Alex Newhook reminds me of the way Nathan MacKinnon attacks

The second center position for the habs raises several questions.

Michael Hage had a very good first season in the NCAA, but it will take a few years before he makes the jump to the NHL. And even then, he will have to establish himself as a second center, which is far from a done deal, even if he shows very good offensive skills.

Until his arrival in the big league, solutions will have to be found with the habs.

Kirby Dach’s injury doesn’t help in this regard, but at the same time, many seem to have given up on him.

Owen Beck got an audition at second-line center, but he didn’t seem ready for that role.

But since then, Alex Newhook has had the chance to play with Patrik Laine. And he’s been impressive.

Clearly, Newhook is playing his best hockey since joining the team, now that he’s back at center.

He uses his great speed to enter the opponent’s zone and creates a lot of scoring chances.

On this subject, in the Tellement Hockey podcast, Marc Antoine Godin mentioned that the zone entries of #15 remind him a lot of… Nathan MacKinnon.

That’s quite a comparison.

By clicking on the YouTube link below, you will go directly to the excerpt about Newhook.

Godin was careful to point out that we shouldn’t get carried away with this statement, but when you think about it, it makes sense.

We can even wonder if Newhook’s top speed isn’t as good as MacKinnon’s. In any case, it’s not far off.

On the other hand, Newhook will never have the explosion of the Colorado Avalanche superstar, nor his agility.

Nevertheless, it’s quite easy to draw parallels between the zone entries of these two players. And that’s even if Newhook doesn’t have the same skills as his former teammate.

When Newhook turns it on, he’s literally a rocket, as we can see in this goal he scored against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday:

Alex Newhook has cured himself of that horrific snake bite.

Great speed, better shot, ties the game at one for the #Habs pic.twitter.com/lLXOPumNDe
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 27, 2025

Too bad he doesn’t have a high shooting accuracy, as my colleague Marc-Olivier Cook mentioned in this article yesterday. He would have many more goals to his name.

Let’s see if Newhook can fill the second center gap until Michael Hage arrives (or until Kirby finally establishes himself as a top-6 center).

Overtime
– Another notable shot from Cole Hutson.

COLE HUTSON FROM A WILD ANGLE

(via @NCAAIceHockey)pic.twitter.com/saA8XuiLo3
— BarDown (@BarDown) March 29, 2025

– Marc-André Fleury is very grateful to have played so many games against Alex Ovechkin.

“I feel very lucky and fortunate I got to play so many games against him”

Marc-André Fleury on Ovechkin#mnwild pic.twitter.com/5VZrwab6qo
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 28, 2025

– It looks a lot like the end of the Blues’ season in 2019.

2019 called….. pic.twitter.com/9Nyn4soL9G

— BarDown (@BarDown) March 29, 2025

– The québécois ankles took a beating on that one.

Makar just shook Joseph out of his ankles pic.twitter.com/jCPAqHd3Nr