The inglorious Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge - Q1 report

Poor Len Canayen here [over there, in the corner. Ed.] with my take on the worst first quarter of any Montréal Canadiens team that I can remember. And my memory goes waaaaay back!

La Sainte Flannelle have played 20 games out of their 82-game NHL schedule. They sit at 7th in the 8-team Atlantic Division, 29th overall. They have 5 (count `em, five) wins, 13 losses, and 2 overtime losses worth a point each, for a not-so-grand total of 12 points and a .300 average. 

In the Atlantic Division, only the Ottawa Senators have a worse record than the Habs, but the Sens have four games in hand! The rest of the horrible stats: Goals for: 44, goals against: 70, for a plus/minus differential of -26. Remember what I said at the start of the season, that they wouldl need to score 4 goals per game, because they were going to allow 3? In fact the GA average is 3.5!

What's the matter with the Canadiens? GM Marc Bergevin admitted, in a recent press conference, that to get into the post-season you have to have a first-rate goalie and a robust defence. Unfortunately the Habs have had neither, so far this year. Carey Price and Jake Allen were supposed to be 1A and 1B. Price has yet to play a game and is currently "day-to-day" on paper, but yet to take part in a practice. Jake Allen got run over by two 200-pounders a few days ago. It is hoped (but only that) that he will be well enough to play sometime in the three games scheduled for this week.

For the last three games, then, it's been 1C and 1D -- Samuel Montembault and Cayden Primeau. Both have done their best, but have been unable to stop 30 to 40 shots (or more) per game, which is what the defence is allowing. And they haven't had any goal support either. At least Primeau got a win before being sent back to Laval. 

The defence woes come down to the absence of Shea Weber and Joel Edmundson. Edmundson has been slow to recover from injuries and surgery, but at least he's on the ice, and may return before Christmas. Weber is likely to be gone for good -- an absolute lock for the Hall of Fame, but leaving big skates to be filled.

It wouldn't be so bad if veteran D-men Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot had been a reliable top two defence pair. But they haven't. It's hard to say what's wrong with Petry. Last year he was solid on defence, but also (knowing that he had partner Edmundson backing him up) a real threat on the power play, with almost 60 points, after three consecutive seasons of more than 40 points. So far this year he has two assists -- that's all.

Chris Wideman was one of the "expendables", as I called them, hired by Marc Bergevin to pu their fingers in the dike. Wideman has been helpful on the power play, but is risky defensively. The same can be said of David Savard, who has failed to live up to expectations. Brett Kulak, a holdover from last year, is doing no worse than expected, but no better either. Alexandre Romanov has improved, learning to throw those big checks like the second coming of Alexei Emelin, without getting caught out of position on more than one or two goals... per game. 

All in all, a dismal defence, made worse by the absence of Phillip Danault, whose lack of scoring last year seems to have caused Bergie to forget how important he was at the faceoff dot. He didn't get the new contract he deserved, and jumped to the LA Kings. His loss has been a greater factor than any other in the Canadiens' poor showing so far this season.

Not only did M Marc underestimate Danault, but he overestimated the capability of his replacement, Christian Dvorak. He has contributed very little to the attack -- 3 goals and 5 assists in 20 games -- and has proved a liability on defence. You can put that down to the difficulty of adjusting to a new team, but he's not the only forward having problems.

Because of departures -- my, how we miss Corey Perry! -- and injuries, the Habs have had seven newcomers in the lineup. That's more than a third of the team!  But instead of keeping lines constant and giving the new guys a chance to find some chemistry with the veterans, coach Dominique Ducharme keeps mixing them up -- looking for an instant miracle perhaps -- to the point where guys don't know who they're playing with, not from game to game but from shift to shift!

Jake Evans, who was supposed to be the Danault-in-waiting, has been better this season, but still not good for 6 or 7 out of 10 faceoff draws. Nick Suzuki also isn't reliable at the dot, but is showing real talent otherwise. He and Tyler Toffoli are Habs' scoring leaders. Cole Caufield, still technically a rookie, had his confidence checked out of him at the start and has just rejoined the team after a few games in Laval. 

