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Wounded Ducks in Anaheim, Habs aim to end trip with a W + Prospect Info |
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The Montreal Canadiens stroll into the Honda Center tonight to take on the Anaheim Ducks in the final match of their 3 game road trip. It has been a forgettable trip so far as the Habs have dropped the first two to San Jose and Los Angeles. The Canadiens have played better, but in both games they lacked the full 60 minute effort, and timely goaltending.
If the Canadiens, led by Captain Max Pacioretty, can turn the corner tonight it couldn’t be under better circumstances as the Anaheim Ducks are a fairly banged up crew right now. Possibly missing from the Ducks line up is All World center Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves, Ondrej Kase, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, and Ryan Miller. It is reported that Kase and Lindholm may return tonight though. *Update: Lindholm and Vatanen confirmed out by Ducks coach Randy Carlyle*
If Montreal can find that full 60 minute effort and get league average goaltending we might have something to cheer about tonight.
The Canadiens are near the bottom in all the statistics that help you win hockey games aside from shots on goal. Unfortunately, there have been too many shots into the goalies chest or shots that aren’t going in. I’m alluding to Max Pacioretty with that last point as he has fired 23 shots on goal so far this season and has only 1 goal to show for it. It’s also his only point. Max is a bit of a slow starter and the schedule hasn’t been too kind to the Canadiens so far so I have to preach patience with the captain.
I did mention in my last blog that with Max’s contract coming up that the Habs should be listening to offers for him. I mean no disrespect to Pacioretty with that, but it’s simply the nature of hockey club management. Wayne Gretzky was traded so there is no scenario where one can say “You can’t trade Pacioretty”.
A GM isn’t a good GM if he doesn’t listen to what other clubs are offering. Sure, he can have a chat, hang up, and laugh with his crew about it. But, he also gets a feel for what’s going through the mind of a rival clubs head office simply by indulging a GM’s attempt to pry someone away. You find out the minimum they are looking to move for someone, you find out what they may be looking for, and you may find out someone is available that your own scouting team holds in very high regard. You may not trade them Pacioretty, but now you can start laying the ground work for a “smaller” deal where they may be able to get someone that they didn’t know was moveable. It’s all a game and a long one at that.
Hell, that’s what this website is built off of. Constant, non stop trade chatter. Some guys rag on Eklund for rumours that never materialize, but it doesn’t mean these names and scenarios aren’t being discussed on a daily basis. The trade chatter in my keeper league never stops, I can only imagine how often a GM’s team of assistants is working on deals and getting calls. Must be non stop.
The Habs held an optional skate yesterday with only a handful of players participating so I can’t give you all the lines like I normally do. Considering the lines changed mid game in LA I’m not sure I could accurately speculate on them either aside from the big one: Pacioretty, Drouin, Galchenyuk. I hope this line gets 7 games to find some chemistry. Drouin and Pacioretty are playing well defensively and have speed, so the worry of Galchenyuk being a defensive anchor should be minimal. All he has to do is skate back hard that take the stick of the right opponent. It shouldn’t be too tough an assignment.
UPDATE: Habs Lines at practice.
Pacioretty - Drouin - Galchenyuk
Lehkonen - Plekanec - Hemsky
Byron - Danault - Shaw
Hudon - de la Rose - Gallagher
Mitchell
Mete - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Benn - Morrow
Davidson
Price
Montoya
To highlight some positives I’ll look at the effort of Charles Hudon so far. Hudon has put up 26 shots in 7 games to go with a CF% of 60.7. So fancy stat wise he’s playing well. His PDO is 80.9 though so he is getting zero favour from the Hockey Gods. He has to learn that its not only shot quantity that will give him success, but shot quality. He has to start aiming his shots better, aim for the posts if you have to, but they have to start getting around the goalie. The crest isn’t a target Charlie.
While I’m at it, take everything I just wrote about Hudon and apply it to Lehkonen too. Lehkonen does have a 89 PDO though and I like his shooting ability better. Once theses guys get a couple breaks and some confidence this team will change dramatically.
Andrew Shaw is a guy that is turning in playoff quality performances. He’s strong on the puck, always skating hard, and staying out of the box (4 mins on the season). I love the way he is playing. The refs seemed to have forgiven some past transgressions too as he is actually drawing penalties. Bizarro world right? Yeah, just like this entire season has been.
The best part of this horrible start has been the play of 19 year old Victor Mete. His play has been nothing short of exemplary. For him to come in and play with Shea Weber, and not in his shadow mind you, and hold his own is nothing short of amazing. Mete plays with blazing speed, high end decision making, and fantastic defence. The stick play to break up the LA 2 on 1 last game was awesome.
Once the Habs forwards start finishing, the points will be adding up for Victor when he makes plays like this consistently.
Reminds me of that former Hab in Nashville amiright? Some commenters thought I was homering so hard I was losing my hair and changing my name to Simpson after my blog comparing Mete to PK Subban, but I’m standing fully behind it.
Let’s all try to subdue the talks for firing GM’s and coaches, trading Price and Weber, and convincing ourselves a 4 year tank job is the right way to go. It only works if the team is completely underachieving/injured (and that could be the case this year) and gets a generational talent like McDavid, Eichel, Matthews. Those aren’t guaranteed for losing, in fact the system tries to guard against it. Look at the Kings so far this year. Last year they were the Corsi champs and out of the playoffs. This year they are dominating. Sometimes sh!t happens. You don’t burn everything to the ground in todays NHL unless you literally have nothing in your core, like the Coyotes and Sabres had. The Habs have good pieces, lets give them until December to work their way out of this rut.
Go Habs Go.
PROSPECT UPDATE:
Here are the Hockey DB’s of a few of this summers draft picks who are doing well.
Poehling is doing very well in his second NCAA season and so far it looks like this draft day slider is quickly turning into a draft day steal. Good on MTL for not following the crowd and passing him over.
The Habs are getting very deep in top notch goaltending prospects, can’t help but think a trade may be coming as soon as one teams Goalie depth is challenged.
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Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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