Montreal Canadiens Need Dramatic Improvement in 3 Areas

Examining three areas where the Montreal Canadiens need to improve in which would allow the Habs to continue their excellent play this season.

The Montreal Canadiens are off to their best start in franchise history. The Habs have also broken the record for the most consecutive home wins to start a season. Goaltender Carey Price has broken the record for most consecutive wins to start a season with ten due to his spectacular play in net.

The Canadiens have also had some offensive surprises as well. Normally bottom six Forwards like Paul Byron, Torrey Mitchell and Phillip Danault have stepped up their offensive production. Byron has even found a role on the teams first line playing next to Alex Galchenyuk and Alex Radulov.

Even the Canadiens Defensemen have become key offensive contributors on the team. All together the defense corps has amassed 14 goals in the teams first 16 games. Leading the way is Shea Weber who has 13 points, and Andrei Markov is right behind him with 11 points.

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Despite all of the success and pleasant surprises, the Canadiens haven’t been perfect. They owe a huge thank you to Carey Price who already has had to steal a few games for the Habs. The Habs will need to make some adjustments in the following areas if they are going to have lasting success.

Consistency in the Face-off Circle

Currently, the Canadiens are only winning 48.5 percent of their face-off opportunities. That may not sound that bad as they are winning close to half of their chances. However, with that 48.5 percent is ranking them 26th overall in the league so far.

Players like Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais have been wildly inconsistent in the face-off circle. Galchenyuk is only winning 39.2 percent of his attempts and Desharnais is winning only 42.5 percent.

Other Centers like Torrey Mitchell and Andrew Shaw have been terrific. The problem with that is that the Canadiens would much rather give Galchenyuk the lions share of the offensive zone face-offs. Galchenyuk has been the Habs best offensive player, but when he is constantly losing important face-offs it’s very difficult for the Habs to gain possession.

If Alex Galchenyuk wants to prove that he is a legit number one Center than he will need to make a dramatic improvement in this aspect of the game. The Canadiens will need to improve their face-off ability if they are going to continue their success.

Habs Need Goals from Big Money Forwards

Like previously mentioned the Canadiens are getting key goal contributions from surprise players. However, during the beginning of the season the higher payed forwards have struggled to produce goals.

For example, the look at how some of the lower paid Forwards have done in goal production:

Player                               Goals                 Salary

Alex Galchenyuk              6                          2.8 million dollars

Torrey Mitchell                 5                          1.2 million dollars

Paul Byron                        5                           1.16 million dollars

Phillip Danault                 5                           0.912 million dollars

Total:                                 21                        6.072 million dollars

Now Alex Galchenyuk is obviously the Canadiens number one center, but he is producing at a higher rate than what his contract says he should be producing at. The Canadiens are no doubt enjoying watching all off these players score so often, but realistically, they shouldn’t be able to keep up the same pace all season long.

What’s interesting is how the lower payed Forwards have outproduced the higher payed Forwards in terms of goal prodution. For example here is how some of the higher payed Forwards have done in goal production:

Player                                  Goals                     Salary

Brendan Gallagher             4                             3.75 million dollars

Max Pacioretty                    3                             4.5 million dollars

Andrew Shaw                      2                             3.9 million dollars

Tomas Plekanec                  1                              6 million dollars

Total:                                     10                            18.15 million dollars

Obviously, all of these players haven’t been awful. Shaw has established himself as a pest and a nice face-off option for the Montreal Canadiens. Plekanec and Pacioretty have been really good Penalty Killers, and Pacioretty also has nine assists on the season. Gallagher is still going to the net hard and often.

Higher Payed Forward Group’s Struggles

However, it is concerning that these players just haven’t been able to score consistently. Gallagher hasn’t scored in his last ten games and Tomas Plekanec is only scoring on 3.1 percent of his shots. Max Pacioretty’s shooting percentage is also down from his career average of 11 percent to 7 percent this season.

As it stands the previously mentioned lower payed Forwards are doubling the higher payed Forwards goal production. Also the lower  payed group are doing it on three times less money than the higher payed forwards. If the Canadiens are going to aim for a deep playoff run these higher paid guys have to find the back of the net consistently.

Habs Need to Fix Slow Starts

Another area the Canadiens really need to fix is their slow starts in games. Too many times this season the Habs have come out and started out games being outplayed. Sometimes the Canadiens appear to look disinterested and even get lazy with passing giving up a ton of turnovers.

So far, the Canadiens have only scored 10 first period goals in their first 16 games. They are currently ranked 21st in the league in this category.

However, the second and third periods have been terrific for the Canadiens in regards to goal scoring. The Montreal Canadiens have amassed 21 second period goals and 22 thrid period goals so far. These numbers rank the Habs third in second period goals and first in third period goals.

It’s great that Canadiens have been able to produce as consistently as they have in the later periods. However, if they were able to come out quicker and add some more goal support in the opening periods of games it will put more pressure on opposing teams. This could cause more turnovers for opposing teams as they try and keep up with the Habs speed.

Next: Montreal Canadiens: Paul Byron Not a Long Term Option on First Line

Final Thoughts

The Canadiens overall have looked terrific this season and the team’s new additions are still trying to find chemistry. The Montreal Canadiens are also getting world class goaltending from Carey Price who gives the Habs a chance to win every game. If the Habs can improve in these three areas, they will no doubt be in for a deep playoff run this year.