The Montreal Canadiens, who are off to their worst start since 1941, have swung another deal in an effort to right the sinking ship. If the Sunday afternoon trade was a warning shot, the Canadiens didn’t hear it untilk after the whistle blew in Monday night’s contest.
The Candiens head into their ninth game of the young season on Wednesday with a miserable 1-5-2 record after suffering another loss to the Florida Panthers last night 2-1 in Montreal. The even tougher news to swallow is that Wednesday’s game is against the Philadelphia Flyers, followed by back-to-back games against last year’s championship winning Boston Bruins. The Canadiens are the league leader in blown leads with six after their loss to the Panthers, and Habs fans let the home team know it by the game’s conclusion.
Off-season acquisition Scottie Upshall scored the game winner for his first as a Panther at 5:02 of the third period, as 24 year-old Jacob Markstrom had perhaps his best game of his career with 40 saves on the night. The rookie has gone 2-1-0 this year in goal, bettering his numbers to off-the-chart .967 save percentage and 1.29 goals against average marks. His opponent’s head coach, Jacques Martin, is the man responsible for drafting the young talent as GM of the Panthers in 2008. The 21 year-old has only four career games under his belt and he’s already becoming the NHL goalie he has been hyped to be.On Markstrom's glory night, Martin is feeling the complete opposite.
Unfortunately for Montreal, leading points-scorer Max Pacioretty appeared to have suffered an upper body injury during the second period which he did not return from. The looming update has Habs fans all over feeling a bit nauseous. He is to be evaluated further tomorrow.
The tightly contested game came to a climax in the third period with just 49.9 seconds remaining on the clock, where the Canadiens got a late powerplay opportunity. They would be six-on-four from that point to tie the game late.
Did they score? No, of course not. But we’ll get to that.
The four-player swap with the Phoenix Coyotes took place Sunday, as the Canadies acquired forward Petteri Nokelainen and defenseman Garret Sttafford from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for forward Brock Trotter and a 2012 seventh-round draft pick.
Nokelainen, 25, is by far the most experienced NHL player of the batch. He spent last season with Jokerit of the Finnish league, where he appeared 46 times and registered 11 goals and 27 points. Nokelainen, who was drafted by the New York Islanders 16th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, has had a tough time sticking. In his 194 NHL games he has 17 goals and 35 points. He has played with four different clubs, his arguable best season being his second year - with the Boston Bruins – where he scored 7 goals and 10 points with a plus/minus 0. Nokelainen has one assist and five hits in five games this season with the Coyotes, and got an early chance last night with the Canadiens in the midst of their battered roster.
Stafford, 31, has played twice with the Coyotes this season putting up four hits and two shots on goal. Stafford has spent the last two years consecutive in the AHL, and has only appeared in seven NHL games since being signed by the San Jose Sharks in 2003. Stafford has defensive ability, and uses his frame pretty well. At least in the American Hockey League, Stafford has proven useful with the puck as well. With the amount of injury on the blue-line, it’s possible Stafford gets to push for a chance at a bottom-six outing with the historic Canadiens. The large majority of Stafford’s career has been spent in the AHL, where he has totaled 562 games and scored 83 goals and 317 assists with a -16 rating.
Brock Trotter, 24, was signed by the Canadiens in 2008 as a free agent. After three years with the Hamilton Bull Dogs of the AHL, he appeared just twice in his final contracted year. Last year, with the KHL’s Dynamo Riga, he scored nine goals and 26 points in 49 games. Trotter fit the mold of the undersized Canadien all too well, and has been sent to the Coyotes in the exchange.
Ok, so enough trade talk, back to the team dynamics.
The Canadiens have had more than their share of early season injuries. After veteran forward Scott Gomez went down with an upper body injury on the 20th the Canadiens’ roster has been depleted heavily. But, let’s not forget, Scott Gomez hasn’t scored in 45 games. At nearly $7.5 million, his chipping-in would be more than welcome in the city of Montreal.
Putting aside Andrei Markov who, go figure, started the year out on the injured list, the Canadiens players’ Jaroslav Spacek, Mike Cammalleri, Chris Campoli, Scott Gomez, and Lars Eller, have combined for a total of 17 games lost on injury this year.
But there’s got to be more to it than that. The powerplay, which has the potential to be of the deadliest in the league, has been terrible at just %9.4 which is 29th in the league. The penalty kill, which is 20th, isn’t much better considering they’re only 8th in terms of average penalty minutes per-game. The Canadiens are in last place in their division, and last in the Eastern Conference below the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators.
Who are they missing? If you listen to Montreal media and press you would say head coach Jacques Martin. He’s not missing, but his winning tendencies have been. Journalist Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette had some unfortunate things to say about the seasoned veteran coach.
“Martin is the league’s least innovative coach, he has the charisma of a boiled turnip and his constantly ballyhooed “system” seems tailored to the NHL circa 1997, when Jacques Lemaire’s trapping Devils ruled the roost.” He said.
“Sooner or later, Pierre Gauthier will fire Martin to save his own skin, because that’s what GMs do. But the onus here should be on a front office that has not drafted well enough, traded well enough or hired well enough. Again and again, the Canadiens have let go of the valuable, relatively inexpensive players who are the heart of any team: players like Dominic Moore, Jeff Halpern and Roman Hamrlik.”
Ok, so you don’t like him. But seriously, the blame goes to the top, and I’m not speaking of the top line.
General manager Pierre Gauthier and former GM Bob Gainey are to blame. The two made the hires and fires, he made the trades, and he made the undue signings. It’s not Martin’s fault, it’s not Carey Price’s fault – it’s his.The team’s arguable top-six (Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Tomas Plekanec, Michael Cammalleri, Andrei Kostitsyn, and Erik Cole) combine for a total of over $31 million of their teams annual salary cap. They combine for eight goals, and 19 points.
Let us not forget that a key departure from the Habs and Jacques Martin is clearly former assistant coach Kirk Muller. A former captain of the team, and a scorer of the Stanley Cup winning goal, Muller has impacted this franchise in more ways than one. Muller was greatly responsible for the special teams and defensive systems last year, but parted ways with the Canadiens in the January to pursue a head coaching job in the NHL.
The Habs are, for the most part, stuck with the decisions made by the brass in Montreal, but the various moves thus far have not only been to replenish downed troops. A physical and determined dynamic is missing from this hockey club.
For the immediate future, various moves are being made for depth players and checking-line roster players to have a challenge presented to them. On defense, the moves have been in efforts largely to get players that play harder, and make hits count. They simply can’t be superstars coming in without big money going out.
So, unfortunately, this is the best that can be done at the moment. It always trends that the coach catches the door in the face too early, and too undeservedly often, but unless the Canadiens can turn things around change must be made.
The Canadiens – established in 1909 - were off to their worst start at home since 1938-1939 heading into their home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, and lost yet again. The club is experiencing its’ worst start since 1941, when it took the Habs 13 games to get their second win.
I’m on board with everyone else on the lowly overall performance and currently marred future of the Montreal Canadiens, but things aren’t over. While the time is nearing for the team to hit the panic button and do something soon – before it’s too late – the ability of this very team is well documented. In recent years, the Canadiens haven’t been a slouch.
The obvious fact is that the Canadiens need to find a way to both score and defend more effectively, but with the players currently in place it isn’t unfeasible for the Habs to turn it around.
More importantly for the years lying ahead a deal needs to be made. But much like the New York Rangers’ brass, a wise move isn’t likely in the near future. Oops, did I say that?
- Kendall Grubbs
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