MONTREAL, QC.– Poor Jacques Martin. The Montreal Canadiens haven’t scored a goal in three games for the first time in 62 years and Habs fans want someone’s head. Callers to Montreal radio stations are clear about the direction in which they point the finger of blame — right behind the Canadiens bench.
Fans just don’t get it — so say columnists who face the coach everyday. They say critics of Martin should look at the big picture — the bottom line is winning — and HE is getting the job done in the win column. They also point to the injury-riddled lineup as proof-positive that coach Martin is the lynch-pin of this team, and the only reason that the Canadiens are headed to the playoffs.
Well, case closed.
I suppose that I better start the draft of my “Jacques Martin, Runaway 2011 Winner of the Jack Adams Trophy” article.
There’s nothing more to discuss.
Except, … No, I shouldn’t ask. I feel like such a contrarian.
There is one question that the placard-carrying Martin-boosters haven’t answered yet. To me it’s akin to “Don’t O-rings fail to seal when they get cold?” So here goes: Which Canadiens player is having a career season?
Why is this an important question? It is the responsibility of the coach to create the conditions for success and maximize the performance of his players. If Martin isn’t getting their best, then how is he the reason for the Canadiens wins?
Or perhaps better illustrated: If every student is under-achieving, does the person at the front of the class deserve to be nominated for Teacher of the Year?
So, career seasons? Hmmm… None of the Habs top six forwards will come close to their career-best year. (We need not discuss the bottom six forwards. That’s just way too obvious.)
Only Andrei Kostitsyn has more points than last season and that can be attributed to the winger being healthier this year. While fans complain about Scott Gomez’s lack of goals, it is 19 fewer assists that evidence his ineffectiveness. Numbers for Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gonta are down but the biggest drop comes for Mike Cammallleri — 10 fewer goals.
Even further removed from any personal bests are the defense. While some may single out P.K. Subban, his current level of play appeared only in the last half of the season. Significant improvement was the result of the misfortune of Josh Gorges’ injury and Hal Gill’s mentoring and had little to do with the intervention of the coach.
There is one player who is surpassing all his previous marks: Carey Price. This runs counter to the notion that Martin’s superior defensive system deserves the accolades for the Canadiens success. Frankly, the leaky system has required the goaltender to be the first star for the Canadiens to have a chance to win.
Price has done just that being the Molson Cup winner for October, November, December and February. These are not the hallmarks of a locked-down defensive system. Instead it describes a strategy of passive hockey and a team which spends far too much time in their own zone.
Coach Martin deserves none of the plaudits for the extraordinary goaltending his team is receiving. Give the credit to Price whose talent, preparation and mental toughness has produced what many in Montreal thought was impossible.
Price has also been mentioned as a candidate for the Hart Trophy, recognition that the Habs would not be in the playoffs without superb goaltending on a nightly basis. The Canadiens have been near the bottom of the league all season in goal support. They are currently 24th in the NHL in goals per game — no other playoff-bound team ranks as low.
I was amused when one columnist wrote that Montreal’s number one goalie hasn’t stolen many games lately. In Price’s last four starts, the Habs have scored one goal in total. Price would have needed a string of shutouts just to get his team to a shoot-out, and then lined up as one of the shooters.
Another disturbing category where the Canadiens are on the wrong side of the ledger is penalties, taking the second-most minor penalties in the league. They are tied for the most bench minors assessed. Both statistics are measures of team discipline.
Montreal has spent far too much time killing penalties which could explain, in part, why two-way players like Plekanec have seen a drop in their offensive production. Also, offensive-minded players sit for long stretches on the bench which breaks up their scoring rhythm.
While it’s always difficult to predict how a team would react under different leadership, we can be assured that discipline would not be an issue if Jacques Lemaire or Mike Babcock was behind the bench.