The Habs' heart-and-soul, Brendan Gallagher, is giving his all, but is slowing down, and has but 4 goals and 9 points in 19 games, the same as Josh Anderson in 20. Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia have a goal each, while the once-great-hope Ryan Poehling got 2 in one game out of the three in which he's played. 

In short, the Canadiens' ship is sinking, and this year's crew is unable to bail fast enough. The conventional wisdom is that a team that isn't holding a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving isn't going to climb into one in the remaining three-quarters of a season. Anyone who wants to bet the Habs will make it should contact Walt at the usual address. Odds 50-1. Lifetime pct .992.

Poor Len looks at the Canadiens' season, so far

We're nearing the halfway point of the appreviated 2021 National Hockey League schedule, so it's time to let our National Sports Editor (Canadian Division), Poor Len Canayen, assess the performance to date of Canada's Team, the Montréal Canadiens. Over to you, Len. 

Tank youse, Hed. As our readers know, I had high hopes for la Sainte Flannelle as the season got under way. In "Habs off to a good start" (WWW 17/1/21), I wrote that I had trouble seeing a weak link anywhere on paper or on the ice. And for the first 11 games, it looked as if I was right, as the team posted a 9-0-2 record. Then came February.

From a couple of days at the top of the Canadian Division (aka "Scotia North" divison, but who cares), the Canadiens fell to fourth place, still good for a playoff spot if the playoffs started today. Here's how the standings sit [geddit? Ed.] after last night's impressive 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

How did this happen? For most of February, the Habs, who'd been scored almost at will over Vancouver in their first trip out west, seemed unable to find the back of the net. Their goals +/- stat is back up to +15 after last night, but had slipped into the single digits. Disturbingly, much of the goal production came from the blue line corps. Jeff Petry is one of the top 3 defencemen in the NHL when it comes to scoring. Fortunately he's also playing well in his own zone, and is in the conversation for this year's Norris Trophy.

Coach Claude Julien kept juggling his forward lines to see if he could get the right chemistry. It didn't help that Joel Armia and Josh Anderson were both out with injuries, although not for all that long. But when you have a good team that isn't winning, the coach's job is in danger, and sure enough, Julien was made to walk the plank a couple of weeks ago, along with assistant Kirk Muller.

I felt bad for both of them. Julien is reputed to be the salt of the earth, well liked by players and fans. Muller knows his job, and likely would have been promoted, except for his failure to learn French -- a must for a coach who has to deal with the French-Canadian presse. 

Assistant coach Dominic Ducharme got the head job instead, and Alexandre Burrows, just retired from the Canucks, was brought in to help him. Those changes seem to have helped, as the club's record has improved. The first line (Tatar-Danault-Gallagher) has been reunited and have found the old magic, even Phillip Danault, who scored his first goal of the season last night. 

Two of the two young centres, Nick Suzuki(pictured) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, are getting more ice time and have rewarded the new coaches' confidence with better performance. 

Arturi Lehkonen has been rewarded for his non-performance with a holiday in beautiful downtown Laval, leaving another young centre, Jake Evans, as the only forward who needs to pick up his game. 

And let's not forget the old pros -- Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli and Corey Perry -- who are all making GM Marc Bergevin look like a genius for having acquired them in the off-season. Toffoli, in particular, has turned out to be a scoring machine, particularly when he plays against Vancouver!

Which brings us to the defence. The top four (average 6'3.5") have been throwing their weight around, with mixed results. Petry, as noted, is playing well, and newcomer Joel Edmundson, is solid if unspectacular beside him. Captain Shea Weber is -- let's face it -- getting old and slowing down. His partner, Ben Chiarot, is spending too much time in the penalty box. So is third-pair guy Brett Kulak. His partner, Alexander Romanov, is a very talented rookie who has shown no lack of confidence, but said confidence is occasionally a bit misplaced as he learns the hard way the things that only experience teaches. 

And then there's the "situation in goal". In theory, signing Jake Allen, an experienced goalie whose name is on the Stanley Cup, to back up Carey Price seemed like a smart move. Price would get some rest -- he's getting older too! -- and the team would have confidence in Allen, the best backup they've had in years. 

In practice, it seems that having Allen, who's playing very well, breathing down his neck (so to speak) has messed with Price's head. He looked very ordinary in his last couple of starts under Julien, but in this week's two games against Vancouver seems to be back to his old "two goals is all you get" form. 

