by Shannon Penfound, Staff Writer and Event Coordinator, All Habs Hockey Magazine
WINNIPEG, MB. — Well, it was a hell of a roller coaster season, Habs fans. Unfortunately, our ‘Drive for 25′ has come to an end. While fans will take some time to mull over what went wrong during the second round match-up against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and probably make a run or two to the liquor store in the process, I am interested in what ways the Montreal Canadiens’ organization and its players will decide to move forward.
I have read the arguments stating that the Habs need another top-scorer, need changes in the coaching complement, and that the team should secure defenseman Jeff Petry before he becomes a unrestricted free agent (UFA) this summer. While I don’t disagree with any of those suggestions (in fact, they are certainly edging towards the top of my list, as well), my biggest concern is damage control. I’m going to say this right now – if you are a Michel Therrien lover, or are expecting a piece filled with plenty of ‘proud of this team’ kind of comments, you may not like the rest of this article, so buckle up.
Michel Therrien plays favourites and this has been known to cause frustration amongst the players. If (and it’s a big IF) Marc Bergevin decides that it is time for Therrien to part ways (again) with the Montreal bench, the next coach is going to have to find a way to re-rally his troops.
Therrien plays a system that utilizes a dump and chase/up the boards mentality. This is a style of play that is not suitable for a few of our key goal scorers, most notably Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, and Alex Galchenyuk. These are guys who are amazing puck-handlers and have creativity flowing out the wazoo – however this style of play squashes a lot of that creativity. In addition, Therrien juggles his lines so often that players do not have the chance to maintain any kind of momentum.
For example, when Galchenyuk (arguably the player who SHOULD be Montreal’s first line centre) was paired with Pacioretty, he had eight points in nine games AND secured his first NHL hat trick. During that span, the trio of Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Brendan Gallagher also combined for 16 points over five games. For whatever reason, Therrien decided that Galchenyuk was ‘more comfortable’ on the wing, and went straight back to favouring both Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais for that first line position.
Aside from Therrien’s ‘system,’ I am also concerned with how his style of leadership translates into the dressing room. Sure, he’s a lot better than he used to be when it comes to controlling his temper, but are his ‘toss the team under the bus’ comments and ‘discipline with reduced ice time’ tactics really what this team needs? When Therrien isn’t particularly fond of a player, they see the ice less, receive fourth-line treatment, or risk seeing themselves become a healthy scratch. While some may argue that this style of discipline causes players to step it up, I tend to lean towards the alternative in that it simply causes more of a rift between player and coach. Again, IF Bergevin decides to make some changes to the coaching staff, in my opinion, some damage control will need to take place in order for this team to have some faith – not in their own abilities, but in the ability of the brass behind the bench to take them all the way to the finals without playing mind games.
As we witnessed time and time again this season, the Montreal Canadiens are not lacking in talent, nor are they lacking in leadership. A clearly emotional Carey Price took the brunt of the blame in his post-elimination game presser, stating that he didn’t play well-enough early on in the series. I would argue that Habs fans would disagree, knowing that Price was a huge factor in why the Canadiens numbers looked as good as they did all season.
But a coach cannot utilize outdated practices that simply put that much pressure on a goaltender. A lot of people from other fan bases said Price’s numbers were unsustainable. He ended the regular season with a .933 sv%, 1.96 GAA, and nine shutouts. He has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy, the Hart Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award. He will also be sharing the Jennings Trophy with Blackhawks’ netminder, Corey Crawford. Unsustainable, maybe. But Carey Price is certainly not the reason the Habs’ season is over too soon and it’s unfair of him to take much blame at all.
Following Price’s comments, I read a few reports on how Therrien and Bergevin called this a ‘transition’ team/year. I won’t take the time to rip apart this opinion because frankly, Subban said it best,
“I don’t look at a season as a transition season, I look at a season as an opportunity to win a Cup. I can’t focus on saying we need to wait a couple of years before we can contend. We need to contend now.” – P.K. Subban
And I, for one, sincerely hope that this organization makes the changes necessary for this to become a reality. Stay tuned, friends! Go Habs Go.