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Week at a Glance – Early Season Report

Steve Farnham

By Stevo, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC.– Not many people would have picked the Montreal Canadiens to be sitting on top of the Eastern Conference standings just 11 games into the season but that’s exactly what the Habs have been able to accomplish so far.

With a record of 7-3-1, the Habs have 15 points and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning (7-2-1) for top spot in the Eastern Conference, Tampa Bay having one game in hand but who cares at this point of the season.

Although last night the Habs were defeated by the struggling Florida Panthers (4-5-0), which put a damper on Andrei Markov’s return, signs so far are very promising and the Habs might be in for a far better season then many predicted.

Andrei Markov’s return should provide some much needed stability on the blue line.  He looked a little rusty last night but once he finds his game shape, his pairing with P.K. Subban looks like it could form one of the best defensive duos in the league.

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Some notes so far this season:

Goaltending:

The Montreal Canadiens goaltending has been stellar so far and Carey Price is to thank for this.  Only Martin Brodeur has been been on the ice more than Price has this season.   In ten starts so far, he shows a record of 6-3-1 and shows a very respectable 2.38 GAA while maintaining a .912 SV%.

Alex Auld has had only one start and did better then I could have predicted.  He made 30 saves and only allowed one goal to help the Habs beat the New York Islanders (4-5-2).  Although he didn’t have a very difficult night, he did exactly what you want out of a back-up goalie, he stepped up, gave his team a chance to win, made solid saves, and was back on the bench the next game.

Goaltending Grade: A

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Defense:

The defence has been a little all over the place and Andrei Markov’s return is great news for everyone, except maybe Alex Picard who’s been sent sidelined as a result.  Seems unfair to Picard who had a goal and was leading the team in the +/- category at +7, but Jacques Martin and Pierre Gauthier know what they are doing, right? Right…

Spacek and Gill have been rather disappointing so far.  Speed and mobility are definitely issues with both and the number of turnovers they have caused is definitely alarming.  Spacek stands out over Gill because of the ice time he’s awarded and to many people, should be the one watching the game from the press box over Picard.

P.K. Subban is all that and a bag of chips.  He leads all Canadiens’ defensemen with six points (assists), is +5 and has averaged almost 22 minutes per game so far this season.

Good ol’ workhorse Josh Gorges has been a little up and down season but he still has one goal and four assists to show for it.  He also leads all Montreal Canadiens’ players just seven seconds short of averaging 23 minutes per game of ice time.

Defense Grade: C+

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Forwards:

Nothing can be said of the top line this season with Tomas Plekanec at center, and Andrei Kostitsyn and Mike Cammalleri at the wings.  Kostitsyn (6-4) and Plekanec (5-5) lead the way with ten points each, while Cammalleri (3-4) follows behind.

Possibly one of the nicest surprises in the early portion of this season, Jeff Halpern who averages only a little over 12 minutes per game has three goals and four assists, while averaging 59% on his face-offs.

The area to worry most about has been the second line.  Scott Gomez (1-2) and newly named captain Brian Gionta (1-2) have struggled so far in the point column, and they’ve had just about everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them as a left winger goes.  After 11 games, you wonder if it might not be best to separate them for a few games, as clearly there chemistry is nowhere to be found.

Benoit Pouliot who started the season on the second line now finds himself halfway between the third and fourth lines.  Although he seems to have brought more energy to his game this season taking the body more than I’m used to seeing from him, he continues to be the player who stays on the outside and doesn’t get his nose dirty when it counts.

Lars Eller continues to be a project for Jacques Martin.  After Mathieu Darche, no other player has a lower average ice time per game then Eller.  Eller has shown a lot of skill this season even with his little ice time but unfortunately, he only has a little assist to show for it.  Even with this minor point production, I’d much rather see him playing on the second line over Travis Moen who I must say, has played respectably well so far in that role.  But it’s not his place to be there.

If it were up to me, Eller would be on the second line at center, with Pouliot and Gionta on the wing.  I’d move Gomez down to the third line with Moen and Lapierre and see how that goes for a few games.  Whether you agree with my choice of lines or not, something has to be done to shake things up on the second line, and constantly throwing third and fourth line players in that position is not the solution, it clearly hasn’t worked so far.

Forwards Grade: B-

Habs Overall Grade: B

The Canadiens record is a clear showing of the goaltending they’ve received so far this season, combined with the great play of their first line.  There are issues to address, and Jacques Martin can not wait for the team to slump to address them.  Also, the Canadiens record has not been all that difficult so far this season, it’ll be interesting to see how they do against teams that should finish near the top of each conference.

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Week at a Glance:

The Habs play three games this week, against the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday, followed by a game in Buffalo against the Sabres on Friday, and finally, at home the very next day to host the Ottawa Senators.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Thursday November 2nd)

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Buffalo Sabres (Friday November 5th)

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Ottawa Senators (Saturday November 6th)

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