January 28, 2024
The Montreal Canadiens played three games this week. On Tuesday night they lost a 4-1 stinker to the Ottawa Senators. The New York Islanders were in town on Thursday and the result was a 4-3 win. Then on Saturday the Habs were in Pittsburgh to face the Penguins, and they claimed the loser point in a 3-2 overtime loss. Here are my thoughts on the Habs after 49 games.
The three–centremen forward group isn’t likely to catch on across the league.
On Monday, GM Kent Hughes made the call to loan defenseman Justin Barron to the Laval Rocket to find his game, and to place centreman Mitchell Stephens on waivers. Arber Xhekaj was called up to fill the hole on D, and Tanner Pearson was reactivated from the injured list. This left the Habs with three centremen in the line-up to face the Ottawa Senators.
Looking at that scouts list, one might have been hopeful that the Habs had strategically chosen to roll three centremen to increase the ice time for Sean Monahan. In the absence of any obvious rationale, this hypothesis is as good as any. Monahan ended up playing exactly 20 minutes, while Jake Evans played 20:25. Each of the centremen took a 2-3 minute bump to replace Stephens’ minutes.
But if the game plan was to showcase for the scouts, it backfired. The Habs looked awful, and the strategy was short-lived. On Wednesday, Joshua Roy was loaned to Laval and Lucas Condotta was recalled.
Speaking of scouts, is it me or do the Habs trade chips look awful with scouts in the building? It seems like nothing tanks Jake Allen’s performance quite like a scout list.
It feels like a Martin St. Louis – Patrick Roy rivalry might be in the cards.
On Thursday night, Coach Patrick Roy and the New York Islanders were in Montreal to face the Canadiens. We all recall the drama when Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Jeff Gorton, was looking for a general manager, and again when General Manager, Kent Hughes, was looking for a head coach. A vocal local contingent desperately wanted Saint Patrick to come home to Montreal.
Roy came home as the newly appointed Head Coach of the Islanders, and it came on the heels of a social media discussion that has been brewing about the end of the honeymoon for the leadership in Montreal.
An MSL-Roy rivalry might be dependent on timing. The Habs competitive window is likely still a couple of years away. Will the Islanders still be competitive then? Regardless, you know every time Roy and the Islanders do something good, while the Habs continue to rebuild, there will be comparisons between the two coaches from some venues.
It bodes well that the Habs actually won the first showdown. A young, injury-depleted team drew first blood in that infant rivalry.
Brendan Gallagher has been torn apart and put back together with a couple of pieces in wrong.
He’s a walking Blue Rodeo lyric. Gally is a shadow of that kid who made the team for the shortened 2012-13 season, and the spent a career delivering more than anyone expected of him. The style of play that we’ve loved to watch over the years has taken its toll, and now he’s become somewhat of a liability to a rebuilding team. Sure, he’s a heart and soul guy, and every team needs its veteran leaders, but the contract is an albatross.
This week against the Islanders, Gallagher lost his mind for a minute and delivered a dirty hit to the head of Adam Pelech. It’s true he’s never been a dirty player, but he’s lucky to be serving a suspension of just five games.
The timing is bad, just like another Blue Rodeo lyric. The team is racked with injuries and trying to set some veterans up for a good performance leading up to the trade deadline. The team is limping along and have now lost another forward.
Beyond that, Gallagher has to know that he can ill afford to let management see someone else shine in the roster spot they were holding for him. There was a time when removing Gally from the Habs line-up would have been devastating, but did we even miss him on Saturday night?
Jesse Ylonen has been begging for an opportunity, and now it’s time for him to pounce.
I’d rather be a Habs fan right now than a Pens fan.
They are two teams heading in completely opposite directions. The Penguins are desperately trying to keep a contention window open and are six points outside of a wild card spot. The Canadiens are in a rebuild where every win is gravy, and they’re just three points behind the Pens. The Habs have looked exhausted in recent games, but they gave the Pens a run.
It’s very likely that as the Habs begin to compete, the Pens will have begun to tear it all down. I wonder if Sid the Kid would be interested in spending the twilight of his career with his childhood team.
Sometimes you really need a vacation.
It’s the worst part of the season for a rebuilding team, at least from a viewing experience. The players have to face facts that they are not a playoff team with 40% of the season left. They know friends will be shipped out soon and the losses will be worse. Exactly how do you find the energy, night after night, to swim against a hard tide?
On the flip side, roster spots are being used on veterans that management hopes to flip before the trade deadline – this means the gratification of watching young players is delayed until after that deadline. It means we have to watch Slafkovsky shine with Monahan for a bit instead of watching the top line get stronger. This does not always mean good things for the viewing experience.
That’s where the Habs are at right now. The players we love look exhausted, we’re over watching some of the vets, and we have a bit of a wait before we can enjoy Lane Hutson. We need a vacation from the Montreal Canadiens – almost as much as they need one from us.
But it’s not all bad news. Caufield, Matheson and Slafkovsky are all experiencing career highs in the points department. Suzuki is heading in that direction. The Habs are building a crop of defensemen that can move the puck and get involved in the offense, and fans are not missing the era of the stay-at-home defense. There is a lot to celebrate with these kids.
The other good news is that once they return from the All-Star break, there will be plenty of business to discuss with about a month counting down to the trade deadline. In fact, with other teams remaining in action for half the week, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Hughes pull off a trade before the break.
Hab At Her 
Yes, they need a break, and it does get tiring to see them lose a game like the one against Pittsburgh (especially if Slafkovsky had managed to score on the moves he made around the Pittsburgh players to get to the net in overtime). It’s tough to watch reliable guys like Suzuki have a terrible game in the face-off circle, and be mostly uneffective in a game where he could have made the difference, or see Matheson make uncharacteristic mistakes. But, like you said, they’re worn down.
If Monahan, as everyone is assuming, is a trade piece before the deadline, I’m going to hate seeing him go, because he’s generous with the young guys, he got Joshua Roy his first goal – and raced to picked up the puck for him a millisecond after it was scored. Sean also seems to understand Slafkovsky’s play patterns better than anyone on the team. He’s a team player, and there will be a drop-off if they trade him, no matter who replaces him.
I still like this management group, and Marty as coach. I still think they’re doing it right, and have every intention to stay this course, and not make it about them. It’s not about, “putting their stamp on it,” an ego move that Bergervin fell into, in the end. I think they’ll stick to the thoughtful and measured approach the team needs. We don’t need instant gratification here. We need a Canadiens franchise that is in the hunt every year, the way Sam Pollock once built it, but without the advantages Sam had – and that’s still quite a distance away.
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Good points Lori.
It was not a good week for the veterans’ especially those we may think could be traded.. After all, when you take the time to look at it, you realize that St-Louis defended Gallagher, who got his team in trouble and made a dangerous vicious strike, more than the Sheriff who was assessed two penalties..
We were already wondering whether Xhekaj had been sent to Laval to send him a message, but last week’s press conference was a hint to that effect. maybe it is time to move Arber and let him have great success in another city..
Going forward, What if the Canadiens dealt Monahan for two high picks, and then used those picks and one of its many young defencemen to acquire Laine? Would it be enough? There are several potential scenarios.-Gmcc.
Slafkovsky, who has been off the first line for the past two games, shows that he can perform even when he’s not with the club’s best players. In short, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Slafkovsky is not only progressing and improving, he’s becoming a very important factor in the Habs’ success.
Slaf-Monahan-Armia trio were dominate against the Penguins.
My thoughts on the Habs after 49 games: 1. time to ship out the veterans. 2. time to buyout Gallagher. 3. time to trade one of three goalies. 4. time to refresh my mind
Cheers
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