The Canadiens season is done and gone.
Most of us knew that on February 18th when they lost their fifth in a row against lowly Detroit.
General manager Marc Bergevin finally showed he had given up the ghost when he shipped Ilya Kovalchuk, Nate Thompson, Nick Cousins and Marco Scandella at the trade deadline. Head coach Claude Julien inexorably resigned himself to the team’s ultimate fate when he elected to take his lineup into experimental mode with a lineup shuffle for the Tuesday night’s game against Nashville. We’re going to see a lot of that between now and the season’s end on April 4th.
The only thing to be taken from the 4-2 loss to Nashville were lessons learned for the future.
FINALLY GETTING A HARD LOOK
Despite scoring 27 goals in 46 games with Laval this season it took a late February 27th Tomas Tatar injury emergency for the Canadiens to re-call Charles Hudon. Even then, based on previous experience, Claude Julien’s regard for his overall talent remained low and Hudon was again assigned to the fourth line where he had little chance of showing off whatever offensive talent he’d shown in Laval. With nothing to lose, Tuesday night Julien decided to take a look, and elevated Hudon to a line where had a chance to succeed and he ran with it. Midway through the first period he gave us that jaw-dropping flip pass to himself while splitting the defense that only a skilled player can make. He was the best part of a line that included Max Domi and Brendan Gallagher. Because he will never be a solid defensive player, Hudon’s only real shot at a regular NHL job will be as a member of one of the Canadiens top three lines. In the season’s remaining eleven games, he’s going get what may be his last chance to prove he can score goals at this level.
MISEMPLOYED
While Hudon was strong individually, the remainder of the line was disconnected. Brendan Gallagher clearly missed the chemistry he had with Phillip Danault and Max Domi was…. well Max Domi. The more I see of him the more I’m convinced that he is misemployed as a centre. Like Alex Galchenyuk before him, wishful thinking has placed him at centre ice. Granted, he had two unfamiliar linemates against Nashville, but Domi’s lack of creativity should tell us he’s better using his speed coming off the wing. His casual disregard for defense also led to the first Nashville goal. He remains at centre because there’s nobody to replace him.
THE ROOKIE
Nick Suzuki drew second assist on the Canadiens first goal. It was his first point in the nine games since Ilya Kovalchuk left the team for Washington. There was a stretch where I thought his game had hit the rookie wall but recently he’s played regained some of his early form. Although his line, with Lehkonen and Weal, had a pretty good night, like Hudon it might be time to give Suzuki a chance to be surrounded by more talented offensive players. He produced when he played with Kovalchuk. Why not try him with Gallagher?
ROOKIES: PARTS TWO & THREE
Lucas Vejdemo and Jake Evans formed two thirds of the fourth line. Picking up his first NHL assist, Evans continued to make clear that Bergevin will not need to be in search of a fourth line centre to replace Nate Thompson in the off season.
For the first time since his recall Vejdemo demonstrated a level of confidence. Early in the game he used his speed to sweep around the Nashville defense for a dangerous scoring chance. He totaled four scoring chances, including one high-danger. It’s only one game and he was given only five minutes of ice time, but off what we saw against the Predators, he deserves a longer look.
MAN ADVANTAGE
The Canadiens power play was 0-for-2 in the game; 0-for-18 in the nine games since they scored two in that disheartening February 18th home-ice loss to Detroit. Talent is an issue right now and an over-reliance on the well-telegraphed point shots of Shea Weber and Jeff Petry. Some off-season attention has to be focused on Kirk Muller who was re-hired by Bergevin in 2016 largely to concentrate his efforts to impove on a power play that had sunk to 26th in the league in the four years of his absence. In the first two seasons back the power play was an unremarkable 13th and 12th in the league. Last season it was 30th and after Tuesday night it ranks 22nd overall and 29th in the league at home. The success or failure of special teams falls on the heads of the coaching staff. At this point in time Muller is vulnerable.
