Habs Post Mortem Recap (Habs)

The Montreal Canadiens players and management met the media to put the final nail in the coffin on the 2015-2016 season. The biggest news though is that in actual fact there really is not any news. Stability was one of the themes of the day as with the support of owner and president Geoff Molson, general manager Marc Bergevin gave head coach Michel Therrien and his staff a vote of confidence. Everyone but consultant Craig Ramsay will return for the 2016-2017 season, even the coaching staff for their AHL affiliate St. John’s Ice Caps who will be missing the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. Not only is the staff remaining the same, Bergevin tapered fans expectations by reiterating how difficult it is to acquire via trade a top 6 forward talent and that the best way to build a team is by the draft. In other words, don’t expect any blockbuster moves this Summer. Realistically, the Canadiens simply do not have the depth to make that big trade. As Bergevin stated:

Any team would be asking for a Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Nathan Beaulieu or a top prospect such as Michael McCarron or Nikita Scherbak. Bergevin does not have the luxury to give any of those players up as any talent that is brought in would be to compliment these players, not to play instead of them.

Bergevin expanded further on his views by stating that his strategy is to add 3rd and 4th line players who can chip in on the scoreboard. That will compensate for the lack of skill on the Canadiens second line, assuming that Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher stay together to start next season. Is this where Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto are slated to play? The Canadiens have an abundance of potential bottom six forwards to fill their lineup already. Is Bergevin planning on adding more? It is surely the place though for David Desharnais who has shown that given the right role as a third line center, he can contribute to the Canadiens success. Even he alluded to it in his scrum this morning:

Translated, Desharnais is saying that he believes he can still help this team as evidenced by the beginning of the season when everyone was in the right chair. He is completely right. It is not his fault that he was asked to play above and beyond. Desharnais is not about to refuse ice time. Unfortunately, he is just not as effective of a player with increased responsibility.

One of the other themes of the day was disappointment. Players were disappointed with themselves and how the team was unable to overcome the loss of Carey Price to injury the second time around. Everyone expected that the Canadiens would be a playoff team this year. The Canadiens simply dug themselves into too deep of a hole and could claw their way back into a playoff position. A number of them alluded to how they tried to do too much rather than keep it simple (stupid). Pacioretty alluded to how the Canadiens could not follow a big victory and string together a few wins (think Winter Classic win followed by the loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, a turning point for both teams but that’s another blog). Gallagher expanded on this point:

Some of it has to do with maturity. Pacioretty mentioned former Habs player Manny Maholtra a few times and how that veteran leadership was missed on the team. For the most part though, the day was a ringing endorsement on the leadership of Max Pacioretty. He admitted to going through growing pains as a captain and he took full responsibility:

Pacioretty has the support of his teammates and I believe that is the main reason that he was voted (Subban also admitted to voting for his captain) to be their nominee for the King Clancy award, focusing on the leadership aspect of it on and off the ice. Beaulieu went so far as to say that he would follow him everywhere:

Subban and Pacioretty were able to dispel any notion of a divided room and animosity with their honesty and humour.

Perhaps no question was asked more than about Subban and his relationship with teammates and coaches. Bergevin said that he has no plans to trade Subban or Price or Pacioretty but that he’s never going to say never. As we all know, even Wayne Gretzky got traded. However, Bergevin admitted it would have to be for something very “special… in order for him to consider moving his elite defenceman. I believe Gallagher said it best on what Subban means to the team:

In other news, Galchenyuk suffered a broken pinky finger against the Los Angeles Kings in early March. Due to the injury he will not be playing at the World Championships for the USA. Subban is still not cleared to play so he will not be going to Russia either. Pacioretty and Markov also declined their invitations from Team USA & Russia respectively. Suiting up for their nations will be:

Canada: Brendan Gallagher USA: Mike Condon Czech Rep: Tomas Plekanec Denmark: Lars Eller Switzerland: Sven Andrighetto Russia: Alexei Emelin

Over the next while I’ll delve deeper into individual player, coach and management reviews. If you have any Q’s for an upcoming mailbag, please keep sending them by replying in the comments, PM’ing me, send me a tweet or DM me there.

Cheers & follow along!

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