Author: Dose

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The Canadiens are one of the worst teams in terms of goals scored

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 26: Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans (71) plays the puck during the St. Louis Blues versus the Montreal Canadiens game on October 26, 2024, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Canadiens have now lost three straight games, scoring seventeen goals in the process. That’s far too many! Especially when the team only scores six goals in reply.

With fifty goals already conceded in just 12 games, the Habs occupy second-to-last place in the NHL, ahead only of the Colorado Avalanche, tied with the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, who have both played one game more.

Although the image doesn’t show the right number of goals, the Canadiens are thirty-first in the League. That goes a long way to explaining the club’s lacklustre start to the season.

The team has particularly struggled in five-on-five with a minus-fourteen differential for twenty-ninth place across the NHL. This is a regression for the organization, which finished last season with a respectable minus six for twentieth place.

Arpon Apsu of The Athletic questions the Canadiens’ objectives, seeing no progress so far this year.

It’s all the more frustrating given that the special units are working better this year (although the disadvantage is ripping some off recently).

How can we explain this regression? We can point to the lack of experience of our defensive brigade for our setbacks in this area, but shouldn’t it be getting better?

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Could the hybrid defensive system that the Canadiens’ coach, Martin St-Louis, is trying to implement with the team be too complicated for a young defense? That’s what Brian Wilde of Global News thinks in his article published this morning.

Playing a hybrid system means constantly switching between a zone defense and a man-to-man defense depending on the situation, requiring a level of communication and maturity that seems to be lacking from the Canadiens so far.

It often seems that the players think too much on defense and react to the play rather than anticipate it. This would explain the Canadiens’ annoying habit of giving away a second goal quickly after conceding one.

Perhaps it’s time for St-Louis to implement a simpler defensive system better suited to a defensive brigade. The Habs should apply the good old KISS method: Keep it simple, stupid, because sometimes it’s better to keep it simple…

In Overtime

– Wild win in overtime.

– Ovy scores in fourth straight game.

– Gold glove for Varsho.

– Nice mark for Ehlers.

– Pick six!

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Shane Wright unable to produce this season

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 09: Shane Wright #51 of the Seattle Kraken skates during the third period of a game against the Arizona Coyotes at Climate Pledge Arena on April 9, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Christopher Mast/NHLI via Getty Images)

Remember Shane Wright? Just kidding, every Canadiens fan remembers Shane Wright, the man who was tipped to be the first pick in the 2022 draft and whom many would have liked to see the Canadiens select first instead of Juraj Slafkovsky.

However, I don’t think many people today regret the choice of Slafkovsky, because Wright has had a rather ordinary start to his career, to put it mildly.

The man who was eventually drafted fourth overall by the Seattle Kraken has just two points, one goal and one assist, on the books so far this season.

In twenty-eight career games, Wright has just nine points, including six goals. Can we start talking about a bust?

It’s still early days, but so far, these statistics shouldn’t reassure Kraken management that they’ve made the right choice. At least the forward has a positive differential, which shows that if he doesn’t put his name on the score sheet, he’s not hurting his team.

However, when you compare him to the players they preferred, you might think the Canadiens made the right selection with Slafkovsky, who has 25 goals and 68 points in 130 games.

The same goes for the New Jersey Devils with defenseman Simon Nemec (3 goals, 17 points in 69 games) and the Arizona Coyotes (now HC Utah) with Logan Cooley (22 goals, 54 points in 94 games).

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It has to be said that the 2022 draft produced one of the League’s hardest vintages for teams to evaluate, not least because of the Covid-19 context that complicated the development of young players as well as their scouting .

Nevertheless, I’m sure the Kraken will be patient with Shane Wright, giving him the best possible chance to develop into an NHL impact player.

Moreover, his situation is not unlike that of Alexis Lafrenière with the New York Rangers who, after three rather modest first seasons, blossomed during the last playoffs and established himself as one of the team’s top-six forwards, already tallying ten points including five goals in eleven games this season.

