Very Disappointing Olympics For Alex Texier

One thing that should be remembered is that Texier was activated off the injury reserve to play in this tournament as France’s lone NHLer. Texier missed the Habs’ final 2 games before the break with an upper-body injury that may have hindered his performance during the Olympics to the point where he actually was more of a detriment to his country rather than an asset.

Over the next few days, we will likely hear more about whether or not Texier was playing for his country while injured. If not, his performance was very concerning, as not only did he have the worst plus-minus in the tournament, but he also made some really bad mistakes, such as giving up the puck at the blue line on a power play rather easily, which led to a Mark Stone shorthanded breakaway goal. It was almost as if he was playing double agent and wanting to help Team Canada win with that play.

Despite playing big minutes for France, Texier also registered among the least scoring chances created throughout the tournament for France, which is just not good enough if he was actually playing healthy. Althoufh he was better during the Play-in game on Tuesday where he got more chances than he did the rest of the tournament but it still didn’t make up for his rough performances early on. We should likely expect news about Texier’s status over the next few days on whether he’s cleared to practice with the Canadiens or if he will return to the injury reserve list and only came off to represent his country.

However, if he isn’t injured in any way, his performance will have really hurt his spot in the Canadiens’ pecking order, as it’s very clear the hot streak he was on at the beginning of January when playing with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield is now long past him. The truth is Texier is the type of player who can go hot and cold with his game. This is why a player like him gets moved around the NHL a lot. Luckily for Texier, he was able to stay hot long enough to secure himself a 2-year, $2.5M AAV contract. At the time he was seen as a temporary solution for the top line before they find the right fit alongside Suzuki and Caufield, but it only works when Texier is at the top of his game.

Once Texier got hurt, Kirby Dach stepped in, where he started taking off alongside Suzuki and Caufield before the Olympic break. The Habs will likely continue to put Dach, who plays a somewhat similar game to what Juraj Slafkovsky used to do, on the Canadiens’ top line before he became a better player on his own line. The fact that Texier shouldn’t be in the top 6 anymore should allow him to get back to finding his game against weaker lines. In fact, when he first arrived, he helped jump-start a 3rd line offensively, which is likely what is better for him in the long run. At least this is the case if he is healthy from the injury that he had a few weeks ago, but that seems doubtful.

Do you think Texier played in the Olympics while still injured?