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Habs Offense: Ramsay May Be Answer

By Jessica Lyn-Saunders

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Yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens hired retired Canadian ice hockey left-winger and long-time NHL coach, Craig Ramsay as a coaching consultant, via CityNews.

Ramsay has been an assistant coach in over 1,500 games and over 150 as a head coach with 7 teams in the NHL. He also has an impressive record, with an example being his time with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1997-98 regular season. During his season with the Broad Street Bullies, he helped the Flyers grab a 16–8–1–0 record while leading the Atlantic Division with 105 points, as well as leading the team to the Eastern Conference finals before the Flyers were eliminated by the Stanley Cup Champions, the New Jersey Devils.

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I think everyone’s first thought, including my own, was “why would GM Marc Bergevin hire an experienced guy who will be watching and judging coach Michel Therrien’s decisions, when he renewed the coaching staff’s contracts for another three years at the end of the Eastern Conference finals?” The best possible answer to give is that Bergevin has finally lost some faith in his employees and has now decided to bring in an experienced guy like Ramsay to help the Habs go far in the regular season.

“When Therrien first took over, the Canadiens played a high tempo, two-man forecheck built upon controlled zone entries and quick transition in the neutral zone. It worked remarkably well, and the Canadiens won their division in spite of Carey Price struggling down the stretch.” – Andrew Berkshire

While the Canadiens have made moves to create more offense, including the re-signing of defenseman Jeff Petry, and the new signings of former-Canuck Zack Kassian and former-Hurricane Alexander Semin, the hiring of Craig Ramsay may be the key ingredient for the Habs’ success in the offensive department this coming season.

Being one of the worst possession teams in the NHL last year, especially since Therrien’s biggest problems are his tactics and his trust in young players like Alex Galchenyuk who’s points get higher by the season, Ramsay has the chance to give advice as well as offer perspective. This gives the Habs the ability to use Ramsay’s strengths without making the mistake of using any of Ramsay’s possible outdated tactics that he may want to incorporate into the Habs’ play.

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    • Ramsay also has a Stanley Cup ring in his resume with the Tampa Bay Lightning, something the Habs have yet to achieve with Therrien. While his new school tricks in his advice may not take control of the entire coaching staff’s game-day decisions, Ramsay’s coaching and playing wisdom may not only help young guns like Galchenyuk, Christian Thomas, Michael Bournival, and Jarred Tinordi have enough ice time with the big boys which might boost Therrien’s trust in these young men, but it will also give the Canadiens the chance to avoid another huge possession flop like the one they faced during the entire 2013-14 season.

    Despite any advice he may give taking a while to sink in to Therrien’s somewhat stubborn ways of coaching, Ramsay may inspire better tactics to deploy and give us the possibility to see that two-man forecheck with controlled zone entries and quick transition in the neutral zone once again and if this leads to another huge eye-opening for Bergevin, Ramsay may have the chance to become the Habs’ new coach once Therrien’s shelf life is up by 2018.

    What are your thoughts on Marc Bergevin bringing in Craig Ramsay as a coaching consultant? Do you feel he’ll make a big impact on the Canadiens during the 2015-16 season? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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