Who Should Be the Canadiens 7th Defenceman?

by Corey Desormeaux , Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

NEPEAN, ON. — Since taking the helm as General Manager of the Canadiens, Marc Bergevin has preached about the importance of having depth on defence. I think he’s done a decent job of doing so, acquiring the likes of Mike Weaver, Sergei Gonchar, Bryan Allen (does he count?), Davis Drewiske, Jeff Petry and signing free agents like Tom Gilbert. The Canadiens have also helped bolster the back-end grooming young talent like Nathan Beaulieu, Greg Pateryn and Jared Tinordi.

When the Habs defensive core is fully healthy, Michel Therrien has several options on who to dress any given game. It seems to me, that in the mind of the Habs’ bench boss, Andrei Markov, P.K.  Subban, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, Nathan Beaulieu and Alexei Emelin are the ideal top six defencemen. This leaves Pateryn on the outside looking in.

However, with the way that Pateryn has been playing down the stretch, I think Michel Therrien has to think about making him a regular addition to the lineup at the expense of Emelin and I’ll tell you why.

It goes without saying that Markov and Subban are the top defensive pairing on the Canadiens and will be the top pairing heading into the playoffs. The second pairing got quite the boost with the deadline acquisition of Jeff Petry who has been paired with either Gilbert or Emelin since his arrival. Petry has looked much more comfortable playing with Gilbert then he has with Emelin. This could be attributed to the time Petry and Gilbert spent together in the Oilers organization. Gilbert’s added value comes on the penalty kill, where he is more effective than Emelin. While shorthanded, the team gives up less scoring chances and shot attempts with Gilbert on the ice than they do with Emelin. Furthermore, Gilbert has more blocked shots while on the penalty kill, something Habs fans value dearly having watched Josh Gorges over the years.

So, for arguments sake, let’s assume that Subban, Markov, Petry and Gilbert make up the top four. That leaves Emelin, Pateryn and Beaulieu. Who should take the last two spots?

Emelin and Pateryn play a similar game. Both are viewed as stay-at-home defencemen that bring a physical presence to the lineup. Neither player is known for carrying the puck up the ice nor do they jump into the rush. Beaulieu on the other hand is more offensively gifted, he has the quickness and awareness to carry the puck up the ice, make stretch passes and isn’t afraid to use his skating ability to join the rush when the opportunity arises. Beaulieu’s puck moving and skating ability make him complimentary to a stay-at-home defenceman and an attractive addition to the line-up. His offensive skillset gives Therrien an additional option on the second power-play unit to play alongside Petry. For these reasons he is a solid choice for the third pairing.

That leaves one more spot for either Emelin or Pateryn.

Pateryn and Beaulieu have been an extremely solid pairing down the home stretch of the season. Considering the time they’ve spent playing together in the AHL, this should be of no surprise to anyone. In fact they’ve looked so strong that this alone should force the Habs to reconsider Emelin as part of the third pairing.

The primary reason Emelin is in the lineup is because he has the ability to throw a big hit. While this is true, Pateryn has shown that he can throw his body around as well with a couple of momentum-changing hits over the last few weeks. Emelin is the leader in hits amongst defencemen on the Canadiens, but we don’t have a large sample size of Pateryn to compare him to. Since the trade deadline, Emelin has played 13 games with 47 hits and Pateryn has played 11 games with 30 hits. Pateryn has proven that he can throw his weight around with the best of them and I would argue that Pateryn’s physical game is just as effective as Emelin’s.

Over that time period, Pateryn’s Corsi statistics are far superior to Emelin’s.  Puck possession is important for controlling play and the Canadiens need all the help they can get in that department.

Now, before we give Pateryn a major win in the possession category, it is important to consider where each player is being deployed and whom the player is being deployed with and against.   To do so, we can look at defensive zone faceoff percentage, the Corsi percentage of each player’s competition and the Corsi percentage of their line-mates.

Emelin is deployed in the defensive zone more often than Pateryn and this can be an influence on Emelin’s poor possession numbers.  However, it should be noted that Pateryn’s possession numbers are much more attractive than Emelin’s with no major differential between the quality of teammates each player is deployed with or the competition they go up against.

Emelin has the edge in playoff experience with 15 career playoffs games, while Pateryn is yet to strap up for an NHL playoff game. Habs fans will remember the excellent performance Emelin put in throughout the playoffs last year against the Boston Bruins. That said, Pateryn is ready for the challenge of playoff hockey, he has shown great poise in the 17 games he has played this year in the NHL. Ottawa is a much different opponent, than that of the Bruins. They have many more fluid skaters and I don’t think Emelin has the ability to contain a fast team with superb possession numbers.

Simply put, Pateryn should be in the lineup over Emelin. He is a stronger skater, comfortable with Beaulieu and superior in the possession department.

Who do you think should be the odd man out? Emelin? Pateryn? Gilbert? Beaulieu?

Please leave your choice in the comments section below.