In short, while it’s still early to talk about a bust in the case of Shane Wright, the Kraken must be looking forward to seeing their youngster contribute more regularly to the scoring. Only time will tell.

Overtime

– Record start for the Rocket!

– The Lions are on a mission!

– Five in a row for the Eagles!

– Victory for the Cards.

– The Crew is eliminated.

– sixth straight win!

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Leafs’ power play currently ranks last in the NHL

BOSTON, MA - MAY 04: Toronto look on after Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round playoffs between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 4, 2024, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a rather ordinary start to the season. With thirteen points in twelve games (6-5-1), the Leafs look more like a team in the mix than a Stanley Cup contender.

One of the reasons for Toronto’s slow start is their poor performance on the powerplay, with a success rate of just 7.9%, good for last place in the League. That’s just three goals in thirty-eight chances!

As James Mirtle says, it’s hard to believe the power play is that bad this year. And since this post, that number has dropped from 8.3% to 7.9% as the Leafs were zero for four with the man advantage in a 4-2 loss to the Blues in St. Louis.

The problem is, it’s costing the Toronto outfit dearly to have a powerplay that languishes in the bottom half of the League. The Leafs’ four star forwards – Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares – cost the team over $46 million in salary, or 53.1% of the payroll.

Add in the $7.5 million salary of power-play defenseman Morgan Rielly, and that’s a lot of pussies on the ice not scoring.

The team has also offered a contract to former Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty to give even more ammunition to a power play that finished seventh in the League last season with a 24% rate.

For several seasons, the Leafs’ power play has been at the heart of the team’s success, and one wonders whether the problems at the start of this season can be attributed to the arrival of new coach Craig Berube and his assistants. And if these setbacks continue, could they end up affecting the team’s overall performance?

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However, if the powerplay is struggling, the Leafs are doing quite well on the disadvantage, with 83.3% efficiency for eighth place in the NHL. The team also has the fourth-best five-on-five goal output with plus-ten.

So you’d think that with a better power-play performance, the team would have a better record than thirteen points in twelve games. That still puts them third in the Atlantic Conference, but only four points ahead of the Canadiens, who currently occupy last place.

Well, the campaign is still young, and all it takes is one good night for the Leafs’ power play to unblock, but in the meantime, the team is losing more games than it should.

Overtime

– Good day for our skaters.

– Great game from Jackson and Henry!

– Bills win over section rivals.

– Burrow on fire!

– And the other NFL games.

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Kevin Bieksa: “The only one making progress in Montreal is Cole Caufield”.

MONTREAL, CANADA - OCTOBER 9: Cole Caufield #13 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates after scoring a goal during the first period of the NHL regular season game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre on October 9, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Vitor Munhoz/NHLI via Getty Images)

Lately, the Canadiens de Montréal have been snapping them up.

Many would say this was to be expected, but the last few games, despite some rare positives, have been very difficult.

20 goals allowed in the last four games is unacceptable.

In the last game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, you could sense that some of the players were working harder, but the results just weren’t there.

In rebuilding, it’s normal not to win often, but there must at least be progress.

On Saturday night, during an intermission of Hockey Night in Canada, former NHL defenseman Kevin Bieksa had a lot to say about the Habs.

Let’s just say he didn’t mince words when describing the Habs.

We were talking about progression? Bieksa sees regression for all but one player: Cole Caufield.

“It seems like there’s a lot of regression going on right now. The only guy who’s progressing that comes to mind is Cole Caufield. Everyone else has stagnated. You think of Kaiden Guhle, even Nick Suzuki have stagnated.” – Kevin Bieksa

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Honestly, he’s not wrong, but I don’t think the captain has stagnated, as he says.

He’s producing in almost every game and already has five two-point games this season.

It’s hard to ask for more, when he’s facing the best opposing trios night after night.