ALSO WORTH MENTIONING
….Carey Price did what goaltenders are expected to do. He kept his team afloat while they struggled through a scoreless first period. As a team the Canadiens no better in the second and the roof fell in with Nashville scoring four times to take the game out of reach. It was the fourth consecutive home game that Price has allowed four goals.
….I like what Artturi Lehkonen brings to the Canadiens defensively but it’s more and more evident that on a good team he would be no more than a fourth line player. His third period goal ended a 17 game drought dating back February first.
….Former Canadiens first round draft choice Jarred Tinordi returned to Montreal on the Nashville defense. The 6’6” Tinordi’s problems as a forward always centred around his speed and an inability to catch up to the quickness of the game in the NHL.
….In 2010, in a move scouting director Trevor Timmins would prefer to forget, the Canadiens packaged their own first round pick and a second rounder to move up five spots to draft Tinordi 22nd overall. Over parts of three seasons he played in 39 games with Montreal before being traded to Arizona.
….According to naturalstattrick.com the Suzuki/Weal/Lehkonen line controlled 81.82% of the shooting attempts when they were on the ice (18 shot attemps-for vs. 4-against).
….Hard as Brendan Gallagher might have worked, the defensive shortcomings of Domi/Hudon led to a disastrous night for the line. Seventeen shots were taken against the line while they produced only five and they produced 1 high danger scoring chance while the Predators had five.
….Seven on the Canadiens current 23 man current roster have played more games in Laval than with the Canadiens this year. Five of them played against Nashville (Weise, Folin, Vejdemo, Ouellet & Evans). Lindgren was backup goaltender, Alzner was a healthy scratch.
….Joel Armia is in one of his scoring slumps but the effort is still there. Arguably, he was the Canadiens best forward with four scoring chances, including three in the first period.
….Nashville has now picked up at least a point in 15 of their last 16 games against the Canadiens.
MOVING ON
The Canadiens will host the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night in a game that will go a long way to settling where they finish in the draft lottery. The Canadiens currently rank 9th in the lottery one point ahead of Chicago (8th) and three in front of Buffalo (7th). The Hawks and Sabres each have two games in hand.
After Buffalo, the Canadiens head west for three California game games starting at Anaheim on Sunday followed by Tuesday in Los Angeles and San Jose Thursday and wrapping up in Denver a week Saturday.
Let’s get our facts straight before we go to print. Jared Tinordi was never a winger in junior or with the HABS. However it is possible that Therrien and his asskisser Lefebvre decided to make him a forward in the AHL.
As for blaming Timmons for drafting him is laughable. Tinordi was a very large Left Dmen. He had been well schooled in his junior development by Dale Hunter with the London Knights. Tinordi was not going to be a 1st pairing Dmen but certainly would work well on the 2nd. He was more of the Hal Gill type of Dmen. The trouble with real big players is that everyone assumes they are all great fighters!! They aren’t and either was Tinordi. In junior if he dropped the gloves it was usually just a wrestling match or Tinordi was on the receiving end of some busy fists. In one scrap a tough customer who was well below 6’ tall knocked out Tinordi along with some of his teeth and left him bloody and concussed and in hospital.
When he moved up to the AHL Lefebvre Under Therrien’s guidance decided that Tinordi should play Defense 2nd and be a goon 1st and foremost. Not a great strategy for a guy that can’t fight his way out of a paper bag. Tinordi lost again and again! Was hurt a lot and concussed again as well. In his last fight not only did he get his face re-arranged again but he also hurt his knee and hip on his way down crashing into the ice. Once a punching bag then always one! That helped lead to his demise with the HABS and exit stage left.!Yes, he did get suspended for a drug violations – steroids to build himself up in hopes of winning the odd fight. As usual two things happened: 1) the HABS took no accountability in their role in any of this and just moved Tinordi to the West Phoenix. 2) Therrien & Lefebvre we’re not to be stopped at wasting one 1st Rounder. They went after the next 1st liner – Nathan Beauliesu another young DMen. In this case it was slightly different. Beaulieau was a nasty guy who didn’t mind using his fists. It was just he wasn’t put into the right matches. Sorta like putting a Bantam weight up against Heavyweights!! In these miss matched events he’d end up receiving too much damage to the head. After one nasty exchange at the Bell he was levelled and taken to hospital with another bad concussion. When he came back he wasn’t the same guy. Slow and unsure with his decision making Therrien decided he was crap and lobbied Bergy to get rid of him which he did. The fact that he shouldn’t have been on the ice in the 1st place never entered the MTL brain trusts …… brain!! Once again they took no accountability in their actions. It was so much easier to point at the former players and Timmons as well!
