Written by Steven Ellis, AllHabs.net
OAKVILLE, ON. – It must be hard playing on a defensive minded team, where your defense isn’t exactly the most blue-line minded team.
If it wasn’t for Carey Price, the playoffs would be the farthest thing from reality the last 2 seasons. Heck, if we didnt have Jesus Price saving their bacon, Jacques Martin would have lost his job at the start of the 2010-2011 season.
There is no debating who the best player on the Canadiens is. Carey Price is the heart and soul of the team. If he falters, so does the team. Even through tough patches this season, Price has been the highlight of the night.
But if this was to happen EVERY single night for the rest of the season, Montreal really needs to make changes in all departments.
Price, along with P.K. Subban, will become restricted free agents once the season is over. They will be back, unless for some reason Pierre Gauthier, or whoever is the general manager at that point, thinks it’s a smart idea to not bring back a huge part of the team’s present and future. But we know they will be back, so I’ll stop wasting your time talking about the obvious.
Although he was one of many Canadiens to start the season slowly, Price has since rebounded and can hardly be blamed for the team’s continued struggles. Price was a big part of Montreal’s recent win over the Devils, as he made 28 saves and denied Zach Parise on a penalty shot in the final minute of regulation to help seal the win. If it wasn’t for that, Montreal would have been on a 3 game losing streak. Despite the way the team has been playing, Price is 11-8 with seven overtime losses in 26 games so far this season. He also has two shutouts, with a 2.19 goals against average and .920 save percentage. For the way the team is playing this season, those are great statistics.
But wait a minute. He has seven overtime / shootout losses?
The cockiness is gone. These days you won’t see Price strike his famous “swag pose” seen after shootout wins last year. He didn’t even make a single save in his first three losses. The Canadiens are 1-4 in shootouts so far, and a combination of no goals scored and no goals saved have made the shootout a death sentence. The Canadiens first shootout was a 6-5 loss to Colorado on October 15. Price was beaten by Milan Hejduk and Matthew Duchene while Plekanec and Pacioretty were stopped by Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov. In November, Price was beaten first by Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek, who clanked one in off a goalpost, then by Brad Boyes on a pretty deke. Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth stopped Montreal’s Plekanec, was beaten by Pacioretty, then foiled captain Brian Gionta to win the game 3-2 for the visitors.
His weakness has been the blocker, and it always has been. In about 90 per cent of the shootout goals scored on him this season, the puck went in blocker side. That is usually any goalies weakness, so it’s not like he’s the only one of his kind. Price’s goal has to be to not let in any on that side if he wants to get the extra point. Everyone knows his strength is his glove hand, so they would be stupid to not go for the blocker.
Price’s career shootout record stands at 13 wins and 15 losses, his .686 save percentage fashioned by 70 saves on 102 shots (68.6 per cent). He was a brick wall in shootouts his first season with the Canadiens, making 18 saves on 22 shots for an .818 percentage in 2007-08. He slipped to .629 (22 stops on 35 shots) the following season, then .706 (12 on 17) in 2009-10 and, last season, .750 (18 on 24). By comparison, Peter Budaj’s record in the shootout is 13-13 (50.0 per cent), stopping 51 of 85 shots (60.0 per cent).
But Price can’t do everything for the team. If he could play forward, I bet you Jacques Martin would play him there. His play has got it done the way the rest of the team has been unable to do. He puts in 100 per cent effort every night, and it shows in his statistics. Price, who was the overall Molson Cup award winner for best Montreal Canadien in 2010-11, has been the recipient of the award forboth October and November of this year, and its very likely he will win in for December.