His 13 points in 12 games give him an 88.8-point pace over an 82-game season. We can expect the Iron Man to play every game, as he has done since his arrival in the big league.

Aside from what he said about Suzuki, Bieksa hit the nail on the head, as we expect a lot more from the other players.

Of course, we don’t include Lane Hutson in the equation, since he’s only a rookie making his debut at professional levels.

The Habs and their fans are very fortunate (and happy) to have Suzuki, Caufield and Hutson putting on a show game after game this season.

Overtime

– Think about it.

– Connor Hellebuyck shows why he belongs among the elite.

– What patience from Nikita Kucherov.

– In every sense of the word, Palmieri finds the back of the net.

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Logan Mailloux is simply too good for the AHL

At the moment, nothing is working for the Canadiens in Montreal, as they suffered their third straight loss last night, bringing their record to 4-7-1.

At least we can take heart from the fact that whatever isn’t working in Montreal, well, it’s working in Laval with the Rocket.

Pascal Vincent’s team has been simply dominant since the start of the season, with an 8-1-0 record.

Everything is currently running smoothly and perfectly, as yesterday afternoon at Place Bell, the Laval outfit recorded a franchise-record seventh win in a row.

The Rocket prevailed 6-3 over the Providence Bruins, in a game marked by the hat trick of Joshua Roy, who now ranks 5ᵉ among the AHL’s top scorers with 10 points, including seven goals in nine games.

However, in all this, we must not forget Logan Mailloux, who, for the second time this season in the AHL, recorded four points in one game.

With a goal and an assist yesterday, he now has nine points in just four games, good for first place among AHL defensemen.

(Credit: TheAHL.com)

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What’s even more impressive is that Mailloux missed five games with the Laval Rocket while in the NHL, where he had three points in five games with the Montreal Canadiens.

And so, despite missing five games, number 24 of the Laval Rocket is at the top of the AHL.

In short, even if it’s only four games, Mailloux really does seem too strong for the AHL, at least offensively.

Because, as we all know, the problem with Mailloux has never been offensively.

We all know what a great offensive player he is, especially with his excellent shooting, so the problem has always been on the defensive end.

If Mailloux can improve in this area, he’ll easily be a top-4 defenseman in the NHL.

He’s already racking up points as a top-4 defenseman, so all he needs to do is correct his defensive shortcomings, which we unfortunately saw a lot of during his five-game NHL stint.

In short, Mailloux is only 21 years old, so he still has time to solidify himself defensively and become a pillar of the Habs in the future.

Overtime

– Michael Hage missed yesterday’s game against Boston University for medical reasons.

– This explains it, as Hage was shuffled around Friday night.

– Et là là.

– Wow!

– Indeed.

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Patrick Roy fired before Martin St-Louis: a prediction worth remembering

NEWARK, NJ - OCTOBER 25: Patrick Roy of the New York Islanders behind the bench during the game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on October 25, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images)

There seems to be a tendency to fire coaches frequently in recent years.

We know that Martin St-Louis, who has only been behind the Habs bench since February 2022, is already one of the longest-serving coaches with his current team.

This is quite incredible, and shows just how common it is to fire a coach as soon as he doesn’t get the job done.

There seems to be a lack of patience.

Recently, Mike Bartner, an avid hockey fan with a penchant for bold predictions, released a list of the next 10 coaches to get fired.

Number one? Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, starting this month.

But we also note the presence of Martin St-Louis at number 9ᵉ, with an expiration date that would be April 2026.

Even more interesting is to see Patrick Roy at 7ᵉ, who would be fired in December 2025, according to Bartner’s prediction.

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A post shared by Mike Bartner (@mbonhockey)

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Based on this chart, we can understand that Derek Lalonde would also be let go this year, as would John Tortorella and Peter DeBoer at the end of the season.

As for Martin St-Louis, April 2026 would make sense, since as I’ve often said, I don’t believe MSL will be the coach who wins the Stanley Cup.

