Montreal Canadiens: A tough but necessary decision on the blueline
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens have had Victor Mete and Jakub Jerabek taking turns on the bottom pair, but eventually, they need to choose between them.
No area of the Montreal Canadiens has gotten the most tweaks than the blueline. A large number of the defencemen on the team were struggling to help keep the puck out of their net, but they have improved immensely since then. In particular, Jeff Petry and Jordie Benn.
For the most part, the top four is set at Benn with Shea Weber and Petry with Karl Alzner. The bottom pair has been David Schlemko with one of Victor Mete or Jakub Jerabek. Regardless of who plays between the two of them, that’s a pretty mobile and fun defence pair to watch each night.
Mete played in the Habs last three games before being made a healthy scratch in place of Jerabek. There was a point where the 19-year-old was struggling, and you could get the sense that the physical aspect of the NHL was starting to catch up to him. Additionally, the decision-making was far from where it was at the beginning of the season.
Fans got back the Mete they and the coaching staff loved. However, the rookie defencemen dipped in a little to his struggling ways against St. Louis. Mete didn’t have a terrible game whatsoever, but he turned over the puck a little too much, especially in the second period. That didn’t help the rest of the team who was already on the receiving end of a lot of pressure from the Blues in the offensive zone.
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Claude Julien was probably going to make some kind of change to the lineup already, but Mete’s slip-ups made the choice easier.
Thursday night was Jerabek’s first game since November 29th, but you couldn’t tell. He had another great performance for the Habs, but similarly to Mete, had a couple of frustrating turnovers. At the same time, watching what Jerabek can do on the blueline makes you wish that you could make a time machine and get Julien to give him a roster spot out of camp (yes I know, he needed time to get used to the North American style, let me have my joke).
Every Party Needs a Pooper
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to be the pooper in this story. The Montreal Canadiens can’t continue to play Mete and Jerabek like this. As good as they’ve looked, the two defencemen are still developing. Jerabek is still growing a grasp of the smaller ice and quicker decisions, while Mete is continuing to learn what it takes to play in the NHL every night.
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It isn’t helping to play one of them one game and another the next. In a way, it’s like pulling the seesaw move on a player between the NHL and AHL constantly, but worse. At least in that scenario, you’re playing. The other four defencemen haven’t given Julien a reason to get scratched, and even if they did, he wouldn’t do it. At the same time, Schlemko has looked better each game and the fact that he’s taken some shifts on the top-pair speaks to his progress.
How to Fix It
The Habs have to make a decision here. You can’t get better by sitting in the press box, and you can’t generate any sense of rhythm by playing two or three games in a sitting.
Although preliminary invites have been sent out to play for Team Canada at the World Juniors, Mete is still eligible. If they choose to, the Habs can allow him to compete giving Jerabek sole possession of that spot for a few weeks.
It’s a win-win situation for both sides. Mete gets to play top minutes for his country and a chance to win gold while Jerabek can keep growing his game. If this happens, I could see the Montreal Canadiens returning Mete to the London Knights to finish the season.
Putting aside his play time for a second, that decision could have contract implications as well. We’re all usually focused on the 10-game mark of a rookie because a year is burned off their entry-level-contracts after they play their 10th. However, organizations put more stock into game number 39. If a rookie plays 40 games in a season, it brings them a year closer to free agency.
We’ll have to wait and see what the Habs decide. Even though I disagree with the irregularity in Mete and Jerabek’s play time, management could be alright with that.
Those two are going to be a part of the Montreal Canadiens future for a while, so we just have to hope that they have their best interests in mind, even if it means sending Mete back to the OHL.
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Are you okay with how the Montreal Canadiens have been handling Mete and Jerabek? Should they send one of them down? Let us know your thoughts down below.