Posted by Kyle
Habs fans are a fairly low-maintenance bunch (snicker) so I figured I’d put together a humble wish list for our beloved bleu-blanc-rouge. The Canadiens are also a very giving bunch, what with all of the turnovers, power plays and faceoffs they surrender, so what’s the harm in asking? Like they say: “You don’t get if you don’t ask”.
Without further delay then, here are 5 things on my wish list for the Habs:
1- Secondary Scoring.
Yes, I’m talking about Mr. Gomez. I know his buddy Gionta is still hobbled, and he needs a sniper on his wing, but he’s got to do more with what he has. Nobody is expecting miracles, and I don’t even think people were expecting a point per game. But right now he’s barely going at a point-every-2-games pace, and for nearly 8 million dollars, that’s not good enough. Period. He needs to make his linemates better. He has the skills and the vision. If not, he’ll find that Montreal is very unforgiving with underachievers and things will only get tougher on him. He also needs to produce in order to alleviate pressure from Tomas Plekanec. If you believe that the smallish Plekanec can continue his torrid production through 82 games, playoffs and Olympics, more power to you. I, however, believe that the grind will catch up with him, as it has in the past. Playing against the other teams’ #1 line or against their big shutdown lines will eventually neutralize Plekanec as signs of wear set in. Someone needs to provide support, and Gomez is the guy. He has to be the guy.
2- Improved 5-on-5 Play
Seeing as though modern hockey is designed to be played 5-on-5, is it fair to expect that the Canadiens be better than flirting with last place in the league? It would be wonderful to see Martin adapt to his players strengths rather than try and stuff his passive system down everyone’s throats. If the results of his system are snoozefest losses to the Devils and Wild, or skin-of-their-teeth victories while the goaltending puts in 40+ saves, then I don’t feel guilty in asking for some changes to the status quo. Coach Martin’s flawed game plan relies on special teams and superb goaltending to win games, which makes no sense. No doubt special teams are key, but can we be a little better fundamentally 5-on-5? Which leads me to…
3- Discipline
The Canadiens have been shorthanded 169 times this season, which as of December 23rd, is good for best (or worst) in the league. It’s all fine and dandy that the PK has improved to 84% (good for 7th overall), but like I mentioned earlier, hockey is meant to be played 5-on-5, and it’s hard to improve your even strength play if you are constantly short handed. Being shorthanded as much as the Habs are also puts undue demands on Plekanec, who is currently logging far too much ice time. He’s averaging 20:06 per game, which isn’t bad but when several of those minutes are shorthanded, it’s a huge energy drain on a guy who is Mr. Everything for the Canadiens offense. It also keeps other offensive forces like Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn on the bench. They’re the only guys who are scoring right now, and it’s hard to do that if they’re on the bench watching their mates run around their own zone doing the headless chicken dance.
4- Siginings
Bob Gainey has signed guys mid-season before. I don’t know when he instituted his policy of not negotiating during the season, but he needs to reverse this policy immediately. Carey Price and Tomas Plekanec are both restricted free agents at season’s end. (EDIT: Thanks to 2 readers, who pointed out my error. Plekanec is actually a UFA at season’s end, not RFA – thanks!!) Imagine this team, already with cap issues, without either of them for next year. Gainey should not expose these players to other General Managers who will throw crazy offers at them, if only just to compromise the Canadiens cap situation even further. If Gainey sees these 2 players as cornerstones of the team for the next few years, then he needs to get to work before the door closes and both leave town. For nothing. Again.
5- Youth Development
Here is where I clearly don’t know anything, but what I do know is that promising young players have come up to Montreal, made an initial splash, and then regressed, leaving us all scratching our heads. We saw this with Chipchura, D’Agostini, Pacioretty, Max Lapierre, Sergei Kostitsyn and if you want to throw Latendresse in that mix, go ahead (though we can debate forever how the Habs management screwed up big time 3 years ago vs Guillaume’s own poor work ethic and woe-is-me attitude). To some extent, we saw that last year with Chris Higgins, but he continues to regress in New York, so perhaps he has his own set of issues. Chipchura and Latendresse have both already been shipped out this year (both in the past month), and both have already surpassed their production with the Canadiens in less than half the time. They are by no means lighting the league on fire, but that has to say something, however little, doesn’t it? Read in to that what you will, but what we can’t debate is that D’Agostini, Pacioretty, Max Lapierre, and Sergei Kostitsyn have combined to play 113 games, and have 7 goals and 20 assists to show for it. That’s .24 points per game. For guys who have all seen significant ice time, that’s a painful statistic. Oh, and they’ve also combined for a -20, which means they aren’t even playing all that well defensively. I want to make it clear that I like all of these players (though D’Agostini leaves me underwhelmed), and want to see them do well, but right now, they’re doing nothing. Pacioretty gets knocked around (between the odd flash of potential), Lapierre talks more than he plays, and Sergei reminds me more and more of Oleg Petrov (with some added attitude); he skates well, carries the puck, but ultimately produces nothing (hence the -2 rating). This is not debatable. They’re talented, but talent means nothing if it does not manifest itself.
I’m not giving up on any of these guys, but they need to be in a position to succeed and build confidence (i.e. Hamilton) or get someone on the team that will work with them on an individual basis to work on refining their game. I initially believed that Martin had a good track record with young players, but it seems I was wrong. Year after year we tell ourselves that X young player will be better, but it rarely, if ever happens. These kids are your future building blocks. They’re on entry level deals that will eventually expire. Will you bring them back, or let them go? How can you make an informed decision if you don’t know what they can give you?
So that’s it. See? We really are a low-maintenance bunch. Am I asking too much or too little?
What would you add to your Habs wish list?