Josh’s Take: Montreal Canadiens season in review

Filip Zadina, Brady Tkachuk, Jesperi Kotkaniemi were still on the board, and many fans were screaming for high-scoring winger Filip Zadina. I don’t know how many of you actually watched the draft, and if you did, I hope you remember the reaction of that Canadiens fan sitting in the stands when they announced Jesperi Kotkaniemi as the pick. That face was priceless. If you didn’t see it, Google it and check it out. If you did see it, do yourself the favour of going to see it again!

The Canadiens had been searching for top-6 centres for as long as I can remember. They thought they had drafted one in Alex Galchenyuk, but that wasn’t the case. Kotkaniemi had risen rapidly in draft rankings towards the end of the season as he put up good numbers as a 17-year-old playing for Assat of Finland’s Liiga.

His 29 points in 57 games as a 17-year-old impressed many scouts, and he had produced well at the World Junior Championship. Drafting Kotkaniemi could be considered the most important off-season acquisition for General Manager Marc Bergevin, as he really provides the Canadiens with a top-level centre prospect, who has top line potential. How long have we needed that in Montreal?!

Another off-season acquisition, which proved to be the most important this year points-wise, was the trade in June that saw Montreal send Alex Galchenyuk to Arizona for Max Domi. Now, at the time, I could not have been more against this trade. I thought Marc Bergevin had finally officially lost his mind. I have been bullish on Galchenyuk since he was drafted, and I always believed he wasn’t given enough of a chance to succeed in Montreal.

Now before some of you come at me and point out his numbers in Arizona this season, I have two things to say: he dealt with some injury situations this season, and let’s not forget he’s playing in Arizona! I can only imagine how hard it is to get motivated to play there!

If you want proof, just look at Max Domi’s numbers while in Arizona! Okay, back to Domi. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that he was going to come in here and produce offensively at the level that he did this season. I mean, Max Domi scoring 72 points! Are you kidding me?!

The other off-season move(s) that truly paid off for the Canadiens was the changes to the coaching staff, both in Montreal and in Laval. I spent all of last winter and spring screaming that Montreal needed to fire Sylvain Lefebvre, the then Head Coach of the Laval Rocket, and hire one of Dominique Ducharme or Joel Bouchard.

Never did I expect Marc Bergevin to go out and actually hire both of them, Ducharme serving on the big club’s staff and Bouchard being brought in to coach the Rocket. I really believed that the Canadiens’ staff needed an infusion of youth and the adaption to the new style of the NHL, I thought the additions of Dominique Ducharme and Luke Richardson to the big club’s staff helped to add that. After last season, I was left thinking that Claude Julien’s playing style was no longer working in today’s NHL.

The additions to the coaching staff and Claude Julien’s openness to changing his style made a difference with the way the team played. What I noticed the most was the change in playing style for the defence. This season, the coaching staff allowed and encouraged the Canadiens’ defensive corps to carry the puck and push the pace of play.

On so many occasions we saw a defenceman carrying the puck out of the defensive zone and starting an offensive play, instead of simply bouncing it off the glass and into the neutral zone. The most noticeable difference was the second wave of offence that the defencemen brought to the table. I think Jeff Petry benefitted from this change the most, as this right-handed shot defenceman had a career year in goals, assists and points.

Another defenceman I want to mention briefly is Jordie Benn. I have never been Benn’s biggest fan, but I feel like I need to acknowledge his play this season. Benn also had a career year in goals and points this season, while playing smart and reliable hockey. I guess this was a good year for him to have his contract expire in July 2019!

The next big change for the Canadiens was the trade of team captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights just before the beginning of training camp. To say the return was good is an understatement! It was clear at the end of last season that the Canadiens’ management was not impressed with the way the leadership corps of the team handled the season, multiple times citing a problem with the team’s attitude.

Trading Pacioretty was inevitable at that moment; it seemed to me that Bergevin was saying his captain did not handle the season very well and he did not like his captain’s attitude throughout the season. Managing to get Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, AND a second-round pick was absolute mastery by the Canadiens’ General Manager.

Tomas Tatar is a proven twenty-goal scorer in the NHL, and Nick Suzuki is a prospect with top-6 potential drafted in the first round. Oh, I can’t forget that second-round draft pick. We all know how Marc Bergevin likes his draft picks!

The Montreal Canadiens started the season off strong and by the time the calendar turned to January 2019 the team was sitting in the first wild-card spot, one point behind the Buffalo Sabres for third in the Atlantic Division. The difference one month can make in the National Hockey League is amazing, by the time January came to an end Buffalo had fallen off, and Montreal was sitting in the third spot of the Atlantic Divison only one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Canadiens had the fourth best record in the League during the month of January, and it paid off in the standings. I remember people in Montreal were all excited about the thought of catching and passing Toronto in the standings.

As much as January giveth, February easily taketh away. What I am trying to say is that February was not a good month for the Canadiens, going 6-5-2 while Toronto went 9-4-2 and Boston went 11-0-2.

When February finally came to an end, the Canadiens found themselves sitting once again in the first wild-card spot, seven points back of Toronto and ten points back of Boston. Not good, but not terrible. Also, it wasn’t like the Canadiens held their playoff spot comfortably either, as they sat one point up of the Pittsburgh Penguins who were on the outside looking in.

