It has been a while since the Montreal Canadiens have had a local Hab playing for them, but Mark Barberio is getting the opportunity to become the pride of Montreal hockey. Despite having five Quebecers on the historic team, Barberio is the only player from Montreal, and is rapidly growing into a reliable defenceman that the Canadiens could use in the long-run.

Local Hab Barberio Pride of Montreal

From Kirkland, a suburb on the West Island of Montreal, Barberio played in the QMJHL with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the Moncton Wildcats, before being selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the sixth round (152nd overall) in 2008, and making his debut with the big club in 2013. After playing two more seasons in Tampa with other West Islanders in Alex Killorn and Jonathan Drouin, Barberio was signed to a one-year deal by his hometown team in July 2015.

Despite a strong pre-season, Barberio failed to crack the Canadiens roster, and played the first two-and-a-half months of the season in the AHL with the St. John’s IceCaps. He earned two goals and 20 points in 26 games before being called up to Montreal. He played his first game with the Habs on December 28 against the Lighting, and although he remains the second-leading points producer amongst defencemen for the IceCaps, he has never looked back and has remained in the NHL ever since.

In 28 games with the Canadiens this season, the 25-year-old, whose +/- is zero, has two goals and seven assists, playing third-pairing minutes with an average of 15 minutes a night, and little to no special teams time. The traditional stats show a journeyman defenceman who is unreliable in the defensive zone, and cannot produce offensively. But there is so much more to Barberio’s game.

His Corsi% in five-on-five situations is 54.05%, ranking him fifth on the team, and tops amongst defencemen. On even strength, Barberio has been on for the fourth-least amount of scoring-chances-for, with 169, but also for the least amount of scoring-chances-against on the team, with 145. 53.82% of scoring chances that occur with Barberio on are in the Canadiens favour, and no other player has a higher scoring-chances-for percentage. To top it all off, Barberio has only been on for 19 goals against all season, the best for a defenceman on a Canadiens team that has allowed the tenth-most goals against in the league, with 194.

In a nutshell, Barberio is a prime example of a player who, according to traditional statistics, does not deserve a spot on an NHL team, but his role is backed by his stellar possession numbers. Barberio is a stable defenseman who can make smart, low-risk plays in his own zone, but can also move the puck well on the attack, and join the rush when needed.

After P.K. Subban went down with an injury last Thursday, joining Tom Gilbert, Jeff Petry and Nathan Beaulieu on the injured list, Barberio played on the first pairing with Andrei Markov, an idol of his as a kid, logging over 25 minutes of ice-time and five minutes on special teams. He showed his ability to play top minutes, and although misfortune got him there, it may be a blessing in disguise moving forward for the player and the team.

With an ageing Andrei Markov and Tom Gilbert likely set to leave on July 1, Barberio is trying out for a spot in the top-four next season. With Alexei Emelin, Subban, Beaulieu and Petry, it will be hard to crack, but he is at least giving general manager Marc Bergevin a reason to re-sign him before he becomes a restricted free agent in the summer.

It has been a while since the Canadiens have had a real local Hab don the colours of the blue-blanc-rouge. Many of the clubs legends are from the province of Quebec, but few are from Montreal. In fact, only nine of the 19 players with numbers currently hanging in the rafters of the Bell Centre were born in Montreal.

Barberio is the first local Hab since Mathieu Darche, who played with the Canadiens from 2009-2012. He is joined by four other Quebecers on the Habs, all of whom are from outside Montreal: David Desharnais (Laurier-Station), Torrey Mitchell (Greenfield Park), Phillip Danault (Victoriaville) and Stefan Matteau (born in Chicago, but grew up in Blainville).

Barberio is a source of pride not only for Montrealers, but for those of Italian origin. The Italian-Montreal community represents the largest ethnic community in the city outside of people of French and Canadian origin, with nearly 300,000 people. Italians take pride in anything Italian such as pasta, pizza, The Godfather, four FIFA World Cups, Sylvester Stallone, etc., and Barberio is no exception. Just take a look at the Twitter reaction from two TSN 690 personalities following his first goal with the Canadiens against the Bruins.

It might be the Italian thing, but I really like Mark Barberio — Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri) January 20, 2016

Barberio. Have liked him since camp. I like him a lot. pic.twitter.com/EzRsXKXGyc — Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) January 20, 2016

And then again on Saturday, after his second goal. Residents of Kirkland, a predominantly Italian municipality, now have two reasons to cheer for the defenceman.

Barberio from Andrighetto & Pacioretty pic.twitter.com/iLFT31u939 — Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) March 13, 2016

Kirkland roars as hometown boy Mark Barberio scores for #Habs to tie score 1-1 with #Wild. — Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) March 13, 2016

He may never be a star for the Canadiens, but as a local Hab, he will certainly become a fan-favourite. His play has untapped potential in it, and he could become a solid defenceman for the Habs for a few years to come. A few Montrealers might like that.

Main Photo.