Sometimes, it takes a little while for a player in the NHL to get going and make a name for himself. The Colorado Avalanche drafted Alex Newhook fourth overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, and while he wasn’t long for Colorado, he helped the Canadiens get a chance to potentially face his former team in the Stanley Cup Final.
Newhook had the game-winning goal in Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, officially eliminating another former Avalanche first-round pick, Bowen Byram, who was also in the same class as Newhook.
NEWHOOK WINS IT FOR MONTREAL 🚨
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 19, 2026
Alex Newhook buries the Subway Canada OT winner to send the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final! pic.twitter.com/CPX0Vo6qU4
In the end, one of those two players was going to have an opportunity to advance to the next round, against the Carolina Hurricanes. Newhook had the game-winner on his stick in overtime Monday night, which is such a cool story to me because it probably sent him through so many emotions. Well, if not right then, maybe he’ll have in his mind how far he has come since his Colorado days.
Revisiting the trade of Newhook, the Avalanche received the 31st and 37th overall picks in 2023, plus Gianni Fairbrother. The picks turned into defenseman Mikhail Gulyayev and Ethan Gauthier (Tampa Bay Lightning).
Newhook has been hovering at or around 15 goals per season through the last five years (he had no goals in six games in his rookie season). The turnaround is pretty cool, even if those numbers aren’t flashy.
So far in the 2025-26 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Newhook has seven goals. He has two multi-goal games to add, as well. It is clear that he has been working his tail off, and some sort of light has come on to where he is playing very well. He had no goals in the team’s first series, against the Lightning.
As the game-winner, he also got to chat with Emily Kaplan, and he talked about how his Canadiens team got to where they are now.
It had been a rough past four seasons for the Canadiens, prior to last year’s playoff appearance, they had three-straight seasons in which they didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Now, Newhook and his team will look to make up for previous failures.
Who knows, maybe they’ll somehow come away with a series win against the Hurricanes, while the Avalanche come away with a series win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
That would be pretty cool. Newhook getting a chance to stick it to the Avalanche. Crazier things have happened!
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