All in all, I give the Canadiens a B-minus rating for the season to date, and predict (lifetime pct .986) that they will make the playoffs. If the standings in the Canadian division remain as they are today, that would pit them against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a playoff series, for the first time in decades. No matter the outcome, Canadian hockey fans would be thrilled!

Fashion footnote: Nick Suzuki is pictured wearing the Habs "reverse-retro" sweater, the latest wheeze dreamed up by (((Gary Bettman))) to prize more pennies out of fans' pockets. The sweaters look good, but they are a jinx! The team hasn't won a single game while wearing them. Let us hope they won't be seen again!

UPDATED: Poor Len Canayen not so worried about Habs now

Our sports editor, Poor Len Canayen, craves space to re-evaluate yesterday's piece, in which he expressed doubt as to the future of Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens. Have at it, Len.

Pass the crow, please. After receiving an e-mail from a Habs fan asking why I was so negative about the Habs' prospects, and after watching last night's thrilling (after the first period) 4-1 win over the Pittsburg Penguins, I must give kudos do the dozen solid and stout-hearted performers who have carried the Habs through a difficult stretch, from which they now seem to be recovering nicely. [What have I told you about run-on sentences? Ed.]

Let's start with the defence corps. While reiterating the need for one or two more reliable D-men, I can express nothing but admiration for:
Captain Shea Weber: 1 goal (a wraparound, or in French un tourniquet) and 1 assist, 4 hits. Jeff Petry: 1 assist, 8 (count `em, 8!) hits. Ben Chiarot: no points but another 8 hits. Chiarot was picked up this summer from the Winnipeg Jets (well done, Marc Bergevin) and has proved a valuable addition to the team.

These three "older men" have been playing upwards of 20 minutes every game, and as much as 29 or 30 in a couple of recent games. My only question is how long they can keep up that pace and still have something left for the playoffs. Helping out and deserving of mention is rookie Cale Fleury, still growing but not afraid to throw his weight around, with 4 hits last night and smart play in his zone. He's a keeper!

Up front, les Glorieux have a solid first line:
Tomas "Tuna" Tatar: 1 goal and 1 assist last night, and has learned to stay out of the penalty box. Brendan Gallagher: the small-but-mighty sparkplug of the team, also 1 + 1, so that's half the scoring right there. Phillip Danault: one of the most under-rated centres in the NHL, IMHO, got a well-deserved assist on the Tatar goal.

Other forwards who contribute consistently are:
Joel Armia: 1+1 last night, playing the best hockey of his career. Arturi Lehkonen: 1 assist, and developing into the key man on the penalty kill. I take back the unkind words I wrote last year. Nick Suzuki: Rookie-of-the-year, on this team at least. Beautiful stick-handler and play-maker. Another great trade by Bergevin. Nate Thompson: the old pro at centre, increasingly trusted by coach Claude Julien on important face-offs, and does more than his share as a support player.  Nick Cousins: Had my doubts early on, but was impressed with his effort and tenacity in the last two games.

So the Habs have a good core, 4 good defencemen, 8 good forwards. That's 2/3 of a starting lineup. And yes, there's still Carey Price. Allowed just one goal last night -- a 2-on-1 rush following a defensive miscue -- and just one the night before. Is the all-star Price back? Hope so!

Summary: Last night's whole-team effort in a road game against a tough team was great to see... Warmed the cockles of this old man's heart. In fact they got so warm I had to rub them with ice! Keep up the good work, guys, and you'll make the post-season for sure!

UPDATE ADDED 12/12/19: Les Glorieux ont remporté la victoire hier soir! The Habs beat Ottawa 3-2 in OT. Goals by Cousins, Tatar, and Chiarot had the overtime winner! Rookie goalie Cayden Primeau stopped 35 of 37 shots, for a save pct of .946, and got the first star. Not an oil painting, but a sign that Canada's team's recovery for the recent slump is real indeed.

Canadiens: Poor Len knows the score... unfortunately...

Walt has been a bit preoccupied this last week, what with Zimbabwe undergoing a revolution of sorts, Canadians bracing for still more "refugees" and Moore stories about politicians doing what men have always done. Can you imagine? Anyway, for a break from all that, let's give Poor Len Canayen the floor so he can demuddify the situation with his beloved Montréal Canadiens. Ed.

