*** Edit: News: Alex Semin put on Waivers ***
MTL puts Alex Semin on waivers.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 7, 2015As per Bob McKenzie, the Montreal Canadiens have put Alex Semin on waivers. General Manager Marc Bergevin took a calculated risk this Summer when he signed Semin to a one year deal after Carolina had had enough and bought him out. During the early stages of training camp it appeared that Semin had developed some nice chemistry with Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. Unfortunately once the season started, Semin's lack of speed became a bigger problem as he was unable to adapt to the Canadiens demanding style of play. His recent injury became an opportunity for Sven Andrighetto and the young forward has made the most of every minute, becoming an integral part of the Galchenyuk-Eller line. With Semin on waivers, it looks like Andrighetto is here to stay. By placing Semin on waivers now, Bergevin will save some valuable salary cap space and avoids a potentially uncomfortable situation between a veteran player, the coaches and his teammates.
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Back to the regular blog:
The current break between the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes until Wednesday’s game against the Boston Bruins could not have come at a better time. The Canadiens need to regroup and focus on what has made them successful thus far in the 2015-2016 season. With three upcoming games this week against division rivals Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators, the Canadiens have an opportunity to right the ship on what has been an inconsistent effort over the last couple of weeks.
In the 5 games since Carey Price suffered his second lower body injury on November 25th against the New York Rangers, the Canadiens have been unable to score more than 3 goals in a game. Most likely, the sputtering of offence has more to do with the absence of injured forward Brendan Gallagher rather than Carey Price. Each of those 5 games have been decided by only one goal. The Canadiens are finding themselves having to play catch up a little too often and that eventually becomes tiring for the players. Or the Canadiens are having trouble keeping the lead (ie: losses against the Devils and Hurricanes).
It was fine for the Canadiens to re-unite Max Pacioretty with David Desharnais briefly to spark some offence during a game where nothing was really doing but the reunion was extended too long. While Pacioretty had 9 shots against the Capitals and Braden Holtby made some incredible saves, it is clear that it is best interest of the team to keep the original line of Fleischmann-Desharnais-Weise intact and away from the opposing team’s best. One might say that Gallagher was what made the Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec line work but considering the chemistry that Pacioretty and Plekanec have on the penalty kill, it is nonsense to think that they cannot play without Gallagher. Just look at the game they had against the New York Rangers with Devante Smith-Pelly. Smith-Pelly had his best game of the season that night, benefitting from going to the net. Unfortunately, Smith-Pelly could not sustain his level of play and it seems as though he’s been playing through an injury as he was given the night off on Saturday night. He has since been put on the injured reserve retro-actively. Either Mitchell is ready to come back soon or another player will get called up. Paul Byron was also given a chance but he does not provide the same net presence as a Gallagher.
So how do the Canadiens fill the void in offence? I would suggest putting Daniel Carr (he scored against Carolina in his 1st NHL goal on his first shot in his first game ), who has a knack for the net with Plekanec and Pacioretty but am unsure if the left winger can play effectively on the right side. Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller have discovered chemistry with RW Sven Andrighetto and Therrien would understandably be hesitant to break them up. With upcoming games against 3 tough division rivals, I would like to see the Canadiens call up Michael McCarron and give him a chance on the right side. The Canadiens are developing McCarron as a centre in the AHL and he has been quite successful thus far. They could use his physicality this week as well as his right shot. I don’t believe it would hurt his development to give him a taste of the NHL and a few games on the right. With the Canadiens practicing off-ice today, any line adjustments will only be known on Tuesday.
Off-ice workout only today for #Habs in Brossard #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/r9NQ7Xp0lI
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) December 7, 2015Another way in which the Canadiens can improve their offence though is to play Nathan Beaulieu and Jeff Petry together more frequently and give them actual opportunities to succeed on the powerplay, not just for the last 25-30 seconds if that. The last two losses against the Capitals and Hurricanes saw Beaulieu play only 13:51 and 13:28 minutes respectively with very little time on the powerplay. Against the Capitals Petry played a season low 18:42. These two have shown that they have the potential to greatly contribute to the Canadiens and the more minutes that they play together, the more effective they are. Last week Petry commented on his chemistry with Beaulieu and perhaps subconsciously points out the difference between playing with Beaulieu and his former partner Alexei Emelin (Quote courtesy of Stu Cowan and TheGazette.com):
“He skates really well,… Petry said about Beaulieu. “He makes a good pass. It was a little bit of an adjustment just with a new partner, but it’s nice having a guy that can really skate out there. In the neutral zone, he gives it to me and kind of draws everyone to me, and then I try to get it back to him with speed. I think with that speed and the forward speed … it can be very deadly on the offensive side of the puck.…
In other news, Dustin Tokarski and Jarred Tinordi were recalled from their stints with St. John’s. Look for Tokarski to most likely play Thursday in Detroit with Condon getting the call against Boston and Ottawa this week. By all accounts Tinordi played well in the AHL, could he get rewarded with his first NHL ice time of the season? Or will a team make a trade offer to Marc Bergevin that finally satisfies his asking price? Stay tuned…
In some good news (and the Canadiens could certainly use it), Torrey Mitchell skated again this morning and looks like he will make his return to the lineup sooner rather than later. His presence and stability on the 4th line has certainly been missed. As well, Brendan Gallagher spoke with the media today:
Brendan Gallagher is not ruling playing in the Winter Classic out... #habs
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) December 7, 2015If Gallagher plays by January 1st he would be returning a week early from his injury which would obviously be a big boost to the Canadiens...
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