The Montréal Canadiens have now played the first five games of the 2021-22 NHL season. Here is our National Sports Editor with his take on how the Habs are doing. Ed.
When I wrote a fortnight (Allo! Agent 17) ago about the Habs' prospects for this season, I said they would need to score 4 goals per game, since the weakened defence -- missing Carey Price, Shea Weber and (for now) Joel Edmundson -- was bound to allow at least 3.
The Canadiens scored 4 goals, but that's over the first 5 games of the season, for a GFA of 0.80. You don't win hockey games with a statistic like that, and indeed, the team's record, as of this morning, is 0-5-0, or .000, 0 points, zip, nil, nada.
What's the problem? Let's start with goaltending. It was thought, not unreasonably, that les Glorieux would be all set in that department, with experienced and competent (or better) pros Carey Price and Jake Allen in front of the cage. Who knew that Carey Price would enter a rehab programme, leaving Allen as the starter, with... errr... no backup.
Cayden Primeau, the heir apparaent, showed during the pre-season that he's not ready for prime time, so on October 2nd, Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin claimed Samuel Montembeault off waivers. Montembeault's NHL experience consisted of 25 appearances with the Florida Panthers, a record of 9-8-3 with a 3.20 GAA and save percentage of .892. He allowed 5 goals in his first game with the Habs.
It wasn't entirely Montembault's fault that they lost that game 5-1. The defence left him virtually unprotected. [Are you going to use the cliché about suing them for non-support? Ed.] At the end of the playoffs this summer, the Habs had four reliable D-men: Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Ben Chiarot.
Weber is out for the season, maybe for good. Edmundson is at home dealing with family problems. That leaves Petry and Chiarot, who don't play together, Brett Kulak and Alex Romanov, and new hires David Savard and Chris Wideman.
Wideman is useful on the power play, but just mediocre in his assigned role. Savard is not even that. That's why I advised M Bergevin, two weeks ago, to get his derrière over to Moscow and bring Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin back with him. It was his mistake not to keep them when he had the chance.
Finally we come to the major problem, a pitiful offence. M Bergevin's greatest mistake, this summer, was not giving new contracts to Phillip Danault and Corey Perry. They are both sorely missed, as is Tomas Tatar (kind of). Jonathon Drouin is back, and has scored half of the Habs' four goals. Brendan Gallagher is still the heart of the team. Youngsters Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are trying, but not producing.
Marc Bergevin, searching for a top centre and other replacements, hired some new guys over the summer, whose names aren't worth mentioning here. They were expendable on their previous teams, for a reason. There isn't one of them who has contributed much. Last year's top scorer, Tyler Toffoli, got his first goal last night, but is -7. And that's it. That's the offence. Terrible.
Head coach Dominique Ducharme can juggle his lines and defence pairings until the cows come home, trying to find five guys who can play as one unit, but so far it hasn't worked. But it's not his fault. The coach can only work with the players given to him by the general manager. That would be Marc Bergevin. If the Canadiens are short on talent and skill this year [Whaddya mean "if"? Ed.] it's his fault. That's all ye know and all ye need to know.
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