Poor Len Canayen worries about the Canadiens

From the Great No-longer-white North, our sports editor, Poor Len Canayen, shares his inquietude over the future of the Montréal Canadiens.

The last month has been distressing for fans of la Sainte Flannelle. Of the last 10 games, they've won only 2, lost 6 and lost in overtime twice, for a total of 6 out of 20 possible points. You don't get to the playoffs that way, and the Habs are currently fourth in the very tight Atlantic Division, close to a wild card spot... but not close enough.

What's happened to le bleu, blanc et rouge? IMHO their problems all amount to the same thing -- lack of depth. Ten or twelve games before the last 10, they iced a pretty good, nicely balanced team. Four decent forward lines and four or five reliable defencemen, plus, of course, Carey Price, when he was on his game. Then came the injuries.

Top forwards Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron fell in one game against Washington. And last week sophomore hopeful Jesperi Kotkaniemi was concussed by a vicious hit from Colorado's Nikita Zadorov. (See "NHL's Department of Knuckleheads disgraces itself again", by Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette, 8/12/19.) A couple of games earlier, Victor Mete, Captain Shea Weber's defence partner, injured his ankle during a game against Philthydelphia. That's four of the Habs' best/better players gone, likely until the new year.

To make matters worse, former all-star goalie Carey Price has been, shall we say, less than stellar so far this season. He allowed only one goal in Friday night's 2-1 over the Rangers, but over 24 games in which he's played, his GAA is 3.04 and his save pct just .902. That's in the bottom quarter of active (20 games or more) NHL goalies. It would be OK if backup Keith Kinkaid had been able to pull a couple of games out of the fire, but he wasn't and has now been sent down to Laval.

Who has come up from Laval to backstop Price and the four skaters? Well, Charles Hudon, for one. Hudon is the king of coulda/shoulda/woulda. He's been up and down like a toilet seat at a mixed party, always being given yet another chance to prove that he's capable of playing at the NHL level. Yet he never quite succeeds. Too bad for him. Other call-ups like David Gustafsson, Otto Leskinen and Matthew Peca (another up-and-downer), all of them Europeans, have similarly failed to impress. Too bad for them, too bad for the team.

I am still hopeful, though, for Cayden Primeau, brought up from Laval to give Carey Price a rest, especially in back-to-back games. Primeau's first start was against Colorado last week. He look at a bit shaky at first -- the nerves of a 20-year-old playing his first game with the big team -- but settled down and was not solely responsible for the 3-2 loss. His save pct so far is .914.

Conclusion? Les Glorieux need some new players who can score and/or defend, and, with the possible exception of Ryan Poehling, they're not going to come from the Laval farm team. So it's up to GM Marc Bergevin to find some new talent, and he'd better do it PDQ because if the Habs miss the playoffs again, his head will be the first to roll. He's made some good moves in the last three years, notably the Weber-for-Subban trade, but also some bad moves, like failing to resign Alex Radulov and Andrei Markov.

The Canadiens have lots of cap space -- some $8 million -- but to trade for top players they'll have to be willing to give up some top players. Such as... Drouin? Maybe. Max Domi? Possibly; he's off to a poor start this year. Weber or Price? Unthinkable? They're both getting older and slower, but are still at the very core of the team. And they both have hyuge contracts which few other teams would want to take on. So, is a puzzlement, but unless fresh forces are found, unclear the future is.

Poor Len Canayen: Salut, les boyz!

Poor Len here with a few thoughts on the Montréal Canadiens' 2018-2019 season, which came to an end last night with a thrilling shootout win (6-5) over the Toronto Maple Laffs. Thanks to the vicissitudes of the NHL's playoff "system", they missed the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference by just two points -- one loss back in the dead of winter -- even though they finished with more points than three of the teams who will compete in the Western Conference series. Go figure.

But les Glorieux gave us fans a great season, better than anyone predicted or even hoped, and I, Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] wish them a well-deserved rest and better luck next year. See you in September!

Now some suggestions for Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin about improving the club's roster and prospects for 2019-2020. I give Bergie full credit for some good acquisitions over the course of the last year, and for getting rid of some of the duds who started the season wearing the bleu-blanc-et-rouge, and are now gone and forgotten. Let's see who's left.

Goal: Star goaltender Carey Price can take a good deal of credit for the team's commendable comeback from the low to which they had sunk in 2017-18. For want of a reliable backup goalie, he played 13 games in a row, before Charlie Lindgren's season debut in last night's finale. Before the game he was presented with the Molson Cup -- first star of the year -- which he richly deserves. See ya next year, Carey.

After one heroic game, backup Antti Niemi folded up like an accordion. He must shoulder the blame for a couple of the mid-season losses that denied the team entry into the playoffs. We won't be seeing him again. But is Charlie Lindgren the right man to sit in the shadows at the end of the bench while Price shines? I say not. He allowed five goals last night and redeemed himself only by a couple of good stops in the overtime and shootout. I don't have much confidence in him, and am not sure the players do, either. A better bet would be Michael McNiven, who dressed as backup once this season but didn't get into the game. He's da guy!

Defence: What keeps de cows in de field? De fence! And the Habs didn't have a lot of it at the start of the season. We were left wondering when Shea Weber would return, and who was capable of playing alongside him. He did come back in December and was for the rest of the year the pillar of strength we expected. Good scoring numbers too. And (almost) rookie Viktor Mete has the speed and talent to partner Cap'n Shea. If only Mete could put the puck in the net! (He has yet to score his first goal.) But he's a keeper, and so are Brett Kulak and Christian Folin [a Swede? Ed.], so I'd say the defence is pretty well set. Xavier Ouellet and Mike Reilly are OK for reservists. Karl Alzner and Noah Juulsen might be traded for a bag of pucks.

Forwards: Marc Bergevin's critics were silenced over the season when not one but SIX (6) of his trades and pick-ups turned out to be good players. Max Domi, Tomas Tatar, Joel Armia, Nate Thompson, Jordan Weal and first-round pick Jesper Kotkaniemi all contributed to the Habs' unexpected rise to the ranks of playoff contenders, more than making up for the loss (?) of Alex Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty. [Who? Ed.] Brendan Gallagher would have a C on his sweater if Weber wasn't there. Andrew Shaw had a career year. And Phillip Danault deserved to win the Molson Trophy, awarded to the player who makes a great contribution without receiving any special honour.

On the other side of the coin we find the face of Jonathan Drouin, who failed for the second year to live up to expectations. Not that he had a bad year, but he'd have done better if he'd showed up for every game. Know what I mean? Bergie would do well to trade him, maybe to Arizona where he could play with Galchenyuk. Artturi Lehkonen suffered from prolonged bouts of depression (or something) and seemed incapable of finishing plays or finding the back of the net. On one occasion he passed the puck rather than taking a clear shot at an empty net. On the plus side, he's very responsible in his own zone, and good on the PK. And he's a Finn so can make up a line with Kotkaniemi and Armia. Keep him. He might turn out to be another Bob Gainey.

And then there's Ryan Poehling, pictured above doing the first-bump after scoring THREE (3) goals in the score-fest vs the Leafs. The Minnesota native has been gaining experience (and weight) in the NCAA signed with les Glorieux last weekend and played his first NHL game last night, scoring not only the hat-trick but the winning goal in the shootout! Could he be the big, classy centre that the Habs have sought for lo these many years? I and Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] hope so.

In summary, I think Marc Bergevin can afford to stand pat -- more or less -- this summer. If he can move Drouin for a decent winger, and maybe find a reliable and experienced backup goalie, all well and good, but even without major changes, I predict better things for la Sainte Flannelle next year! See you then!