For those of you who may not know, through 11 games in December, the Montreal Canadiens’ leading scorer is Daniel Carr. He has 4 goals.
Let that sink in for just a minute. How many of you knew who Carr was before he was called up on November 29th? While he might have worked hard to earn his goals, I don’t think anyone really expected him to be where he is today. That tells you a lot about a team whose struggles never seem to end…
Last night, Mike Condon had to shine in the second period in order to keep the score at 2-1. He stood on his head and made a lot of excellent saves, but as is customary with your Habs, the goalie once again had very little support from his players. I expect he’ll get the nod when the Habs face the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night.
At this point, it simply looks like the veterans and leaders of this team have no interest in playing hockey. At least, not for Michel Therrien. This situation reminds me of the Barclay’s Premier League. Last summer’s title holders Chelsea have an immense amount of talent from the goalkeeper out, and rumour has it that they were fed up of playing under legendary manager Jose Mourinho. For those of you who follow European football, you would know that Mourinho was sacked a few days ago.
Perhaps this is exactly what’s going on with the Canadiens. They might not be champions in recent times, and Therrien is not considered a legendary coach by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s clearly a lack of willingness to play. At least, that’s the way I see it. No team can go from being the best team in the league to practically being the worst. In December, no team has done worse than the Habs. They have a single victory to their name, and have lost six games in a row in regulation for the first time since 2007. Out of a possible 22 points thus far in December, they’ve managed to secure only two points. It’s no wonder then that they’ve finally lost their first place stranglehold on the Atlantic Division. Both the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers play today, and they’ll have a chance to deal more damage to Therrien’s troops by securing a few more points. They can surpass the Habs and add insult to injury as soon as this evening.
While many are hoping that Marc Bergevin makes a move as quickly as possible, I highly doubt anything substantial will happen. As of right now, the Habs would be negotiating from a point of weakness, and I highly doubt Bergevin will hit the panic button just yet. This will be a good test for him, as this is the worst the team has ever looked since he took over in 2012. It will be interesting to see how he reacts, if he does at all. I’d opt for caution, because the dry spell the Habs are experiencing now can’t last more than a few more games. At least, that’s what we’ve all been saying, and we’ve been wrong…
In other news, huge congratulations to Carey Price for winning the Lionel Conacher Award for The Canadian Press male athlete of the year. He won with 53% of the votes, and will have a little more silverware to add to his collection. May his recovery be quick- the male athlete of the year could help bail out his teammates in a few games…