No, no one vomited on last night at the Bell Centre. The guys only retched…
But in the end, the result remained the same: the Canadian lost a third game – all played at the Bell Center – in as many Tuesdays…
The CH occupies last place in the Atlantic Division this morning… and it is only one point ahead of the Predators and the Flyers, the last two teams in the general NHL standings. The Montreal club has only recorded four victories in 13 matches…
The Canadiens also have the worst cumulative differential in the entire Bettman circuit in 2024-25 (under-18).
Non, on is (really) not in the mix ! And while everyone expects/expected to see the club progress, it does seem to be regressing…
Several decisions can explain yesterday’s defeat against the Flames.
1. Sending Christian Dvorak to the center to start overtime is a strategy that shows that you play more to not lose than to win.
Teams that aim for victory and believe in their abilities send their best players to overtime. At 3 against 3, it’s talent pure/raw which pays off. Instead of coaches to not lose, Martin St-Louis should have coaches to win… by sending your best players onto the ice…
Instead of starting the overtime period with Dvorak, Suzuki (on the wing) and Matheson, the Canadian should have started with Caufield, Suzuki and Hutson. Or Slafkovsky and Matheson instead of Caufield and Hutson…
But not Dvorak!
The guy has one goal and three assists in 13 games, in addition to posting a differential of minus-5.
“But Max, Dvorak is good in the faceoff circle! »
Hum…Dvorak won 53% of his faceoffs in 2024-25. Suzuki? 51%. That means that out of 100 faceoffs, Dvorak will win two more than Suzuki. This is not significant at the level statistics.
We can put away these two little extra faceoffs that Dvorak brings you In the standard deviation. If you don’t understand the last sentence, ask an expert in statistics, mathematics, and/or probability to explain.
Depriving yourself of a guy like Caufield or Slafkovsky in order to have a small 2% advantage in the faceoff circle is a bad decision. Caufield has (already) scored 10 goals this season… and he loves the 3 v. 3.
Dvorak is 4, that rhymes. It’s a sign…
2. Place Alex Newhook on the second line ET on the power playit has no cursed common sense.
Newhook is the 18th best scorer on the team this season: two points in 13 games. It displays a differential of minus-10.
It is not physical. And he’s not known for being a good defensive player.
So why on earth are we giving him such an important role?
3. Us*i that I love Jake Evans, but…
Juraj Slafkovsky peut se meiter un A+ on Saturday, then a F the following Tuesday. But a guy like Jake Evans, you give him a B 78 out of 82 nights. #Constance
You know what to expect with Jake…
But that doesn’t justify using it on your second line. No way !
Search on the Peter Principle. This corresponds well to Jake Evans’ situation in recent hours.
Return Evans to the bottom six : some evenings on the threeothers on the four…
But not on the top six ! And put Kirby Dach back in the center of the two ; this is where we want to see it develop…
Nothing against Jake Evans
I told you a few seconds ago: I love Jake Evans. I hope he will sign a contract extension with the CH before July 1, the date on which he will be eligible for full autonomy.
Evans is earning a salary of $1.7 million this season and he doesn’t see himself anywhere else; he wants to stay here.
The Canadian doesn’t really have any other quality options. And at 28, Evans wants to be at a stage in his career where he can play the role of a good veteran, without having started to slow down on the ice. Guys like Evans, who hole their whole life to have their minutes, it takes you in a team to preserve a good internal culture.
But please, don’t give arguments to his agent… don’t make Evans and his representative believe that the guy is a talented enough center to play on the top six. Instead of costing you between $2.5 and $3 million to extend it, it will cost you 4, or even 5!
Cursed that we have the gift of shooting ourselves in the foot.
Suzuki on 1, Dach on 2, Evans on 3 and Kapanen or Condotta on 4. Or Newhook in one of the two positions on the bottom six…
But we have to stop placing guys in the wrong chairs (a concept known to everyone among the Canadians).
When will a little hard coaching ? When will the end of “we follow the plan, we rebuild, we have to be patient and the most important thing is not victory, but rather changing habits” ?
Montreal players are fragile. We notice it several times during each of the team’s matches.
They need a coach who will guide them and who knows where to go. Not just from a guy who lets them experiment with lots of things…
Martin St-Louis talked about babies when he arrived with the club, then developing children… then teenagers.
However, when you are the father of one adoyou sometimes have to put your child in order… remind them of their limits.
The Canadian is rendered To be.
Prolongation
Arber Xhekaj only had nine shifts last night, the lowest total of all Montreal players. Struble? 14… and the others, all more than 20.
I can’t wait for the Canadian – from management to sound coaching staff – stop «punish» Xhekaj and begins targeting Dvorak, Newhook and company.
It’s a question of feeling culture to implement and maintain.
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