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Habs Needed an Infusion of New Blood Behind the Bench - Assistant Coaches |
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At the season end press conference, Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin confirmed that the entire coaching staff in Montreal and St. John’s would return for the 2016-2017 season, save for consultant Craig Ramsay whose contract would not be renewed. Not only is Bergevin staying in the foxhole with head coach Michel Therrien, there is enough room in there for the entire coaching staff. Although I feel that Bergevin missed an opportunity to improve the Canadiens coaching staff by standing by Therrien, I can somewhat understand his desire to give his coach another chance with a healthy lineup and perhaps some off-season acquisitions that will help the team next season. However, I cannot understand how there will be no real change to the coaching staff.
Since Gerard Gallant left to take the Florida Panthers head coaching position, the Montreal Canadiens powerplay has floundered despite its arsenal of weapons. Dan Lacroix and J.J. Daigneault were each given the chance to revamp and improve the powerplay but they each led the Canadiens to a 25th overall PP rankings. Too often the Canadiens powerplay was predictable with the only movement coming between the defencemen switching sides. P.K. Subban has one of the best shots in the league and opposing teams do their best to prevent him from teeing it up from the point. The fortunate part in that though is that it frees up other players and Subban became adept at finding the open man. Despite playing only 68 games as his season was cut short by a neck injury, Subban managed to record 24 powerplay points, up from the 21 he had the season before.
The players TOI and usage on the powerplay were often mind-boggling. David Desharnais had only 5 powerplay points all season despite playing just over 150 minutes on the PP. Alex Galchenyuk played 19 more minutes than Desharnais (who played in 17 less games than Galchenyuk) and had 16 powerplay points. The powerplay could have been an opportune time to get Galchenyuk extra minutes. The dual threat of him and Pacioretty should have attempted by the coaching staff much earlier than it was. The powerplay would have been the perfect time for them to start working on their chemistry. Yes they were together for a few games on the powerplay when Brendan Gallagher got injured but Tomas Plekanec was centering them. Chemistry between wingers is different that chemistry between a centerman and winger. Instead the coaching staff preferred to give minutes to players who were not performing. Youngsters such as Daniel Carr, Sven Andrighetto and Michael McCarron were given limited time with the man advantage when they could have added punch to the second unit. The Canadiens need an assistant coach with an offense focused mind. Kirk Muller and Gerard Gallant excelled at this. The Canadiens should be much better with the man advantage than they are but they need the right personnel behind the bench to lead them.
The penalty kill took a small step backwards this season, dropping from 8th overall to 12th which is still respectable. However, that can be directly linked to Carey Price’s injury as the Canadiens were without their best line of defence for much of the season. The fact that the Canadiens did not drop more in the rankings is actually somewhat of a small victory, especially considering the additional injuries to Subban, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert and Nathan Beaulieu on the backend. The addition of Paul Byron had a very positive impact on the forward group with the man disadvantage. Playing with Torrey Mitchell on the top unit meant that Pacioretty and Plekanec could stay a little more rested and fresher for offence.
This past season exposed a number of the Canadiens deficiencies. While the Canadiens need top six help on the ice not to mention a healthy Carey Price, the Canadiens also need fresh ideas behind the bench. This was a missed opportunity by Bergevin to shake it up and it especially looks bad with the hiring of Guy Boucher and Marc Crawford in Ottawa. For the most part, the players defended Michel Therrien at the end of season and it was obvious that the players did not quit on him, unlike the situation in Calgary where the players had tuned out Bob Hartley. However at the same time, you rarely if ever hear the players praising the assistant coaches and how they have improved or developed under their tutelage. With Muller and Gerard, the praise was effusive. It was also obvious that they would be sought after by other teams. That is perhaps the highest praise you can give an assistant coach. That it is only a question of when and not if they will become head coaches. Unfortunately, one cannot say that about Daigneault and Lacroix.
Cheers and follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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