Jacques Martin is a defensive minded coach, which has caused for a lot of criticism. The team has lacked offense the last few years after letting Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu go. Pacioretty, Michael Cammalleri, Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Erik Cole have been asked to provide offense, but what Montreal really lacks is a superstar forward. Buffalo has Thomas Vanek, Toronto has Phil Kessel, Ottawa has Jason Spezza and Boston has Tyler Seguin. You may debate that Spezza, Vanek and Seguin aren’t elite players, but all have more points then Montreal’s top scorer, Plekanec, and Kessel is second in league scoring. In fact, Vanek isn’t the top scorer on the Sabres. Alex Semin will be the top unrestricted free agent forward this upcoming season, and there is a lot of indication that he will not be returning to the Washington Capitals come next October. Washington has a strong team at every position, so Montreal doesn’t have have many players that would improve the team, unless they are willing to part with Plekanec, Pacioretty or Cammalleri.
In the defense department, Montreal really needs Andrei Markov, the teams best defenseman, back on the blue line. Markov has been injured since early last season, and the team has really missed him back there. Subban, Gill and Gorges have been required to take over where Markov left off and lead the lead. Tomas Kaberle was brought in last week to replace Jaroslav Spacek, who the Habs hope will get some points on the powerplay. He had two assists against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, but he has yet to score since March 2010. If the forwards can score, he will get points. Simple as that. But the power-play has been brutal this season, and I don’t need to go into detail on that. Playing David Desharnais and Mathieu Darche on the power-play instead of and Andrei Kostitsyn has gotten fans very angry, and playing Darche just doesn’t prove that Martin is thinking straight.
If Montreal is serious about getting far this season, and believe me, it doesn’t look like Martin will coach the team into the playoffs, Price needs some help from his entire team. They have blown many leads, and Price isn’t to blame.
If it wasn’t for Price…… Well, I don’t want to think about that.
Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL
I wouldn’t mind Semin, but this would most likely involve getting rid of some decent players OR Markov on the LTIR. As Long as Pacs, Subban, Price and Plekanec are here, I don’t mind. Kosttitsyn is playing well this year, but both brothers have proven to be inconsistent. Great article as always.
I’m sure glad you didn’t further embarrass yourself by “going into detail” any further on the power play. David Desharnais has double the points of Lars Eller, anyone stupid enough to be angry that he plays on the man advantage ahead of Eller shouldn’t be the concern of Jacques Martin or anyone who has a clue what’s going on out there on the ice. And don’t think I’m bashing Lars, he’s shown great things so far this season, and has potential to progress into a top 6 forward, but at this point his finishing abilities are almost non-existent.
Desharnais isn’t the problem on the power play. If you want proof, look no further than his work last night on the Erik Cole goal. He’s simply a playmaker, and a good one at that. We shouldn’t expect him to fill the net, but he’ll certainly put up the assists now that Kaberle is in place as a real QB who can spread the defence and open shooting lanes.
I thank you for noticing a mistake I made. I have talked to many people who can’t stand seeing Desharnais on the power play, but he has done quite well this year and is surprising many. what I meant to say was having Darche play on the Power play is a dumb idea. A fourth liner should not be on the PP, and it was quite obvious with his play. I like Desharnais, and watching him in Hamilton, knew that he could play well on the power play.
The high points of the power play, in my opinion, are the Defense. Weber has played great with the extra man, and Montreal has Subban,.Kaberle and Campoli all playing well on the PP. In my opinion, sitting Hal Gill in front of the net would definetly make things interesting. He would be able to screen the goalie and almost no one will wan’t to move him out of the way.
You say MTRL has lacked offense after getting rid of Kovalev and Koivu. Kovalev was an enigma who rarely stepped up except for the occasional “highlight reel goal” and Koivu was an all-around player, not a sharpshooter. We have the talent now, but lack the coaching to bring it out.
Kovalev had 35 goals and 84 points in 2007-2008, and 60+ points 3 times. Koivu had 60+ points almost every year. Say what you want about them, but they were our best forwards durin their time here. I would include Sheldoun Souray in this, despite him being a Dman, because he has a slap shot and offensive mindset almost no defenseman could match.
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