Tank you, Ed. Having watched last night's game between the Habs and the Nashville Predators, right to the bitter end -- and I chose that word deliberately -- I think this is a good time to make a prediction. Unclear the future is, but through the ice fog I see... 2018 NHL playoffs not including la Sainte Flannelle. Now I'll tell you why.

But first, a word about the Nashville Predators. Last night was my first time this year to see the Preds in action, and I was curious to see how P.K. Subban (now in his second year with the team) and Alexei Emelin (acquired indirectly through last June's expansion draft) would get along together, and how they would perform against their old teammates. Subban was his usual showboaty self. His turnover led to the first Montéal goal, but a furious rush into the Habs' zone set up the second Nashville goal, which looked like being the winner until 19:05 of the third period. Subban also tried to pick a fight with the littlest Hab (Brendan Gallagher) and distributed half a dozen checks. Emelin had four solid hits, but all on the boards, not the devastating open-ice checks for which he was famous in Montréal. I wish he still wore the bleu-blanc-et-rouge.

Not that the Habs' defence was that bad last night. In spite of the absence of their star defenceman, Shea Weber -- who came to us in trade for Subban, and a good thing too! -- they did a pretty fair job, for a crew of limited talent, in keeping the opposition from having clear shots at Anton Niemi. Credit must be given to Jeff Petry, who's had a mediocre season who far, but stepped up nicely yesterday, making some impressive defensive plays and doing what he could, when he could to start breakouts. On that score, though, he's no Andrei Markov, another Russian ex-Hab who is sorely missed.

Niemi is the fourth (4th!) goaltender to pay more than one game for the Canadiens. Carey Price is on the injury list and, frankly, hasn't played all that well right from the start of the season. There are rumours, which I hope are untrue, about troubles in his domestic life which he would certainly have trouble forgetting while on the ice. Backup goalie Al Montoya is also injured. Charlie Lindgren was brought up from the Laval Rocket of the AHL, and for the first three or four games looked like being a latter-day Ken Dryden who could backstop the team at least into a payoff birth. After his last two outings though, he will likely return to Laval this weekend, shell-shocked.

Niemi played well in last night's game, staying calm in the net (unlike Lindgren) and making some good saves. He allowed only two goals regulation time and overtime, and was only beaten on the third shot of the shoot-out, leaving Nashville with a 3-2 win. The Canadiens salvaged a point only in the last minute of regulation time, on a goal by Joe Morrow (D). The Habs' first goal came on a shot from just inside the blueline by Jordie Benn (D). And that, there, tells you all you need to know about the team's future.

The problem is that the Canadiens' offence is inoffensive. They can't score. In spite of taking a reasonable number of shots, they can't find the back of the net, and are averaging somewhere in the vicinity of two goals per game. Stanley Cups aren't won like that. IMHO there's not enough offensive zone time, and too much passing when they do have control of the puck in the opposition's end. In particular, I would like to see Jonathan Drouin shoot more. The reason he doesn't may be that he's being forced to play centre, instead of sniping from the right wing. Captain Max Pacioretty seems lethargic, or perhaps the right word is "unengaged". Some are starting to compare him to Phil Kessel, when the latter was with the Toronto Maple Laffs -- good for 30 goals but not showing a whole lot of leadership on the ice.

Last night's Montréal lineup included Jakob De La Rose and Charles Hudon, who -- I've said it before and will say it again -- are B-team guys, fine in the AHL but not talented enough for the Big Team. Alex Galchenyuk tried hard, which is not something he always does. Perhaps he's heard that he's for the chop if any team who wants him can be found. Gritty Andrew Shaw tried hard too, as always, but has the problem of being a "heat score", drawing the negative attention of the refugees (the guys in stripes) at least once in every game. Brendan Gallagher, my favourite forward so far this season, took a lot of physical punishment, as usual, and at least had the satisfaction of having got in the way of the Preds' goalie on the Benn goal. But still, not one of the players named in this paragraph scored.

That's all ye know and all ye need to know. Changes in the roster there will be, but doubtful, the future is.