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Canadiens Analysis: Comparing Texier To Other First Line Wingers
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- Canadiens Analysis: Comparing Texier To Other First Line Wingers
David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Texier is clearly enjoying life with his new team.
The 26-year-old winger rediscovered his love for hockey while playing for the Habs, a situation that was highlighted by his hat trick on Thursday night versus the Florida Panthers.
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And while the three-goal performance certainly put an emphasis on his immediate impact in the Canadiens lineup, it's also worth noting the first line did a great job controlling the overall flow of the game.
Scoring is important, but the goal when discussing the winger who will eventually become a permanent feature on the top line alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield is to find a player who can produce encouraging underlying numbers in a bid to ensure sustainability down the final stretch of the season.
Comparing Montreal Canadiens First Line Options
Texier follows in the footsteps of Juraj Slafkovsky and Zachary Bolduc, two wingers who have already gone through their first-line auditions.
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The sample sizes are different, with Slafkvosky playing 281 minutes at 5v5 with Caufield and Suzuki, while Bolduc served in that role for 173 minutes.
Texier has had the least experience in that situation, with 68 minutes under his belt. This means there's a chance that his underlying numbers will shift considerably moving forward, while also connoting that Texier is still in the process of building his chemistry alongside the team's best forwards.
With that in mind, we're going to take a look at four metrics today (5v5). Shot control (CF%), high-danger scoring chances (HDCF%), expected goals (xGF%), and actual goals (GF%).
Clearly, Slafkovsky has produced the best numbers alongside Caufield and Suzuki, with Bolduc trailing well behind, but there's something to be said about Texier's ability to instantly generate above-average statistics while learning to play with new linemates on the fly.
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He's also dealing with a new city, new country, new coach, new teammates, new strategies, and a new definition of chocolatines that may not match what he's used to getting in Saint-Martin-d'Heres.
They actually call them pain au chocolat in some parts of southern France, but that's not the most important thing at play at this exact moment. Don't get me wrong, as someone who spends an unreasonable amount of time stuffing his gullet with delicious pastries, it's important, but probably not as important as Texier's work performance.
In the grand scheme of things, not only did Texier's arrival give head coach Martin St-Louis more options when it comes to assembling his lineup, it has also led to very encouraging numbers for the first line.
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And based on the relatively small sample size, the numbers suggest that Texier's production increase with the Canadiens is not an aberration, but rather, a result of putting a talented player in a situation conducive to succeeding.
Few people project Texier to fill that role in the long term, and his 18.5% all-situations shooting percentage is bound to regress.
However, it's fair to say he's doing everything possible to convince management that he deserves a contract extension, as he's filling a very important role for a team on the rise.
All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick .
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