Canadiens’ Armia provides glimmer of hope his massive potential can still be unlocked

MONTREAL — A sequence from the third period of Montreal’s slump-busting 6-2 win over the Washington Capitals: Joel Armia stops Tom Wilson in his tracks, strips him of the puck and starts the rush out of his own end. He joins it up ice, circles the opposing net, catches a pass and throws a brilliant one over to Mike Matheson for a golden scoring chance taken away by Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper. As the Capitals seize control of the puck to exit their own zone and release the pressure, Armia hunts it down, takes it back, retreats into his own end and stickhandles his way out of trouble, holding possession for several seconds to allow the Canadiens to execute a line change and start another rush up the ice.

This was 20 minutes after the six-foot-four, 213-pound winger bookended a Brendan Gallagher marker with two goals he ripped home off set faceoff plays.

They were impressive, and part of a dominant performance from Armia, who completed a hat trick with an empty-net goal.

He was the main reason the Canadiens earned their first win in over a week. He used his size to his advantage, put his incredible puck protection skills to work, made his shot a threat all nine times he uncorked it, helped captain Nick Suzuki hit a new career high in points (62), and once again left the door wide open to the question people have been asking about him since early in his career with the Buffalo Sabres.

Why can’t this incredibly talented player unlock his skills more often?

We put that to Armia, who was drafted 16th overall in 2011, and he came up with a pretty good answer.

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“Too many times I’m my own worst enemy, being too hard on myself,” he said. “That’s one thing I need to learn is how to play more relaxed. I think that’s one big thing.”

Consider it enormous that the Pori, Finland native is actively working on it, meeting with Canadiens mental performance coach J.F. Menard regularly this season and trying to address this career-long malaise he’s suffered.

Taking the cynical view that Armia can’t succeed in that process and turn himself into a player who’s at least worth the $3.4-million cap hit he’s commanding through the end of this season — and for two more after it — would be easy.

He’s been a full-timer in the NHL for eight seasons and, over that time, all he’s ever done is make people wonder if he’ll ever realize his enormous potential. It would be the path of least resistance to suggest it isn’t going to happen for him after he turns 30 in May.

But so long as he believes he can do it, there’s hope he actually can.

“I can be a good player,” Armia said. “I feel like I have a lot of skill, a good shot, and I read the game well.”

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He’d be wise to remind himself of that every time he gets bogged down in a lost battle or missed scoring chance.

And if Armia wants some help believing it can still happen for him this late in the game, he needn’t look further than across the Canadiens dressing room, to Mike Matheson, who registered three assists on Thursday to set a career-high in points (33) in just his 45th game of the season.

He, too, is a former first-round pick who struggled with his first team. He spent a lot of time with the Florida Panthers being hard on himself before a couple of progressive seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and this dominant one with the Canadiens.

Matheson also sees in Armia what the Canadiens see in him.

“We talk about it,” he said, “I think he’s definitely hard on himself for sure, but he’s a special player. He has all the tools. He has the best shot on the team, he works so hard, cares so much, so it’s great to see him get that hat trick. I was happy for him.”

It was good to see Armia happy for himself after this game.

There have been many obstacles in the way for him on other nights — an injury suffered in training camp that left him behind the 8-ball to start the season, a 10-game absence with another one from the end of October through mid-November, a shot to the ribs from New York Rangers defenceman Jacob Trouba that left him hurt from Jan. 17-Feb. 12, and then an illness, which turned into a respiratory infection and sidelined him for 19 games — making his output of four goals and seven assists through 39 games before this one a little more understandable.

But there were plenty of those 39 games that just made you wonder where the Armia we saw on Thursday was hiding. Games that made you wonder if the player we saw dominate during games on the 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Final would ever resurface.

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis gave him an opportunity to play with Suzuki and sparkplug Rafael Harvey-Pinard against Washington, and there he was.

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St. Louis has helped so many players find their best selves since taking over the bench in February of 2022 and, now that he knows Armia that much better, feels equipped to help.

“(I have to) speak to him. Speak to him a lot,” St. Louis said. “No matter what athlete in no matter what sport, it’s not just about ability; there’s a mental side and confidence. There are lesser players who have lots of confidence, and there are really good players who have fragile confidence. I try to help those players, and you have to surround them well.”

And Armia has to take advantage of that support and do what’s best for himself.

“It’s just as simple as it is,” he said. “You can’t have a perfect game every time, and that’s what I sometimes look for. To understand everybody makes mistakes, you don’t have to drag that.”

Games like the one Armia played on Thursday should help.

“Of course. Every time you get success, it puts you more in relaxed mode,” he said. “You get that positive. It’s not negative things to think about. It gives you confidence.”

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