We know that coach Martin has difficulty making in-game adjustments — his only tool seems to be shuffling his lines. Although he has been described as a good teacher, communication is an obvious issue as Martin is not getting the best from his players. He may be a strong “X’s and O’s” coach but his strategies may have been better suited to the style of play in pre-lockout years.
Player management is also an issue. Here’s a often-referenced example: Roman Hamrlik offers less offensive upside and is more of a defensive liability on the power-play than P.K. Subban or Yannick Weber. The extra special team’s duty runs up the minutes played clock on an aging body.
It’s been suggested that the Canadiens rash of injuries can be partly attributed to fatigue and a lack of recovery time. If accurate that would be an indictment on how the coach deploys personnel. Then there’s Martin’s nasty habit of breaking up line combinations just when they are at their peak.
Many are ready to cut coach Martin some slack given all the injuries experienced by the team this season. In fact, the Canadiens rank near the middle of the pack, 17th in the league to date, in terms of man-games lost to injury. Montreal has lost key players, but so have other teams — Pittsburgh is a prime example with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sidelined.
Martin-apologists claim that coaches of teams who experience injuries, all revert to playing a more defensive game. Statistics don’t support this argument. Of the top five teams in the league in terms of goals scored, four of them have lost more man-games to injury than the Canadiens.
While coaching is not the only problem in Montreal (think Max Pacioretty), it is an issue. There is a clear disconnect between the coach and the talents of the current crop of players. Crediting Martin or his system with the Canadiens being a playoff-bound team is pure nonsense.
Anyone casting a vote in Martin’s favor for a Jack Adams honour is simply in a fog. Then again perhaps masking the truth is the price that has to be paid to be on the opposite side of the coach’s podium everyday.
These same columnists are the ones who call Habs fans “uneducated” when they demand accountability from the Martin. Perhaps fans are the ones who are more accurately seeing the big picture. And it’s not flattering for the coach with the notepad.
(photo by Le Devoir)
I wanted to come up with a blog that was centering around the idea that the Habs are settling in to the 6-7-8 slots, and the fans were settling for that. A couple weeks ago, the team had an eye on 3rd place in the conference. Today it is in a dogfight for one of the last 3 spots, and hence a matchup with one of 3 teams that present a major problem for the Habs.
For the most part, fans exonerate the team because of the injuries, which is silly. As you pointed out (thank god for Mirtle’s updated list!), the Habs are in the middle of the pack in terms of man-games lost. Many teams have lots key cogs to their lineup and continued to play well, Pittsburgh being the biggest example. What they’ve been able to do is astounding considering they are missing 2 of the 5 best players in the NHL.
I had eased off Jacques Martin recently (that is, until the current 3-game slide) because I saw his system as something that works when a team is decimated and full of AHL talent. They remove one piece and plug in another, chugging along. But once the real talent is “healthy” again, the system resumes its stifling nature. Underneath it all, though, is Price’s work. Without it Montreal is burning to the ground today, and I’m digging my infamous moat. Price is the system, and Martin knows it. What this slide has reinforced is that Martin may be able to teach hockey to kids, but he can’t get the best out of them, he can’t inspire, and he somehow refuses to stick to what works. I’m beginning to wonder if Martin is intentionally throttling Kostitsyn’s production? Of course, that’s crazy talk, but why did he take him away from Plekanec when he had scored 10 points in 11 games? And why did he do the same thing by breaking him away from Eller after posting similar numbers?
Everything Martin said he would bring to the team, he hasn’t. Puck possession? Discipline? Speed? None of these things have materialized, even though the tools are in place. Discipline is especially damning in my mind. From day one the players have continually been citing penalties and the need to stop taking them, yet they don’t. They continue to float at or very near the top of the league in minor penalties. Why can’t Martin fix this? It seems to me that after nearly a full season, a coach with 25 years of experience ought to be able to prevent his team from taking this many penalties, right? Size also factors in to this. Just as the smallish forwards cannot penetrate opposing defenses and have to settle (there’s that word again) for shots from the outside, they are also unable to legally win puck battles with bigger, stronger opposition. Stickwork ensues, along with holding and interference penalties.