He is and was a very good head coach during the rebuild, but to get to the next level, it’s going to take another coach.

On the other hand, St-Louis needs to stay in the Habs environment after his tenure at the helm is over, as he could definitely be a very good powerplay coach.

In short, let’s wait and see if this picture really reflects the future, or if Bartner is simply in the field.

Overtime

– What a great passing game from the Rangers.

– Indeed.

– Something to think about.

– I say yes.

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Michael Hage’s injury: the CH curse now strikes prospects

The Montreal Canadiens may not be in the mix right now, but one thing’s for sure: the infirmary is very busy.

At the start of the season, we learned that Patrik Laine, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and David Reinbacher would miss several months.

And during the course of the season, key players such as Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle went down, and that’s all it took for the curse to return.

Unfortunately, the players playing with the big club weren’t enough for the infirmary, as NCAA prospect Michael Hage was also injured…

According to his coach at the University of Michigan, Hage received several heavy body checks on Friday, preventing him from playing on Saturday.

On Friday and Saturday, the University of Michigan Wolverines took on the Boston University Terriers, winning both games.

No fewer than 10 goals in total were scored by the Wolverines in these two games.

Hage also picked up an assist on Friday.

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An Internet user made an interesting comment about Friday’s game.

From the moment it was 3-1 for Michael Hage’s team, the opponents began to show no mercy for the Habs’ prospects.

The Internet user in question saw a check to the head and knee-to-knee contact involving the young right-handed center.

Anything to help the Habs’ medical situation, which has been ripping them off for far too long.

On the other hand, the Habs can take solace in the Colorado Avalanche situation.

The team had to deal with the absences of Valeri Nichushkin (suspension), Gabriel Landeskog, Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, Devon Toews and guys like Ross Colton (8 goals in 10 games) and Miles Wood, a very good support player.

Even the Islanders are doing more or less well, having recently confirmed that Alexander Romanov won’t be playing tonight (Sunday).

He joins a fine list of injured players including two other defensemen (Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly) and forwards Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair.

There are definitely worse injuries elsewhere in the NHL, but quality prospects like Hage and Reinbacher getting injured hurts…

Overtime

– Read more.

– Finally, some good news for the Avalanche.

– Interesting.

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Alex Tuch pulls off a little miracle worthy of a stop-of-the-year candidate

Last night’s 11-game schedule made for another busy Saturday in the National Hockey League.

A number of highlights caught the eye.

Here are the main ones.

1. Forward Alex Tuch makes a sensational save

Last night, two mid-pack Atlantic Division teams faced off in Detroit, as the visiting Buffalo Sabres took on the Red Wings.

It was a low-scoring game, with the Red Wings coming out on top 2-1.

Both teams’ goalies were solid, and even on the Sabres’ side, another player stood out in front of the net.

Forward Alex Tuch saved the day for his team by making two consecutive saves on his knees from the goal line.

Seriously, the second save with a little mustard could be a candidate for save of the year.

Kudos to Tuch, who gave it his all to keep his team in the game.

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2. Auston Matthews avenges Mitch Marner with a hard body check

The Maple Leafs have always been known as “softs”, especially when it comes to their star forwards.

They’re generally very soft, and don’t get physically involved.

Yesterday, however, Auston Matthews came to the defense of his good friend Mitch Marner.

Marner was sent to the mat by St. Louis Blues defenseman Ryan Suter, and then Matthews came to serve up a solid double-check on Ryan Suter.

Here’s the sequence.

In short, Matthews reacted well and didn’t hesitate to avenge his teammate.

Still, the Leafs lost 4-2 to the Blues in St. Louis.

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3. Golden Knights remain undefeated (8-0-0) at home this season

Once again this year, Vegas is one of the best teams in the NHL.

The Golden Knights are dominant, especially at home.

