Michael Chaput and the advent of the AHL 4th line

Michael Chaput tries to wrap the puck around Florida Panthers netminder James Reimer. Credit: James Mahoney

In many ways, Michael Chaput’s tenure with the Montreal Canadiens was quite an enigma.

In one way, it can be seen as a surprising success story, as Chaput went from being a no name bulk free agent AHL signing for the team, to a regular contributor on their 4^th line for a quarter of a season.

In another way, though, it can be seen as a team randomly calling up an AHL player who’s play wasn’t very deserving of a call up. Either way, the tenure was short lived, as the Ile Blizzard native was traded to the Arizona Coyotes at the trade deadline in exchange for Jordan Weal.

With 1 year left on his contract, Chaput is most likely set for the AHL, where he will provide depth offense. However, Chaput’s time in Montreal does bring up an interesting discussion point, one that could potentially benefit many future AHL players. Simply put,

What makes a good 4^th line?

The bottom six of an NHL team usually isn't as cemented as its top six. A teams top six is usually decided after a given period, and is unlikely to change unless the team experiences a string of injuries or poor performance. The bottom six, on the other hand, can fluctuate greatly depending on how effective it is, and is more prone to experimentation.

Case in point, Michael Chaput.

With a struggling bottom six core mostly comprised of purely offensive forwards who weren’t generating offense, the Canadiens knew a change needed to be made as they found themselves in a playoff spot a quarter of the way through the season.

Players like Joel Armia, Arturri Lehkhonen, Michael Peca, and Charles Hudon, simply weren’t getting it done, so they sought a replacement.

Cue, the Laval Rocket.

Despite going through a rather disastrous campaign, which saw most of the team’s offensive talent leave causing Joel Bouchard to scramble together a roster night after night, the Rocket still had a couple of marquee players impressing down below. While Chaput numbers were slightly underwhelming, reaching barely point per game, others like Kenny Agostino, were posting great numbers and leading the offense.

So, the Canadiens reconstructed a 4^th line based around the Laval Rocket. With Agostino at the wing, Chaput at centre, and a revolving list of players at the other wing, ranging from Peca to Hudon. While successful at first, the lines lack of offensive production and well, defensive production at times caused the team to turn to the trade deadline for defensive support, as players like Nate Thompson and the aforementioned Weal took over Chaput’s role.

Agostino was claimed by the Devils off waivers, and Chaput finished the season with the Coyotes farm team in Tuscon, ending what was in essence a failed experiment, right?

Well, not exactly.

While the combination was in no way perfect, there was something enjoyable about the energy and want to impress Chaput and Agostino brought to the lineup. Being in essence a downgraded version of the Golden Knights Pierre Edouard Bellemare, Chaput brought similar defensive and faceoff abilities at a much-reduced cost. (675,000 compared to 1.4 million).

With this, I ask you, could an AHL 4^th line be the best kind of 4^th line?

Having been a fan of the league ever since I got into hockey, I’ve seen a lot of really talented players come through the AHL without any fanfare nor notice. Chris Terry was absolute dynamite with the St John’s IceCaps and Laval Rocket, winning the AHL scoring title last year with his extremely powerful shot, one of the strongest in the AHL in my eyes.

Chris Terry was a fan favorite during his short tenure with the St. John's IceCaps.

Daniel Carr, winner of the scoring title this year, is a very talented 2 way centre utilizing his hands and awareness to feed his line mates. Even AHL only players like Chris Bourque continue to produce year after year. With this in mind, is it really a bad idea to build your 4^th line and or bottom six around the AHL?

With teams like the Flyers and Golden Knights utilizing Phil Varone and Brandon Pirri in this way, I think not. While defense can sometimes be an issue with these AHL scorers, in the faster paced, higher scoring NHL of today, I think a purely offensive bottom six could be really dangerous, especially if you mix the passing abilities of Carr with the shot of Terry.

With the resigning of Weal and Thompson, the Canadiens seem to have their minds set on their bottom six, but that doesn’t mean weaker teams, like the LA Kings and Ottawa Senators, can’t benefit from this concept. With both struggling to produce offensively (as the Senators two leading scorers weren’t even apart of the team by seasons end) sacrificing a defensive bottom six in exchange for some needed offensive punch could be useful, as players like Carr and Terry are cheap, talented, and worth a shot.

So, come July 1^st, if you see a team signing a player like Michael Chaput, don’ think why? Rather, think,

Why not?