speed to Russ Courtnall’s game from the 1990s. The comparison between the two is that they are both speedy forwards who struggled finishing on their chances. However, Courtnall did seem to have more of a scoring touch than Newhook has today. Courtnall scored 22, 27, and 26 goals in his three healthy seasons with the Habs. On top of that, he developed more of a playmaking game during that time as well. It’s possible the same thing could happen with Newhook, but the truth is, he lacks the vision to be a great passer, and at most, he has the possibility of being a secondary scorer. 

On the flip side, last season was also just a bad offensive all together for Newhook in general, whose goals, assists and points were all down. He scored 15 goals, like the season before, but he played all 82 last year as opposed to just 55 during the 2023-24 campaign. In terms of points, he went down from 34 to 26 last year in 27 more games. If we look at the 2023-24 season, his 34 points in 55 games would have been 50 points over an 82-game season. Therefore, Newhook can be a 45-50 point scorer if given the right situation. Playing with a healthy Laine and Demidov should help him get those numbers.

However, I don’t believe the Habs will end up using him much in the top 6, as I still believe that Bolduc or a more natural centre (via a trade) would be Dach’s replacement if needed. This would leave Newhook with less skilled offensive players, and as a result would make his overall numbers suffer compared to playing the top 6.

I expect Newhook to improve on his numbers from last year a little bit, but that would be more in the 30-35 point range over a healthy 82 games. The truth is, Newhook is not the guy who can run a line, as his main attribute is just his speed. Hopefully, he proves me wrong as I like him as a player and hope for the best but I don’t see it happening.

Do you agree with Brian Wilde that Alex Newhook could get around 45-50 points?