Habs News: Nate Thompson, Fourth Line Upgrade, Canadiens vs Contenders, Securing a Playoff Spot, Trade Deadline
by Chris G, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
LAVAL, QC. —The Habs lost all three games of their road trip last week. It started off with a 3-1 loss against the Predators on Thursday and then on the weekend, Tampa Bay beat Montreal 3-0 on Saturday and Florida 6-3 win on Sunday.
The Canadiens are back at the Bell Centre for a pair of games against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. On Saturday night, Montreal heads to Toronto to face their division rivals. It will be the second Saturday night matchup in three weeks between the teams, with the Maple Leafs getting a 4-3 overtime win in Montreal in their last game.
My top-5 Canadiens takes of the week
Thompson acquisition
On Monday, we found out the reason that Canadiens scouts had recently spent some time watching the Kings, as Montreal acquired Nate Thompson and a fifth round draft pick from Los Angeles in exchange for a fourth round draft pick.
I think that this was a low risk trade as Thompson becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. In addition, the swapped draft picks should result in Montreal dropping about 15 spots lower as they move their pick from the fourth to the fifth round.
Thompson is a player that provides energy, kill penalties and win faceoffs. He’s not a player that will put points on the board, his career high is 25 points in a season. He has played 62 career playoff games, and has played in the post season for the last five years, which will be an asset for this young team as they battle for a playoff spot.
Thompson had a good start in the faceoff circle against Nashville as he won 55 percent of his faceoffs, but struggled as he only won 25 percent in the game against Tampa Bay. Against the Panthers, Thompson won 58 percent of faceoffs.
Fourth line upgrade
Montreal’s fourth line in the game against Toronto on February 9th was Matthew Peca – Michael Chaput – Nicolas Deslauriers. That line was on the ice for two of the four goals that Toronto scored during that game. It may have been that particular game that triggered Marc Bergevin to go ahead to acquire Dale Weise and Nate Thompson.
The first couple of games hasn’t been conclusive for the new fourth line of Deslauriers – Thompson – Weise. I gave them the benefit of the doubt after Nashville’s game since it was the first game for them playing together and with the team for two of them.
In the third period of the game against Tampa Bay, Weise took an unnecessary and costly penalty as he was trying to get revenge on Adam Erne, as the team thought Erne embellished earlier in the period to draw a penalty call against Deslauriers. This was a bad decision by Weise, which had nothing to do with the number of games he’s played with his new team. Weise puts a good effort when he’s on the ice, but he needs to use energy wisely to have a positive impact.
Charles Hudon replaced Deslauriers in Florida, but the results were the same. Not a good start for the upgraded fourth line.
Canadiens vs contenders
On Saturday, Montreal concluded a stretch of four-games versus opponents that are expected to go into deep playoff runs. This was a test for the Canadiens to see how they stack up against the best in the league. They finished that stretch by getting three of the possible eight points.
Their only win was when they beat the Jets 5-2 at the Bell Centre. According to many in the fanbase, that made the Canadiens contenders. It looks like expectations were inflated based on a game where Winnipeg wasn’t at its best.
Against Nashville and Tampa Bay, Montreal was the better team (arguably) after 40 minutes of play, but weren’t able to step up their play in the third period of their games. This is something that contending teams are able to do.
Playoff spot
Montreal comes out of the weekend with a one point cushion from the Carolina Hurricanes in ninth place. The Hurricanes brought themselves back into the race for a playoff spot by winning eight of their last ten games.
In what seemed to be a certainty up until their recent stretch, it looks like the Canadiens will be in a fight to earn a playoff spot until the end of the season. They will definitely have to do better than the one of the possible eight point stretch that they’re currently on.
According to an analysis completed by The Athletic last week, the Canadiens have the toughest schedule of the conference for the remaining of the season. Montreal’s biggest losing streak was at the end of November when they lost five consecutive games. If they go to an identical losing streak before the end of the season, it will probably cost them a playoff spot.
Deadline drawing closer
Trade deadline is a week away, and I expect Marc Bergevin to make some minor tweaks to the roster. There’s conflicting reports whether Bergevin is looking for a roster player or a draft pick in exchange for Charles Hudon, who’s expressed the desire to play regularly in Montreal or on another team. Based on what we have seen from Bergevin in the past, I would think that he’s looking for a depth player.
Based on Antti Niemi‘s performance against the Panthers, Bergevin might be looking to add another goalie on his roster.
Another element that needs to be taken into consideration that I haven’t seen being talked about, is that there’s no roster limit after the trade deadline as long as the team remains within the salary cap. Montreal has lots of that.
I expect a lot of depth players and defencemen on the roster after the deadline.
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