Memo from Poor Len Canayen to Martin St-Louis: Rest Hutson!

Ed. here. The condition of the front room of Walt's cabin in the pines when I walked in this morning was such that I doubt we're going to get anything useful out of him. Two large jars of Ma Nifkins' jellied gin -- both empty -- are not a good sign. 

So I called our National Sport (As Long As It's Hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, and asked him if we could make public his memorandum to Martin St-Louis, head coach of Montréal Canadiens. He said "ben ouais", which I take as a yes. Here `tis. 

Slt Martin! St'une belle équipe là mais [Oops, forgot to turn on the translator. Ed.] but you'd better keep one eye on the rear-view mirror. We can't afford to lose two more games in a row like we did this weekend. Especially not by just one goal. (Yes, I know it was technically 4-2 on Saturday, but that fourth goal was an empty-netter so it was really 3-2)

What is to be done to make sure Boston or Ottawa don't leapfrog over us? Here's my view from the nosebleed seats.

Marty, the guys are tired, especially the rookies. Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen and Lane Hutson have never played a full season in the NHL. The grind of playing 3-4 games a week, week in and week out, is getting to them. And don't forget that Hutson isn't that big -- just 5'9" and 160 lbs. You can't keep giving him big minutes -- over 20 per game -- and expect him to keep up the same torrid pace.

My advice? Rest Hutson a bit. But how to do that, absent a reliable sixth defenceman? Answer: Revamp the power play. Let Noah Dobson QB the first unit at the point for Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slavkovsky and Demidov.

Then, for the second unit, you can put Mike Matheson on the point, maybe alterenating with Hutson. Who's gonna be up front, then? Here's my counter-intuitive brilliant suggestion. Activate Patrick Laine! 

Laine's healthy (although probably a bit rusty for lack of playing time) and has been showing up for practice. Put him on the fourth line, and put him in his "office" on the power play, with Phillip Danault and/or Kapanen at centre, and Brendan Gallagher and Alexandre Texier. That's going to put a lot of pressure on Matheson to concentrate on foiling a counter-attack, but hey, he's a horse!

If  you think I'm crazy, consider that the Habs' power play went 0 for 4 against the Ducks(!) last night. The PP has got to be fixed. What's your idea?

Go Habs go!  Len