Galchenyuk Promoted to 1st Line Center & Semin Clears Waivers (Habs)

Habs

Galchenyuk Promoted to 1st Line Center & Semin Clears Waivers

By Jennifer B Cutler

Dec 8, 2015 • 9:11 am

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After being given a day off on Sunday followed by a morning of off-ice workouts, the Montreal Canadiens returned to the ice during practice today in Brossard. A number of lineup changes were waiting for the players, most notably the promotion of Alex Galchenyuk as the Canadiens #1 Centreman, at least for tomorrow night’s game against the Boston Bruins.

Here are the full line combinations and defensive pairings at practice this morning:

Canadiens fans got a taste of the electricity that Max Pacioretty and Galchenyuk created a year ago and have been clamoring for more ever since. Last year the duo had Brendan Gallagher on their right side but as we know he is unfortunately still recovering from his injury. Sven Andrighetto, whose strong play next to Galchenyuk convinced general manager Marc Bergevin to waive Alex Semin, will get the first opportunity to play on the top line. This line certainly has the potential to succeed as Andrighetto has the necessary speed to keep up and thus far has shown a greater consistency to his game in the NHL. In the 7 games that he has played this year, Andrighetto has 3 goals and is a plus 4. Galchenyuk has 8 points during that same 7 game span including 5 goals. He is also a plus 6 during that same timespan. Any question that Galchenyuk was ready or not to be a full-time center in the NHL has been answered this season. He is winning more faceoffs than not (52.9%) and has been defensively responsible. When was the last time that he was directly responsible for a goal against? This is a big vote in confidence by Therrien in Galchenyuk and it will be up to the young man to step up and deliver:

The new second line sees Eller on the left side of Tomas Plekanec and Paul Byron. Defensively this line should be quite strong, especially going against divisional rivals. I am concerned on what kind of offense they can generate together as historically Eller has not had a lot of success when he has previously played with Plekanec. Byron is simply a stop gap for Gallagher. Ideally I would have liked to see Daniel Carr or Christian Thomas given a chance to produce there. If the Canadiens find themselves down during a game than I hope then I hope that Therrien will give one of the youngsters a chance. Perhaps what is most exciting is that if Andrighetto is able to consistently contribute on the top line, the Canadiens have a legitimate top 6 when Gallagher returns with exciting possibilities:

Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto Eller-Plekanec-Gallagher

OR:

Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Gallagher Eller-Plekanec-Andrighetto

OR:

Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher Eller-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto

The reunification of the 3rd line is good news for everyone. David Desharnais is most effective in this role and Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise have proven to be excellent linemates for him. The 4th line of Carr, Brian Flynn and Thomas have speed but they cannot defend and be employed the way that Therrien was previously using the 4th line with Torrey Mitchell in the middle. Once Mitchell is healthy than the 4th line will be able to match up against top lines when necessary with Flynn-Mitchell-Byron/Smith-Pelly.

Changes were also made on defence and while I have been arguing for increased ice time for Nathan Beaulieu, coach Therrien has decided to reunite Alexei Emelin with Jeff Petry on the 2nd pairing and Beaulieu with Gilbert on the 3rd. Is Beaulieu not 100% since his fight with Nick Foligno? His minutes were down the last two games and the reasoning is not very clear… To me, Emelin still does not seem to be at game speed. However, Emelin always seems to be at his best against the Bruins and so perhaps the matchup also had something to do with the switch.

The Canadiens also worked on the powerplay this morning with revised units:

Of note, Therrien has put his 3 best forwards together on the top unit. They’ve looked good in the times that they have played together. Eller’s strong play as of late has been rewarded with time on the 2nd unit with Desharnais and Weise. Personally, I would prefer having Andrighetto on the right side there instead of Weise or those two could be interchangeable depending on the evening they are having.

Finally, Alex Semin cleared waivers today and is being sent down to St. John’s in the AHL. Therrien alluded to the fact that Semin had difficulty keeping pace with the Canadiens but highlighted that it was a worth the risk:

By hiding Semin In the AHL, the Canadiens will save valuable cap space:

This savings could certainly come in handy later this year…

Cheers & follow along!

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