La Sainte Flannelle are in 3rd place, the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic, with a record of 13-8-3 and 29 points, an average of .604. That's one more point than the Ottawa Senators.
If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Habs would meet their long-time rivals, the Boston Bruins. What a match-up that would be, just like old times. But can the Canadiens hold onto their position? They were on fire in October and the first week of November, but then got hit hard by injuries and only this week seem to be pulling out of a slump. As imjured players -- Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook and Kaiden Guhle -- return... or not... coach Martin St-Louis will have to make some changes to the lineup to keep the team competitive.
Forwards: The injury to Laine turned out to be a bit of blessing, relieving the coach of the headache of figuring out what to do with him. He started on the second line with Ivan Demidov on the right and Dach in the centre. Laine scored some goals, true, but the lack of cohesion with the other two was evident and he was dropped down to fourth line before getting injured. Don't be surprised if he gets traded or sent to Laval for "reconditioning". He won't be missed.
A revamped second line centred by Newhook, with Juraj Slafkovsky and Demidov on the wing, seemed to work well until Newhook went to the infirmary. But it left the question of who to put on the first line with Cole Caufield and Captain Nick Suzuki. Recently the choice has been Zach Bolduc, who was hot for the first week of the season and then kind of disappeared. He has scored in the two most recent games but doesn't look like a top-line guy from where I sit.
Demidov, like Lane Hutson, has been a treat to watch, if maybe a bit too flashy. Just shoot the puck, eh! But the line of Slafkovsky and Demidov with Oliver Kapanen at centre is OK and will improve as Demidov improves. The 3rd-line veterans Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson, are getting older and slower but are doing well enough with Jake Evans between them. They'll be fine when Dach gets back.
The bad news is that the players named above are about all the Habs have up front. Centre Joe Veleno has turned out to be a dud, with one only goal and -9. Five forwards, who we'll leave nameless to protect them from embarrassment, have been called up from Laval and haven't made any appreciable difference. The Habs will be lucky to have three decent lines, once the injured recover.
Defence: Kaiden Guhle has been missed. When he was playing, either Arber Xhekaj or Jayden Struble could be left to watch from the press box and the D-corps would still be OK. Until Guhle gets back the coach has to play them both, and Xhekaj is more hindrance than help. He likes to hit, he likes to fight, and he likes to shoot the puck, albeit wildly. He has one only assist and is -6. Not a guy you can depend on to support a struggling goaltending tandem.
The other defencemen are doing as well as can be expected, perhaps better. Veteran Mike Matheson is having his best year yet and just got rewarded with a 5-year contract extension. Noah Dobson has proved to be a good acquisition and is warming to his role as quarterback of the second power-play unit.
Alex Carrier is underrated -- unspectacular but reliable. Lane Hutson is the opposite, although I don't want to be too critical of someone who is so much fun to watch. Look up "puck control" in the hockey dictionary and you'll see his picture. One can compare him with Demidov, but the risks that a forward take often backfire on a D-man.
Goaltenders: I left the difficult topic for the last. In October we were full of hopes for Jakub Dobeš, and full of disappointment with Samuel Montembault In his first three starts, Dobeš has a GAA of 1.0, and looked likely to take the starter's spot, leaving Monty as the backup. Now the goalies, instead of being 1A and 1B, look more like 2A and 2B. Help!
Dobes is 8-3-2 with a GAA of 3.22 and a save percentage of 0.888, Montembault's numbers are 5-5-1, 3.49 and 0.864. How caN a team with that kind of goaltending be in third place in their group, with a differential of -3? Beats me! I can only say that if they're going to make the playoffs, the Habs will need to find another goalie.
Kaapo Kähkönen, down in Laval, has never in his NHL career been much more than a backup goalie. The hot prospect is Jacob Fowler, who's been on a tear with the Rocket. But... he's in the first year of a 3-year entry-level contract, and he's supposed to play in Laval until his skills are fully developed! Can Montréal take the risk of bringing him up to the big club too soon? Or could he prove to be the next iteration of goalie superstar Ken Dryden? Stay tuned.
Note from Ed.: We regret that space does not permit us to conclude with Poor Len's prediction. 😉 Watch this space.
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