The Canadian has just passed the quarter of his season. Even in their most pessimistic predictions, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton and Martin St-Louis would never have dared to imagine the reality that hit them Sunday morning when consulting the NHL rankings.
Good last in the Eastern Association. Penultimate in the general classification.
For a team in reconstruction that wanted to continue its progress, it’s quite a landing. On this date last year, the Habs were at 12e rank of his association and 20e level of the circuit.
Moreover, this is the first time since the arrival of the new administration, during the 2021-2022 season, that the team has experienced a setback.
On numerous occasions already, since the start of the campaign, we have mentioned the difficult to assimilate defensive system to explain the team’s setbacks. No need to come back to it again. Either way, that doesn’t explain everything.
That may explain why the opponent walks around with the puck in the Canadian’s territory for more than seven and a half minutes per game. It can also help to understand the origin of the high average of shots allowed from the slot (15.6), high-risk scoring opportunities allowed (17) and those coming from a continuous cycle (12).
But that doesn’t explain the average number of overtimes allowed per game (5.3) or the fact that the team was scored 35 goals in the 10 seconds following a turnover. In that regard, only the Penguins did worse (36).
Overwhelmed by events
That doesn’t explain why Juraj Slafkovsky has been making more turnovers in recent games nor why Kirby Dach always seems overwhelmed by events when he jumps on the ice.
By the way, how could we, in the French camp, have placed so much hope on Dach, a player forced to be inactive for a year? How could we base our evaluation on his performance during the 2023 training camp and on the two points he collected in a game and a half the following October?
As Michel Therrien already said to colleague Bruce Garrioch, assigned to cover the Ottawa Senators, during the 2013 playoffs: “Come on! I thought you knew the game better than that, sti!”
It also doesn’t explain why Alex Newhook, who we thought we’d see blossom offensively one day in Montreal, only has four points on the clock. Four goals, including two in the same match. So that means he only put his name on the scoresheet on three occasions.
Either way, there may be reasons why the Blackhawks and Avalanche agreed to move on from them at just 21 and 22 years old.
Speaking of hopes based on the hypothetical success of a return to play, one wonders if the arrival of Patrik Laine would really have made such a big difference. He’s another one who hasn’t seen action in a while and whose body may be starting to be mortgaged.
Growing difficulties
The Finn would have been pretty much the only new addition to the team with Lane Hutson. Was it utopian to believe that a formation similar to last year was ripe to move on to the next step?
Probably. And that’s where everyone got their finger in the eye.
Seven months of organic growth may not be enough for a team that is still the second youngest in the league.
Meetings like the one on Saturday will serve as a somewhat too occasional reminder that the team is still torn between learning to play and learning to win.
No offense to the veterans of the team, as David Savard suggested on Saturday evening.
“It’s disappointing. We can assign [la difficile soirée] to our youth, but we should be at another point in our progress.”
There will be less worse passages, like the sequence including the clashes against the Wild, the Blue Jackets and the Oilers.
At that moment, it will be agreed to rejoice. But we must avoid leaving in fear as was the case last week.
To repeat one of the St. Louis analogies: the baby has started to walk.
But after two or three steps, he falls on his behind again.
Average NHL rank statistic
Goals allowed 3.80 31e
Expected goals against 3.53 28e
Shots allowed from the slot 15.6 28e
Shots awarded
from the bottom of the enclave 7.4 25e
Time of possession
of the adversary 7:35 29e
Opportunities granted
in continuous cycle 12 30e
High risk opportunities 17 29e
Source: Sportlogiq
There is not only negative in this difficult first quarter of the season. Some players can look at themselves in the mirror without being embarrassed by their reflection.
This first quarter of the season gave us the resurrection of the little warrior. We never doubted his hard work, but the pace seemed to become difficult to maintain. Is he in better shape? Is he spending his energy more efficiently? Good question. But everything he touches goes into the opposing net. He is not immune to a slump, but by maintaining this pace, he would approach 30 goals.
So far, he is the Canadian’s main attraction. His footwork, his feints and his vision of the game keep fans on the edge of their seats. He is still looking for his first goal, but he already has 11 assists on his record. 11 points which place him third in points among NHL rookies. Moreover, he is the most used first-year player (22 minutes 56 seconds). He will definitely get Calder Trophy votes.
He’ll never be an ace defensive player, but as long as he doesn’t cause trouble for the team, we don’t care. What we want is for him to score goals and make the massive attack threatening. What he has managed to do so far. He is part of a quintet of leaders with six goals scored on the power play.
The captain is demanding of himself. Recently, he has called his performance into question. It’s true that he had a little slump, but he maintains, so to speak, a pace of one point per game (19 points in 20 games). 14 of these points were acquired at even strength. Which shows that something happens offensively when he steps on the ice.
He took advantage of Kirby Dach’s setbacks to get a promotion to an attacking trio. It couldn’t come at a better time for a player coming to the end of his contract. Despite this enhanced role, he remains Martin St-Louis’ trusted man during defensive and numerically inferior missions. It is no stranger to the fact that the Canadian is in eighth place in numerical inferiority (82.4%).
