Canadiens Developing Youth Vs. Panthers + Reilly Stellar + Rychel Scoring (pacioretty)

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Canadiens Developing Youth Vs. Panthers + Reilly Stellar + Rychel Scoring

By Brandon Smillie

Mar 8, 2018 • 11:19 am

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The Habs continue their 4 game road trip tonight against the Florida Panthers at 7:30 PM EST before taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon at 1 PM EST.

The Habs are coming off a 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils who not only have the hottest scorer in the league in Taylor Hall, but the #1 overall pick from last years draft, Nico Hischier.

The Devils took the Canadiens to the wood shed during the first period scoring two PP goals in the final two minutes of the period to take a 4-0 lead into the intermission and outshoot the Habs 17-5. The Habs showed some resolve over the final two frames and actually ended the game tied in shots with NJ at 33. But the score finished up 6-4 in a pretty good test for all the fresh faces on the team looking to stick around next season.

REILLY IMPRESSING WITH CANADIENS

Mike Reilly in particular is showing some real promise with the Habs. Last game he played 21:49 and produced 2 A’s, +2, and 2 shots. Reilly is quickly looking like a steal for the Canadiens on the back end and he hasn’t even hit 100 NHL games yet. In his first 4 games with the Habs Reilly has 4 A’s and is a +6 while averaging around 20 minutes a game. He plays with speed and has good offensive awareness. On the season, Reilly has 2 G and 12 A in 42 games while averaging 13 minutes a game.

If he continues to build on his game through experience the Canadiens may have stolen a top 4 LD from Minnesota and helped fill a pretty glaring hole left by Markov when he bolted for the KHL. Reilly’s FF% has improved from 42.6% with Minny to 50.5% and his CF% has improved from 42% to 47.4%. All this upward, positive trending despite seeing his offensive zone starts decrease from 57% in Minny to 52% in Montreal. The potential is there and the 24 year old player is seizing the opportunity to earn a regular NHL job so far with the Habs.

Like I said before, next season could see a pretty quick turn around for the Canadiens.

Some have been saying that Montreal should bite the bullet and destroy the team in the name of tanking Toronto, Buffalo, and Edmonton style. They would be wrong. All those teams that were parted out and tanked out had virtually no franchise cornerstone players. All those teams were devoid of talent on the ice and in the prospect pool.

Montreal has franchise players, Montreal has talent, Montreal needs to build its prospect pool, but there are a few of those “bare cupboards… prospects playing on the team now and there are some having very good seasons outside of the pro leagues. Guys like Poehling, Brook, Evans, Fluery, Bitten, and Ikonen.

This isn’t a team that needs to trade one of the best goalies or defensemen in the game in the name of losing for 3-4 years with no assurances of success. That’s for teams that have literally nothing to offer on the ice, like those teams I mentioned above had.

So while I expect a better game tonight against the surging Panthers it will be difficult to come out with a win against a club that’s battling for a Wild Card spot. The desire will just be higher unless the Habs come out and score early and ride the momentum. The Canadiens are simply looking for chemistry, potential, and hard workers. They are scouting themselves heading into next season and it’s simply a team that could lose and still win long term in that they are all working on development at this point.

The next game Saturday afternoon against the Lightning may produce a bit more spirit, but with so many of the skilled vets out with injuries there may be a lack of emotion against the Division rival TBL. If the Habs still had Price, Weber, and Pacioretty I would think there could have been a emotional build up to the game, just to show they could beat them. But this is a young squad who’s likely being coached heavily on making the right plays at the right time and not thinking about the games of the last couple seasons against these guys.

Likely will be a long afternoon game for some on Saturday, but it’s all in the name of development.

K RYCHEL MAKING AN IMPRESSION

Former 19th overall pick Kerby Rychel is grabbing the Rocket by the horns in his first 4 games with the Habs AHL club. He has produced 4 G and 1 A in his time with the Rocket and at this rate he is all but assuring his call up to the Habs at some point before seasons end for a look.

It's great to see a player come into the organization and be motived like Rychel, and Reilly, has shown. It reaffirms management and scouting staffs belief that the players they felt held value and lacked opportunity were worthy of the assets sacrificed to acquire them.

Whether or not Rychel is a AHL or NHL player is yet to be seen but at 23 years old he still has 2-3 years to prove he is an NHL player and clearly the Canadiens believed he was worthy of the opportunity. Keep an eye on Rychel right now, he could be the next player to don the CH this season.

Go Habs Go!

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY TO ALL

Today’s world is encouraging us all to appreciate each other and provide opportunity to all. If you have your own little ladies in your life remember to let them try anything they want to from Hockey to Golf to MMA.

Let’s all start looking at each other as Human and not a gender or race. We would all be better off I think.

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