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It’s hard for me to imagine if anybody playing for the Montreal Canadiens had a worse season than Brian Flynn did in 2015-2016. During the summer of 2015, he was signed to a two-year extension worth $950,000 AAV, which befits a 27-year-old fourth line veteran with limited offensive capabilities. As the trend seems to be, general manager Marc Bergevin once again brought in a versatile player capable of performing at all three forward positions. Despite head coach Michel Therrien’s trademark willingness to rotate the attacking combinations on the drop of a dime, somehow Flynn could not find his groove. He started the year off looking to build upon a chemistry with Torrey Mitchell and Devante Smith-Pelly and a fourth line with decent sized almost became a scoring threat every time they hit the ice. Unfortunately, that would not be the case…
Despite his relatively good playoff performances during the previous Spring Dance where he posted 3 points in 6 games, Flynn did not show the same kind of fire in his belly that initially convinced Bergevin to extend his contract. His less-than-spectacular regular season numbers notwithstanding, he finished 2015-2016 with a -3 differential, which begs the question: where does Brian Flynn fit within the Habs’ roster?
Personally, I don’t see the point in keeping him around. He can easily be placed on waivers and should he not be claimed, could find himself in the American Hockey League. His presence on an already-crammed bottom six forward group takes away precious opportunities for a long list of youngsters to earn themselves a permanent spot on the roster.
Whether he’s motivated to leave his mark on the team next season is anybody’s guess. Sadly, there’s simply no room for him on this team and he could easily make way for someone like Michael McCarron to gain more experience at the NHL level.