They’re so dominant at home that, so far, they’re undefeated at T-Mobile Arena, with all eight of their wins this season coming at home.

In fact, on their 8-3-1 record, they’re 8-0-0 at home and 0-3-1 away.

That’s a pretty impressive stat.

The Golden Knights’ 8ᵉ home win actually concluded last night in overtime, as Brett Howden played the hero against the Utah Hockey Club to give his team a 4-3 victory.

4. Canucks escape in extremis with victory over Sharks

Vancouver isn’t dominating at the start of the season, when on the contrary, it’s often harder than it should be for the Canucks.

They have a good team on paper, but the absence of Thatcher Demko in net seems to be hurting the team’s morale.

Last night, the Canucks struggled against the NHL’s worst team, the San Jose Sharks, scoring the winning goal with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

The Canucks came away with both points in extremis.

In the victory, Jake DeBrusk scored his first Canucks goal.

5. A sensational AHL goal for Donovan Sebrango

We’re off to the AHL now, to the Belleville Senators, where we witnessed a superb goal from defenseman Donovan Sebrango.

The son of former Montreal CF player Eduardo Sebrango shot between his legs without looking at the puck to score a magnificent goal.

This is truly a fine achievement for the player of Canadian and Cuban descent.

Overtime

– Here are yesterday’s results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: seven games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)

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Plane hit by tanker! Habs were unable to leave Pittsburgh

MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 02: Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki (14) celebrates his goal with Montreal Canadiens left wing Juraj Slafkovsky (20) and Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (22) during the Florida Panthers versus the Montreal Canadiens game on April 02, 2024, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Last night, after their 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canadiens’ players were supposed to head straight back to Montreal that evening.

However, this was not the case.

A problem/accident with the team’s plane forced the players to sleep in Pittsburgh.

According to Renaud Lavoie, a tanker truck crashed into one of the wings of the Habs’ plane, cancelling the Habs’ flight that evening.

As a result, the Habs players had to spend the night in Pittsburgh rather than Montreal.

It’s important to note that the same kind of event occurred last year in Pittsburgh too, when it was a bus that crashed into the Canadiens’ plane.

In short, not only did the Habs lose last night, but the players had to sleep in Pittsburgh and wait until the next day to return to the Québécois metropolis.

The Habs play their next game on Tuesday evening at the Bell Centre, starting at 7 p.m., when the Calgary Flames come to town.

Overtime

– Deserved.

– After Robert Thomas, this would be another heavy loss for the Blues.

– Coming up.

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Arber Xhekaj: in great demand if placed on the market, says Darren Dreger

Let’s talk about Arber Xhekaj.

We don’t know what the Canadiens really think of him. Does the club love him? Does the club want to break him? Does the club want him to improve his game on the ice?

Can any of this be true?

What we do know, however, is that when the Habs have to let a defenseman go, he’s the one on the hook. Martin St-Louis left him out on several occasions recently… and he only played when the club had fewer than six healthy defensemen.

So, under the circumstances, it’s natural to wonder about his future in town. Are the Canadiens thinking of trading him? Does the club want to build around him?

According to Darren Dreger, who spoke to TSN 690 this morning, the Canadiens don’t want to part with Xhekaj, who can be part of the future if he continues to play to his strengths.

He also added that if the club were to place the Sheriff on the market, at least a dozen teams would be interested in getting their hands on his services from Montreal.

Is anyone surprised? No. After all, we know that Xhekaj has good market value.

But what the story doesn’t tell is the price at which he could be traded. After all, I have no doubt that several teams would call to inquire about his availability.

But would it be at a price that would move the Canadiens forward?

I don’t think that the sacrosanct first choice that we once “could have” for his services has really been on the table. And I don’t think it will be in November 2024 either.

I don’t see the Habs getting the piece they want for WiFi. I see him staying for now… but to be continued.

Overtime

– Caution.

– Bad timing.

– Major injury in New York.

– Take care, Tony.

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