Habs Feature: Montreal, Canadiens, Habs, NHL, Cole Caufield, Sean Monahan, Brendan Gallagher, Mike Matheson, David Savard, Carey Price

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | MONTREAL, QC. — The holidays are approaching fast. In just a few days, millions of children will get an overnight visit from Santa Claus and wake up with a gift he left for them. The members of the Canadiens organization will also receive a visit from Santa.

Of course, Santa will give each player and coaching staff member their own gifts. However, I believe there are also some gifts he could give to the entire team. In this article, I go over the gift lists I want the team to get for Christmas.

Special power-play sticks

First of all, I hope Santa gives the players special elf-made sticks designed to improve their power-play success. Currently, the Habs are dead last in the league in power-play success with a 13.7 percent conversion rate.

In their five matches preceding last Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, Montreal was riding an 0-for-20 streak on the power-play. The Canadiens did score a power-play goal against the Ducks, but went on to go 0-for-3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

What’s worse, this problem isn’t recent. According to an article from TVA Sports, the Canadiens ranked 29^th in the league or lower in terms of power-play success in 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2021-2022.

In other words, it might take a Christmas miracle to get the power-play going. However, even if the Canadiens got magic sticks, I think Martin St. Louis and Alex Burrows need to seriously consider changing the strategy or the units on the power-play.

Injury protection pads

The second gift on my list would be anti-injury pads for all the Canadiens players.

The Habs have been impacted by injuries this season. Joel Edmundson missed the first part of the season due to a lower-body injury. Mike Hoffman, Mike Matheson, David Savard, and Jonathan Drouin have each missed games due to injuries. Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher are both out of the line-up for the time being.

And, without doubt, the most impactful injury by far to the Canadiens season has been the loss of Carey Price. A lack of consistent goaltending has been an issue all season for the Habs.

NHL top 5 teams, man-games lost to injury and health protocols

WSH 227
TOR 224
PHI 214
MTL 187
CBJ 166

— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) December 16, 2022

Furthermore, this list doesn’t include the close calls and dangerous plays that could have led to injuries. For example, fans will remember that in Monday’s game against the Calgary Flames, Cole Caufield got hit on the head. He left the game and didn’t come back due to the league’s concussion protocol. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured and was back in the lineup Wednesday against the Senators.

Injuries are obviously a part of the game, but avoiding them would definitely be welcome. This is especially the case for key players like Caufield.

Resources on defensive breakdowns

Another gift on my list for the Canadiens would be books on defensive breakdowns. To put it quite simply, the Canadiens aren’t playing well on the defensive end. They sit as the 24^th team in the league with the most goals accorded per game with an average of 3.50 goals against.

Additionally, most of these goals were scored at even strength. In fact, the Canadiens have only allowed 24 goals on 116 penalty kills this season. That’s only a portion of the 112 goals they accorded in total so far. Therefore, the penalty-kill can’t be blamed for the Habs defensive woes.

One aspect of the Canadiens’ play that can explain the difficulties on defense is their tendency to give up successive goals. Indeed, since the beginning of December, the Habs have accorded three successive goals or more on three occasions. In games against the Canucks, the Kings, and the Ducks they also allowed two goals in less than a two-minute span.

This tendency can be adequately named defensive breakdowns. Giving up quick successive goals or multiple successive goals shows the Canadiens have a hard time restructuring their play after the opposing team scores. In other words, both the coaching staff and the players would need to read Santa’s recommended books on defense.

Quality time with family and friends

Last but not least, I wish that players get to spend some time with their loved ones during the holidays.

There is still a lot of hockey left to play and some rest and time away from the ice could help the players have a fresh start in 2023.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all the Canadiens’ organization members and to you, All Habs Hockey Magazine readers and followers.

Canadiens Connection Podcast

Episode 222 of the Canadiens Connection podcast includes quotes from Jake Allen and a look into the future of the Montreal Canadiens.

Listen in the player below, share and subscribe!

Habs Hockey Report

You can also watch last week’s >Habs Hockey Report, where Amy Johnson goes over her Holiday Wish List for the Canadiens.