So that was 2 1st Rounders thrown to the curb. But Bergy didn’t care they weren’t his draft selections. But let’s see where his 1st 5 – 1st Rounders went. 1) taken as 3rd pick in 2012 1st Round – Gally27 – drafted as a Centre but Therrien buried him on the 3rd line while giving DD the #1 spot for 5 yrs – traded for Domi – a 3rd line Centre.
Picks 2 & 3 were total reaches by Bergy and are gone. Pick 4 was Juulsen a RH Dmen. He actually made the HABS and demonstrated he could play in the 4,5,6 spots on the back end. Sadly after being hit in the face with a hard shot Juulsen left the game for repairs and concussion “tests”. Coach Julien didn’t want to play a man down and put Juulsen back into the game. Once again his face was on the receiving end of a hard shot that knocked him out of the game. He has yet to make it back to the HABS. Facial surgery and concussion headaches have kept him off the ice a great deal. Once again “Player Health & Safety” is only given lip service from Bergy on down. No accountability and pretty much they felt it was Juulsen’s fault for putting his face into the puck or just maybe vice versa not once but twice in the same game!
Pick 5 – another big DMen in Sergachev. He looked to be the heir to Markov. But Berry didn’t like Markov and kicked him to the street. So no need of an “heir” to take his place. It was vastly more important to have a homegrown French Canadian player on the team no matter his previous background. Plus we didn’t need another Russkie on the team because they all had been bad news. So once again a 1st Rounder – 9th pick is dealt away to Tampa for Drouin. Berry immediately announced him as the next great French Canadian SuperStar. Ummmmm, Nope! He’s been pretty much MIA in his 3 yrs here. A forgettable 1st season playing Centre where he couldn’t even beat his shadow to win a face off. Then the 2nd year hiding out on the perimeter and uninvolved in the play. With so much heat coming from the fan base a HABS Asst Coach tried working with him last summer on fixing his game! It sorta worked for about 3 weeks or so. For some reason he was within 30’ of the net and head down when the Obie Fump truck flattened him. He got him big time good! Drouin left the game and came back in the 3rd period in disquisition as Mr Invisible. He told everyone he hadn’t been hurt when Obie crushed him but in the 3rd when he got knocked into the boards from the breeze of two players going by him. It was announced later that he would need surgery and would need about 8 weeks to get back into the lineup. Being the resourceful guy he stretched it out to 13 weeks before he returned as King of the Perimeter. He played like he was in great agony and could only muster some lazy slashing or hooking penalties in the offensive zone. At this point it has not been confirmed one way or the other but he was either bumped in the ankle while sitting in the Sun Bin or actually on the ice when he got his ankle boo-boo. So he’s had another 10 plus days off the ice and away from games. He skated in the ladtb2 pre game skates but then said he wasn’t ready to give it a real try. Last night he was actually pencilled in on the 4th line‼️‼️‼️👎🤮🤮🤢. Yup trading a blue chip prospect for a 💩 and Berry still apologizes for Drouin on hard it is to play here in Mtl. I guess Berry has never asked the other guys who are from Europe or Scandinavia what’s it like to playing in Mtl. Nope – no time for them. Only time for the next great French Canadian 4th liber……. I mean SuperStar.