Columbus Blue Jackets

Anderson was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. While in his final junior season with the London Knights, Anderson was signed to a three-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets.^[4] He made his NHL debut on January 16, 2015, against the New York Rangers.^[5] During the 2015–16, Anderson underwent surgery to repair a small orbital fracture that had occurred during a preseason game, and was expected to miss up to four weeks to recover.^[6] Despite his setback, Anderson scored his first NHL goal on January 9, 2016, against Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes.^[7] He was returned to the American Hockey League shortly afterwards where he helped lead the Monsters to the 2016 Calder Cup.^[8]

During the 2017–18 season, Anderson injured his knee in a game against the Washington Capitals and was expected to be out for four weeks.^[9] The following season was a breakout one for Anderson. He played the entire 82-game season in the NHL and put up a career high 47 points as the Blue Jackets advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in franchise history.^[10]

In the 2019–20 season, Anderson was unable to replicate his offensive game, posting just 1 goal and 4 points in 26 games before suffering a posterior labral tear of his left shoulder against the Ottawa Senators on December 14, 2019. With the injury failing to respond to rehabilitation, Anderson had season-ending shoulder surgery on March 2, 2020, with an expected recovery period of 4–6 months.^[11]

Montreal Canadiens

On October 6, 2020, Anderson was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Max Domi and a third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.^[12] On October 8, Anderson as a restricted free agent was signed to a seven-year, $38.5 million contract extension with the Canadiens.^[13] He made an immediate impression on arrival in Montreal, and was first dubbed a "powerhorse" by new teammate Tomáš Tatar, a nickname that was soonly widely adopted.^[1][14] Anderson recorded 17 goals and 7 assists during the pandemic-shortened regular season, and was widely regarded as one of the standouts during a tough season for the team.^[15][16] He was noted for his ability to deliver "big game performances".^[17] This was reinforced during the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, where Anderson recorded five goals over the four rounds of the Canadiens' deep run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals. Four of those goals came in two games, the first a two-goal performance in Game 3 of the semi-final series against the Vegas Golden Knights that first gave Montreal the series lead, with Anderson first tying the game in the closing minutes thanks to a misplay by Knights goaltender Marc-André Fleury and then scoring the overtime winner.^[18] In Game 4 of the Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the Canadiens facing elimination, Anderson scored the first goal of the game and then won it in overtime, notching the team's one win in the series.^[19]

In preparation for the 2021–22 season, Anderson began playing on a line with Jonathan Drouin and former London Knights teammate Christian Dvorak, who had just been traded to the Canadiens.^[20] Drouin, who had missed much of the previous season due to anxiety and cited Anderson as a close friend and support through his difficulties, would score the Canadiens' first goal of the season off of Anderson's feed.^[21] The Canadiens struggled greatly in the beginning of the season, while Anderson managed a team-leading seven goals (as well as six assists) through the first 24 games of the season before sustaining an upper body injury in a December 3 game against the Colorado Avalanche. It was announced that he would miss between two and four weeks as a result.^[22] Anderson ultimately returned to the lineup in mid-January.^[23] As the team continued to struggle coach Dominique Ducharme was sacked and replaced with Martin St-Louis, who revamped the lineup and created a new first line with Anderson, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield that immediately began producing results.^[24] On March 1, 2022, Anderson scored his first career hat trick in an 8–4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.^[25] Anderson later spent some games away from the first line, as St-Louis expressed a desire to revise his style of play to emphasize more than being a "physical guy."^[26]

After notching three goals and two assists in the first twelve games of the 2022–23 season, Anderson was suspended for two games for boarding Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo.^[27] He appeared in 69 games that season, scoring 21 goals and registering an additional 11 assists. His season ended prematurely when he sustained a high ankle sprain in a March 21 game against the Lightning, after being driven into the net by defenceman Mikhail Sergachev.^[28]

The beginning of Anderson's 2023–24 season was marked by a lengthy scoring drought that became a topic of widespread sports media discussion. He remarked that it was "very tough," in that "every day you think about when you're going to break out of that slump and start putting them in the back of the net."^[29] He scored an empty net goal in a December 4 game against the Seattle Kraken, the team's 25th game of the season, bringing a 27-game goalless streak to an end.^[30] Anderson scored two goals against goaltender Semyon Varlamov in a Canadiens victory over the New York Islanders on December 16, his first scored against a goaltender in 34 games dating back to March 13. Named the first star of the game, he received a standing ovation from the crowd.^[31] Anderson received the Molson Cup as the team's best player of the month of December, ultimately having scored six goals and nine points in that span.^[32]