Take 5 | Habs News: Alzner, Scherbak, Weber, Overtime, Theodore

by Chris G, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens have lost six of their last seven games with the only win coming on Saturday night against the Rangers. In the other two games of the week, Montreal lost against the Hurricanes and the Sharks.

There are three games on the schedule this week. The Canadiens will play a home to home matchup against the Ottawa Senators, who are currently on a three game winning streak, on Tuesday and Thursday, and then the Chicago Blackhawks will be at the Bell Centre on Sunday night.

Here are my top 5 takes of the week:

1. 1. 1. Alzner in Laval – On Monday, Karl Alzner was placed on waivers by the Canadiens, which he cleared as expected, and the veteran was sent to Laval to play for the Rocket. Claude Julien said that the decision was made because they needed a roster spot and knew that he wouldn’t be claimed because of his contract. When the move was announced, I saw a lot of comments from fans that were happy that Alzner would be heading to the AHL. If he had a contract similar to Jordie Benn, there wouldn’t be as much negativity around Alzner. Marc Bergevin and his professional scouts were the ones that decided to sign him to a contract of that magnitude. This is a failure on their end and not on the player. I’m happy with the fact that management has shown this season that they are willing to make tough decisions in the goal of improving the team. TSN’s Pierre Lebrun reported that the Canadiens have given permission to Alzner’s agent, J.P. Barry, to talk to teams directly to find a fit. Alzner would definitely have a fit with a lot of teams as a number six or seven defenseman. To facilitate a trade, the Canadiens would need to retain a large percentage of the contract or take a bad contract in return. I think that neither of those options will happen and that Alzner’s contract will be bought out at the end of the season.
      2. Sherbak becomes a king – Nikita Scherbak was placed on waivers on Saturday by the Canadiens. We all knew that he would get claimed and we were just waiting to find out on Sunday, the identity of the team that would claim him. The reactions I read ranged from Scherbak not being given a chance to Scherbak not worth anything. It’s been evident that Scherbak had no future in the organization as he had not played a single game with the Canadiens this season. I’m on the side that Scherbak wasn’t given a real chance to succeed in Montreal. “Anyone that saw him in Laval saw that his game isn’t where it should be right now and we need him to get better”, said Julien on Saturday. The discussions I read on social media were focused on how the team chose to keep Nicolas Deslauriers over their former first round draft pick. Regardless if that is the case or not, the Habs could have sent Michael Chaput to Laval without him going through waivers. In my opinion, the management team didn’t choose Deslauriers over Scherbak. They decided that Scherbak had to leave the organization. The Kings were the first team eligible to make a claim for him and they did. The future will tell us how successful Scherbak will be in the NHL, but the management team failed on losing a first round draft pick with nothing in return. The Canadiens Connection podcast discussed this move on Saturday’s podcast. 
      3. Weber’s partner – Shea Weber made his return to the lineup on Tuesday against the Hurricanes after being sidelined with an injury for nearly a year. He made quite the debut and we saw the impact that he’s made since his return. He got three points in his first three games and the team defence has improved. After a one-game trial, David Schlemko was moved out of the top defensive pairing and was replaced by Brett Kulak for the games against the Rangers and the Sharks. Julien has mentioned that he likes the way that Kulak skates and moves the puck. He had been the Rocket’s best defenseman when he was recalled and has played well, for the most part, with the Canadiens. It says a lot about the current state of the left defence when you’re top pairing defenseman was in the AHL ten days ago. This is a position that the General Manager needs to improve.
      4. OT losses – The Canadiens have lost the last nine games that they played in overtime that didn’t go into a shootout. Their last win during the three-on-three period was on December 14th 2017. These are the three forward units that I would like to see Claude Julien use the next time they are in that situation: Max Domi – Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Tomas Tatar – Philip Danault. I think that in each of those duos, there’s a good balance between the offensive and defensive aspects of their games. On defence, I think Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, and Brett Kulak are the ones that should be relied on to get the extra point.
      5. Theodore criticizes Price – In his weekly column in Tuesday’s Journal de Montreal, former Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore wrote that Carey Price is playing like a number two goalie. Theodore writes that Price allows bad goals at the wrong times, and that he doesn’t make the big saves like he used to earlier in his career. It’s not the first time that Theodore, who has seemed bitter and jealous, has needlessly criticized Price Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would think a goalie who’s NHL career regressed after winning three individual awards would reserve himself from making that type of commentary.

Leave your comments below. I am looking forward to interacting with all of you.