Martin does not deserve any consideration for the Jack Adams trophy. The Canadiens success is only in small part due to the system keeping the team afloat through the injuries, but by and large, 90% of the credit goes to Carey Price. In fact, one may argue that the Canadiens most valuable coach may not be behind the bench at all, but is sitting somewhere in the Bell Center breaking down tape and helping Carey Price be the Hart nominee that he may be. Thanks Pierre Groulx!
Great article, Rick. I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment.
And Kyle, you nailed it on the head when you said the system IS Carey Price.
The only award I’d give Martin in the Jack Ass Award as the NHL’s most “full of himself” coach!
Thanks for the compliment Coach.
Excellent comment Kyle! Injuries happen in hockey and coaches are there to devise strategies to minimize the impact on the team (see: Bylsma) As mentioned in the piece the Canadiens are quite average in terms of their injury numbers. Some argue (Coach K) that Jacques Martin has actually exacerbated the injury problem due to the way he deploys personnel. Aging players don’t have their ice time properly managed and the required rest to recover from wear and tear which leads to more serious injuries.
Jacques Martin described his vision for the Canadiens — a puck possession team like the Detroit Red Wings — in his welcome to Montreal news conference. For the most part, Gainey fulfilled Martin’s shopping list stocking the team with speed and skill. And then the coach proceeded to install a passive system that was opposite to what he had described and completely ill-suited to the personnel he has.
Some describe Martin as a masterful defensive-strategist — perhaps there is some truth to that pre-lockout but now that’s mostly mythology. If he was, Price would be twittering from the blue paint rather than having to be a star for the Habs to win.
I did a little more digging, and found that in 70% of Canadiens victories, the goaltender was a star.
Price has been the first star 12 times, the second star 8 times, and the third star 5 times. All told, he has been a star of the game in 74% of his wins. I haven’t checked the losses.
I don’t know if this same number would carry across the league, but I would be surprised if goaltending was this heavily featured in a team’s success.
Interesting numbers… nice work Kyle. It is clear that Carey Price has been the MVP of the Canadiens, and the sole reason that they have a shot at the playoffs. Your information only supports that Price is having a Hart-worthy season.
Hey, if you are referring to me saying the fans are uneducated, re-read the offending statement.
I never said the fans were uneducated. I said that the media member calling for a firing was uneducated.
First paragraph: talking about media guy saying coach is done.
Second paragraph, follows first paragraph. Fans had not even been mentioned yet.
And doo you want to know how your thoughts are coloured by your own love/hate relationship for the Habs? Here’s how. You turn into TSN or national voices like the Globe or other national voices and you hear what they are saying.
See they don’t have a jersey on. It helps them to see their own opinions better with clear vision.
Thanks for your comment Brian. The piece does not point a finger at anyone specifically.
As for your article, you asked me to re-read it. I did. Now I invite you to do the same as you seem to be mistaken. For convenience, I will include your first three paragraphs below:
First paragraph: you introduce the media guy as mentioned in your comment
Second paragraph: you write that because of his words, media guy forfeits his pass, and is labelled a fan
Third paragraph: media guy stripped of his credentials (and now a fan) is called uneducated
If it’s not what you intended, I’m happy to hear your clarification. But you can’t deny that it’s a reasonable interpretation. (Incidentally, commenters to your website seem to have a similar interpretation and write that they are offended by your use of the term “uneducated.”)
As far as TSN or the Globe being the definitive voices of the Canadiens, we will have to disagree. While you argue objective, others would say uninformed. Besides, I’m not sure that you want it known that in your opinion, for a “clear vision” of the Habs, fans should look to non-local sources.
May I just add, when you recommend sources that offer a non-biased view (in your opinion), you would be wise to declare your own biases. After all, TSN & the Globe are sister companies to CTV.
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