Saturday night brought another tough loss for the Montreal Canadiens as they fell 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mike Condon stood on his head and did all that he could to give his team a chance to win but unfortunately the Canadiens once again had trouble finding the back of the opposing net. Times are tough in Habsland as the club has not been able to put together consecutive wins since late November. After 43 games the Canadiens sit at 3rd in the Atlantic division with a record of 23-17-3 and 49 points. Now that it is just past the midway point in the 2015-2016 season, it is difficult to assess the Montreal Canadiens with mid-term rankings. As of now the players are not as good as they could be but they are also not as bad they have been playing throughout this past 6-8 weeks. They are somewhere in the middle but being average is nothing to be smiling about. In the last 20 or so games the team is performing vastly different than it did in the first 20. And so rather than a traditional mid-season report, I propose a mid-Season Canadiens edition of Props & Flops. The Props are featured today while the Flops will be published tomorrow.
Props:
Mike Condon - The feel good story coming out of training camp, Condon stole the backup position away from the now traded Dustin Tokarski. Few could have predicted that he would be called upon to become the defacto # 1 goalie when Carey Price went down twice to injury. Condon has played more than admirably in Price’s absence. He was terrific during the first stretch of Price’s injury in November, struggled (along with the entire team) in December and has rebounded nicely since the New Year. Condon has proven to be a battler and gives it his all game in and game out. Can he hold the fort until Price returns after the NHL All-Star break? That remains to be seen but he will certainly need additional support from his teammates in order to keep the Canadiens afloat.
Brendan Gallagher - If anyone had any doubts on Gallagher’s value to the Canadiens, they were quickly removed as the team struggled to get any offence going without their sparkplug in the lineup. When Price initially went down with his injury the Canadiens were still able to score goals. When Gallagher fractured his fingers the Canadiens offence dried up. His return to the lineup and contribution during the Winter Classic was epic. Now he has to go about finding that consistency again…
Paul Byron - He has made general manager Marc Bergevin look like a genius for picking him up off of waivers early in the season. There were no expectations for Byron who could not crack the lineup while the Canadiens were on their 9 game winning streak. Since then he has become a reliable 3rd/4th line player and a key member of the penalty kill unit. His 10 points in 31 games are a result of him rarely taking a shift off and has 3 shorthanded goals on the season. With only 27 shots on net and a shooting percentage of 25.9, perhaps Byron should be shooting the puck a little more often…
Jeff Petry - The Canadiens # 3 defenceman has been arguably their most consistent this season. His ability to play in all situations has been a luxury and his absence against the Penguins this past Saturday night was certainly felt. Petry being out day to day has a negative ripple effect on defence as the Canadiens had little choice but to reunite P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov leaving the other pairings somewhat suspect. A healthy Petry gives the Canadiens depth and options. Asking players who are 5th/6th/7th defenceman to take on a greater role when they are not ready is simply trouble.
Nathan Beaulieu - He has continued to make steady progress since becoming a regular NHL defenceman midway through the previous season. Yes, there are nights when he is much better than others when he still might make a costly mistake. However, there is no question that he is part of the future of the Canadiens defence core and the only one that is close to being ready in terms of taking on additional responsibility. Beaulieu has shown the ability to bounce back after a bad game and is only going to keep improving.
Alex Galchenyuk - Now that he has been given a true opportunity, Galchenyuk has proven that he is a real NHL centerman. He has been one of the Canadiens more consistent players this season, despite the revolving door of right wingers that he has had to play with. With 27 points in 43 games, he is on pace for 51 points - a career high. If he were to have consistent linemates that could keep up with him I would have no doubt that his totals would be higher. Lars Eller does a nice job creating space and the duo have had some success with Sven Andrighetto and Daniel Carr on the right. However, it seems that whenever the line gets going they are broken apart to try to jumpstart others. A strategy that has so far not worked in the coach’s favour. The future of this team is Galchenyuk with Pacioretty and Gallagher. If the Canadiens continue on their downward spiral, I would suggest that they reunite this line and let them develop chemistry now.
Sven Andrighetto, Daniel Carr, Charles Hudon, Mark Barberio - The Canadiens AHL head coach Sylvain Lefebvre has taken a beaten for not winning enough at the minor league level. However, he is developing the Canadiens prospects so that whoever is called up is ready to step right in and not look out of place. Andrighetto and Carr seem like the most NHL ready of the Canadiens prospects and Hudon is knocking on the door. Barberio has played well in a limited 3rd pairing role since being called, seemingly knocking Jarred Tinordi further down the depth chart. True rookie Michael McCarron is a beast and it won’t be long until he is ready either. These players stepped up admirably during the Canadiens slump and were the few players contributing on the scoresheet. It was not their fault that the Canadiens veterans all of the sudden went cold, the young guys did their part.
P.K. Subban - This is as much for his work off the ice as it is for on the ice. Subban’s season got off to a bang as he announced his commitment to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, an astonishing $10 million pledge. He deserves to be in ‘Props’ for that reason alone. However despite his lower goal totals for the year, Subban has officially become the Canadiens # 1 defenceman, finally becoming Therrien’s go to guy. Perhaps this has come at the cost of his numbers, however he is only on pace for 6 points less than the previous season despite having just scored his 2nd goal of the season. Subban is actually shooting more often than last year and the goals will certainly come. He was criticized for his words following Saturday’s lost but he wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s okay to occasionally show frustration, it lets the fans know that he cares. Besides, he already got in trouble for his language with his parents:
Subban : "J'étais frustré. Mes parents m'ont tapé sur les doigts pour le langage que j'ai utilisé !" #CH #RDS
— Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) January 11, 2016Dickie Moore - It was incredibly saddening to learn of Mr. Moore’s death during the holidays. Unfortunately I never took a moment to react to it on HockeyBuzz but I would like to extend the ultimate ‘Prop’ to Dickie Moore. I obviously never had the privilege to watch Moore play hockey and for the first 2/3rds of my life I would say that the most I knew about him came from seeing his trailers on construction sites. However, when the Canadiens decided to honour past greats and retire additional numbers, I came to learn more about Moore and kind of fell in love with him. I was at that first retirement ceremony just over 10 years ago honouring # 12, himself and Yvan Cournoyer. Leading up to the momentous day I heard Moore being interviewed countless times and his joy and enthusiasm were simply contagious. It was hard to believe that this man had such a positive outlook on life despite all of the adversities he had to endure. His charisma and laugh always shined through, even if it was a radio interview. Highlight clips exemplified his hard work and talent. The emotion I felt November 12th, 2005 watching his number being raised to the rafters was heartfelt. I had a new favorite ‘old-time’ player. I can’t imagine how difficult these past couple of years must have been for Mr. Moore, having to witness his best-friends succumb to various illnesses. It was obvious what a quality person Dickie Moore was, and that is an understatement to say the least. No I never had the privilege to meet Mr. Moore, but I always felt like he was talking to me whenever I heard him speak. The Canadiens tribute to him on January 6th was as fitting and classy as we have come to expect from the organization…
Check back tomorrow for Part II with Flops.
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