BREAKING: Canucks terminates key player’s contract.

BREAKING: Canucks terminates key player’s contract.

The optimism that veteran Canadiens forward Josh Anderson carried into this season has long since disappeared.

Nearing the end of his worst season with the Canadiens, Anderson probably can’t wait until it’s over. Only then will he be able to disappear into the summer heat and reflect on what went wrong and how he can bounce back next season.

“I think these last few games are really important, individually and for our team,” Anderson, 29, said after Monday’s practice at the Bell Centre, during which the team photo was taken. “I hope to have the opportunity to do the right things and get back to my game. Use my speed and my physicality while trying to shoot as many pucks as I can. Keep it simple.”

Now in his eighth full NHL season, only once has Anderson failed to hit double digits in goals. That occurred in 2019-20, when he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery and was limited to 26 games.

 

But heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Florida (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM), Anderson has eight goals and 18 points in 69 games. He has been playing on a line with Jake Evans and Jesse Ylönen.

Management remains in his corner.

“I think the effort is there,” head coach Martin St. Louis said Monday. “I think the intentions are there. It could be a hard year for him, right. I think he expects more. I think he was snake-bitten for a while. I felt he was coming. Then the injury happened.”

Anderson didn’t score his first goal until Dec. 4, against Seattle, and it was fired into an empty net. He had a five-game stretch later that month in which he scored five goals and an assist, but then he struggled again — held to one goal over seven games — before missing four January games with a lower-body injury. In 28 games since then, he has scored once, his last goal coming March 2.

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