Habs News: Montreal Canadiens Week in Review, Artturi Lehkonen, Shea Weber Paul Byron Return to Lineup, Marco Scandella, Ilya Kovalchuk, Trade Deadline
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. —The Canadiens started the week on Tuesday with an embarrassing 4-3 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit. Montreal had a 3-1 lead in the second period before allowing three unanswered goals in the last 15 minutes. It was the first time in franchise history that the Red Wings swept a season series against the Habs.
“Communication’s clear. I mean, we needed to play 60 minutes we played 40. So you know, I can’t put my skates on and play for them. There’s a lack of confidence right now I think. And there’s an inability to play 60 minutes and that’s where the problem is,” said a visibly upset Claude Julien after the loss to the 31st ranked team.
On Thursday, Ben Chiarot scored twice, including the overtime winner against the Capitals in the Canadiens 4-3 win in Washington. Carey Price recorded his 25th win of the season for the seventh time in his career, which ties him for first place in franchise history.
“I liked our effort from start to finish. We spoke about the importance of playing 60 minutes and we were able to do it tonight,” analyzed Julien.
On Saturday, Max Domi scored twice and Price recorded his fourth shutout of the season as the Habs beat the Senators 3-0 to conclude their three game road trip.
“I don’t think I have anybody tonight that I can tell you I’m disappointed and I think we all played hard. And you know, we moved the puck quick. Like I said, we skated well, we put a lot of pressure on them, and our back check was good tonight. D-zone same thing. So it was a pretty solid effort,” Julien said after the game.
A week ago, Montreal was eight points out of the playoffs, and with them collecting five out of the possible six points, they are now six points behind Toronto. Things may look gloom for the Maple Leafs after losing against the Hurricanes with emergency goalie in net, but there’s also the Panthers in the picture between them and the Habs. Florida has games in hand over both teams.
The Canadiens spend the week at the Bell Centre as they host the Canucks on Tuesday, the Rangers on Thursday, and the Hurricanes on Saturday.
Lehkonen Healthy Scratch
Claude Julien surprised everyone on Thursday by scratching Artturi Lehkonen for the first time in his career. I was surprised by the decision because Julien has always praised the player and trusted his play without the puck.
“He’s been a great penalty killer, he’s great defensive player,” explained Julien. “At the same time he needs to be able to make plays. And that’s what we need from him. It’s simple as that.”
“I wasn’t expecting that,but it is what it is,” reacted Lehkonen to the coach’s decision. He was inserted back into the lineup on the fourth line against the Senators, but his usage suggested that Julien was happy with his game and rewarded him with 15:56 of ice time. Philip Danault (17:10) and Ilya Kovalchuk (15:58) were the only forwards with more ice time.
“He sits out one game, it seems like it’s the end of the world, but it’s not. There’s a lot of players that go through that and, you know, you try and get his attention if you let them know that you want more from him and he responds and he did responded tonight,” said Julien.
Weber, Byron Return to Lineup
Six days after the organization announcing that he would miss four to six weeks with an ankle sprain, Shea Weber was back in the lineup. He had even skated for two days prior to his debut on Tuesday. In a span of a week, the reports ranged from the four weeks that was announced by the Habs to potential career threatening. All of it which could have been avoided if the Canadiens were in front of the news instead of reacting to reports.
Paul Byron also returned to the lineup against the Red Wings, and it looks like he’s back to playing the level that earned him a contract extension through the 2022-23 season.
Byron has scored once and added two assists in his three games since returning from his injury. In the 19 games before suffering his injury on November 15th, he had scored once and added three assists.
“He’s such a good skater and he’s on the puck all the time. And, you know, to me, it’s pretty impressive. Like he’s missed that amount of time and he comes back and he has that impact that quickly, it’s a credit to him and you know, It just seems that when he’s on the ice, he just seems to make everybody else around him better,” said Julien on Saturday.
Scandella Trade
Marc Bergevin started his trade deadline dealing on Tuesday as he sent Marco Scandella to the Blues for their second round draft pick and a 2021 fourth round conditional draft pick if he re-signs with St.Louis or if he plays at least plays in at least half of the games if the Blues win two rounds in this season’s playoffs. Montreal retained half of Scandella’s salary.
According to Renaud Lavoie from TVA Sports, the two parties had started talking about a contract extension, but Bergevin made the decision to trade him when Scandella announced that he wanted to wait until the end of the season.
Whether you support Bergevin or not, I think we can all agree that this was a good trade. The general manager used his available cap space to upgrade from the fourth round draft pick that he gave up to a second round draft pick and a pick next year.
Kovalchuk Trade
On Sunday night, the Canadiens traded Ilya Kovalchuk to the Capitals for a third round pick in this year’s draft. Montreal retained half of Kovalchuk’s salary. With Washington expected to make a long playoff run, the pick will be late in the third round. Considering the amount of the cap hit retained, I was expecting a higher return in a trade.
With hindsight being 20/20, Kovalchuk’s highest trade value was as soon as he scored the overtime goal against the Maple Leafs on February 8th. He was held off the scoresheet for the next six games before obtaining an assist on Saturday against the Senators.
Bergevin’s gamble to sign the free agent paid off, kind of. The signing was done to help the team clinch a playoff spot, which won’t happen without a miracle, however it allowed the general manager to obtain an asset for the organization.
In 22 games played with the Canadiens, Kovalchuk scored six goals and added seven assists. He was first on the team with three game winning goals tied with Max Domi and Ben Chiarot.
TSN’s Pierre Lebrun reported that Montreal will be bidding for Kovalchuk services on July 1st. Earlier in the week, TSN’s Darren Dreger speculated that an extension would have likely been for a base salary of around $3.5 million with performance bonuses that would have brought his salary to $5 million. It’s a contract that I don’t think the team needs.
Trade Deadline Plan
If I had the nice general’s office inside the Bell Centre, my to-do list on the current Montreal roster for trade deadline would be long. I would be actively shopping Dale Weise, Jordan Weal, Nate Thompson, Nick Cousins, and Christian Folin. Realistically, I know that it will be hard to trade all of them with hours remaining before deadline. If I managed to acquire assets for at least three of them, I would be happy.
I would also make myself available to answer calls, text messages, and emails for a hockey trade for any of the other players on the roster, with no exceptions. I would have to be blown away from a team’s offer to accept a trade at the moment, and instead setting the table for a possible trade in the off-season.
Once the trade deadline is done, I would plan a trip with my assistant general manager to a city like Colorado. I’ve heard that there’s a good hockey team playing in that city.
By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2019 Rocket Sports
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