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Habs Report Cards: Nathan Beaulieu

May 27, 2016, 9:06 AM ET [17 Comments]
Jennifer B Cutler
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Habs Report Cards - Nathan Beaulieu
Grade: B

The 2015-2016 season was Nathan Beaulieu's first full season in the NHL and for the most part it was quite positive. Beaulieu had finally established himself in the latter half of the 2014-2015 season as a regular defenseman in the NHL and much of the credit for that has gone to former Sergei Gonchar who briefly played with the Canadiens. As a 1st round (2011) draft pick, expectations were high for Beaulieu. However, maturity and inconsistent play had been an issue for him throughout his first 2.5 years with the Canadiens, bouncing up and down between the NHL and AHL. When Gonchar took Beaulieu under his wing, everything finally started to click as he earned the trust of the coaching staff who rewarded him with more playing time.

To start this past season, Beaulieu played alongside Tom Gilbert on the Canadiens 3rd pairing. For the most part this was a successful duo as they were able to usually contribute between 14-17 quality minutes a night which helped ease the load off the top defensemen such as Andrei Markov. Beaulieu also saw time on the powerplay as he joined Jeff Petry on the backend of the Canadiens 2nd powerplay unit. He would go on to record 19 points in 64 games, 3 of which came with the man advantage.

Beaulieu slowly climbed his way up the Canadiens defensive depth chart when Alexei Emelin missed some time in November to injury as he played with Petry on the 2nd pairing, playing effectively with more minutes and handling the additional responsibility. Later in December when Markov was struggling, Beaulieu was called upon to play on the top pairing alongside P.K. Subban for the first time in his NHL career. Beaulieu’s skating is excellent and he is able to carry the puck out of the defensive zone and trouble. His passing was always good but this year I found he had a better knack for delivering sharp passes. There were a number of beautiful rushes up the ice and into the offensive zone, finding the open man. Despite his big size, Beaulieu is not always the most physical player. However, he does not shy away from contact and defending his teammates. He has their backs and proved that he will not let his teammates get pushed around. However, the Canadiens need someone else on the ice to do the policing as they need Beaulieu on the ice and not spending 5+ minutes in the penalty box.

That is not to say that it was all sunshine and roses for Beaulieu this year. Various injuries forced him to miss some time and could take a few games for him to find his footing again. Consistency remained issue and while he enjoyed time in the top 4 and performed well, there were certainly nights that he struggled as well. I found his communication on the ice between his partner and the goaltender would be weak and that would result in turnovers and goals allowed. However, he is still a young defenceman and learning.

Beaulieu’s name has frequently come up in trade rumours as he is one of the few young valuable assets that the Canadiens have. However, they do not have another young left-handed defenceman in their system with the potential to play top four minutes like Beaulieu. It would be very difficult for the Canadiens to replace him in the short-term.

Next season I would not be surprised if Beaulieu once again starts the season the 3rd pairing but I will be surprised if he is not in the top 4 when the year is over. Every year he has improved his game and there is little doubt that he should be able to stay on that growth curve come 2016-2017.

Cheers & follow along

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