Montreal Canadiens: Claude Julien’s pull on the Laval Rocket

The Montreal Canadiens and Laval Rocket make use of the same system via Claude Julien and the performance of the AHL club this season may be hurting for it.

When the Montreal Canadiens started to buckle at the beginning of the regular season, Claude Julien was getting a fair share of the heat. That’s to be expected considering he’s the head coach. Besides the critiques of the line and pairing combinations, many fans were unsure about Julien’s system.

There were a lot of games in the beginning of the season where the Habs couldn’t break out of their own zone. Additionally, the defensive nature of it may have stifled some of the team’s offensive opportunities. The Habs had plenty of chances each game, but finishing was a massive issue. So the question was this, was it the system or the players trying to execute it.

Similarly to his time in Boston, Julien’s system really relies on the centreman, especially when it comes to d-zone coverage. Puck movement in that area generally goes defenceman to defenceman followed by the centre carrying it out. It’s improved as the year has gone on with the growth of Jonathan Drouin specifically and his ability to win more faceoff draws, but it’s been a difficult area of the Habs play.

You can argue that the players on the team are mainly responsible for the poor execution of the system and gameplan. The Montreal Canadiens have gone through a lot of injuries forcing others to play higher in the lineup who otherwise shouldn’t. There’s one thing that may put the responsibility on Julien’s system, and that’s the Laval Rocket.

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Laval had another tough loss to the Toronto Marlies last night losing 5-1. Chris Terry opened the scoring for the Rocket with his 28th of the season on the powerplay, but the team couldn’t hold off the force of the Marlies.

Amy Johnson does incredible work covering the Laval Rocket for ahl.report.com and she had this to say after the game:

And most importantly, this:

She makes a very good point. If both teams are following the same system and both teams struggle to defend despite having the ability to score goals and display solid goaltending, the system has to share some of the blame. On the other hand, you could attribute Laval’s struggles this season to the personnel or lack thereof. Several things this season have impacted the team’s roster including call-ups, and it’s difficult to perform when you’re best players are removed.

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Granted, this is where a head coach has to step in and take the reins. As Geoff Molson mentioned earlier, the who organization has to be evaluated for growth. Perhaps a coaching change isn’t exactly what either desperately needs, more so for the Montreal Canadiens, but a few tweaks to the system may show some improvements.