Defencemen Take Top Spots | Three Stars of the Week, NHL, Habs, Montreal Canadiens, Jake Allen, Jeff Petry, Shea Weber
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA — Hello there, folks! Back again for another edition of my weekly column here where I take a look back at the week of action for the Canadiens and award my three stars!
Players will earn points each time they appear as a star in this column and at the end of the year, I will award my three stars of the season. The Canadiens have been very busy since last week, so let’s see who stood out this week!
☆ THIRD STAR: Jake Allen
It is time to give Jake Allen some attention here on my three stars of the week. As a backup goaltender, I have had reservations about awarding him one of my stars due to the fact that he is not playing quite as much as everyone else, but this week he has earned a spot here.
With that said, there is a contingent of Habs fans who believe that Jake Allen is better than Carey Price based on limited statistics like goals against average and save percentage. To that, I would argue that Jake Allen is someone who has shown that this exact role is something that he can do at a high level, but anything beyond what he is being asked to do right now, and those numbers will take a noticeable dip.
That is who Jake Allen has been throughout his career. He shows the flashes of being a very solid goaltender, but if you are one of the people looking at goals against average and save percentage as a reason he should be given more starts, take a look at his numbers in seasons when he had more of a workload like 2017-18 and 2018-19.
This is not to discredit Jake Allen, who I think has been wonderful in his five starts. He has been just what the doctor ordered for the Canadiens, with four quality starts in those five games. Montreal has made life relatively easy for Allen in some of his appearances, but when called upon he has provided some saves, which is certainly more than Antti Niemi or Keith Kinkaid provided the Canadiens the last couple years.
At the end of the day, Jake Allen is a very good backup goaltender, one who is worthy of a star for what he has accomplished to this point of the season.
☆ SECOND STAR: Jeff Petry
I have been so close to including Petry as one of my three stars in previous weeks before ultimately going in a different direction, but I can no longer leave Petry out given the production he has been providing for the Montreal Canadiens.
As of right now, Jeff Petry is second among defencemen for points, behind only Quinn Hughes and just ahead of the likes of Cale Makar and John Carlson. That is some elite company to be keeping and is the type of company he has been keeping the last three seasons as one of only six defencemen with 10 or more goals and 40 or more points in each of the last three seasons.
Petry has been that consistent in terms of point production and his overall game has taken a step up as well. There were times in previous years where Petry would make gaffes or poor plays in his own end, but he has done a really nice job cleaning that part of his game up and now that he has done that, it is much easier to appreciate all that Petry provides for the Canadiens.
In the two-game set against Vancouver, Petry was walked away with five points, including two goals in the first game. Then on Saturday, it was a Petry power play goal that got the Canadiens on the board against the Ottawa Senators. Speaking of the power play, with that goal Saturday, Petry tied Shea Weber for the team-lead in power-play points.
Petry has been a really good player for the Habs to start this season and if that continues then the Canadiens will more than likely be in good shape the rest of the way.
☆ FIRST STAR: Shea Weber
I have to give Shea Weber the first star this week. It may be a sentimental pick, but the fact of the matter is that Shea Weber is not flashy, little about what he does jumps off the screen when watching him play, but he has been deserving of this type of recognition as one of my three stars of the week all season and this week coinciding with his 1000th game has very little to do with it.
It does play a part, but as mentioned, Weber leads the team in power play points alongside Jeff Petry. He leads skaters in time on ice this season, having played 287 minutes to this point. Most importantly, he leads this team with his consistency every time he touches the ice.
It is admittedly hard for me to give consideration for these stars to guys like Weber or Brendan Gallagher because I expect them to not only provide valuable production, but leadership as well. This expectation of their consistency leaves me paying more attention to what other guys are doing, but this week Weber had all of the attention for reaching 1000 career games, so it was time for me to give him some.
Weber is the unquestioned leader of this team along with Carey Price. Last week I said that this team will go as far as Carey Price will take them. Let me update that. This team will go as far as Weber and Price will take them. Given the hunger that those two have to add a Stanley Cup to their long lists of achievements, it will be interesting to see how far the Canadiens go.
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By Joseph Whalen, Host, Canadiens Connection podcast
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