I said at the time of the trade deadline that I believed Marc Bergevin failed his team by not adding some scoring help to his team. I know a lot of people were not in favour of giving up future assets in a season where anything but finishing at the bottom of the league was seen as a success. Well, this is where I disagree. Yes, this season was above expectations, but that does not mean that it was a successful season. A successful season is one where the team makes the playoffs.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not sitting here saying that Bergevin should have traded Poehling and/or Suzuki at the deadline for players like Wayne Simmonds, Matt Duchene, or Mikael Granlund. What I am saying is that Marc Bergevin should have been willing to pay the price to acquire a player like Ryan Dzingel or Marcus Johansson at the deadline.

In my mind, either one of those players would have brought in offensive depth and scoring help to a team that has struggled scoring goals. I truly think that Marc Bergevin failed his team by not rewarding their play and bringing in some help. Almost every team around them in the standings did something to improve their team.

Boston traded for Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson. Toronto brought in Jake Muzzin. Columbus brought in Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel. The Pittsburgh Penguins addressed their injuries on defence by bringing in Eric Gudbranson. The Carolina Hurricanes added Nino Niederreiter.

Again, I am not saying the Canadiens should have given up top prospects or a first round pick at the deadline, but I can’t believe that the Canadiens could not have offered a little extra than what Boston paid for Johansson. The Bruins traded a second round pick and a fourth-round pick to the New Jersey Devils for the forward. Columbus sent two second-round picks and Anthony Duclair to the Ottawa Senators for Ryan Dzingel.

Oh, before someone talks to me about how well Duclair played after the trade, let’s not forget how much he struggled in Columbus, and he was a throw-in so that the contracts balanced out for Columbus. With two second round picks for this season’s draft in June, the Canadiens definitely had the assets to make a trade like this.

My point in all of this is that after watching almost every team around them in the standings make some moves to get better at the trade deadline, Marc Bergevin just sat there and added Jordan Weal and Nate Thompson. More on those two in a little bit.

I believe that the players were hoping that Bergevin would reward them, tell them that they did a great job of pushing for the playoffs and for that he was going to give them a little help. I truly believe that Bergevin failed his team at the deadline, especially after the slide that the team went on during the month of February. In my mind, it was an opportunity missed by the general manager.

I don’t want you guys to think that I am saying that the additions of a Dzingel or Johannson type of player would have propelled the team into a playoff spot. But can you honestly say that it would have hurt?

Marc Bergevin did make some trade deadline acquisitions, bringing in fourth line centre Nate Thompson from Los Angeles and versatile forward Jordan Weal from Arizona. While these acquisitions were fine, and you can never have enough depth, I still think that a proven top-6 forward would have been best for this team. After that, we all know how the season ended for the Montreal Canadiens if you want more confirmation, go check out any of my previous posts.

The last thing I want to talk about is the team’s special teams play. The Canadiens’ power play finished the season 30th overall with a 12.7% efficiency rate. The team’s penalty kill unit finished 18th in the League at 80.1%. I have no issues with the penalty kill because as of January 1 the Canadiens’ penalty kill was fifth in the NHL at 85.8%.

The power play is where I have issues. I mean this team was so frustrating to watch on the power play, it was almost unbearable at times!  It made me wish the NHL had a rule like the NFL where you could decline a penalty! In all honesty, I would have strongly considered taking a penalty as soon as they went on the power play just to play 4-on-4. Their chances to score might have been better.

Something needs to be done this offseason to address this horrendous power play. According to the NHL Stats website, the Montreal Canadiens were in nine games where they lost by one goal this season. Eight of those losses came in overtime or a shootout.

If the team would have scored a power play goal in half of those games (four extra goals), that would have meant four more points which would have brought them to 100 points on the season with 48 wins on the season. A one-hundred point season with 48 wins would have had the Canadiens making the playoffs, and finishing ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs! PLEASE FIX THE POWER PLAY!

All this to say, the Canadiens had a good season. The Habs were better this season than anyone predicted or expected them to be. They should be proud of that. But please do not call this season a success, because it wasn’t. A successful season would have meant that playoff hockey would be alive and well in Montreal! We all know how this fantastic city comes alive during the playoffs! There is nothing better than playoff hockey, except playoff hockey in Montreal!

The Canadiens took a major step in the right direction this season, but there is still plenty of work to be done for this team to be considered a playoff contender and a serious threat in the playoffs. They cannot afford to continue wasting Carey Price and Shea Weber.

Weber will not hold up for many more years, and Carey Price has already seen some of his best years wasted by a mediocre team in front of him. There will be lots of opportunities for Marc Bergevin and his staff to improve this team this off-season. Hopefully, they take advantage of those opportunities!

Oh, how could I forget the final game of the season! I will do myself the favour of ending this on an extremely positive note. With a meaningless game in the standings for both teams, Toronto rolled into Montreal for a Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night game.

The final game for legendary play-by-play announcer Bob Cole also coincided with the NHL debut for Ryan Poehling who had signed his entry-level contract a few days earlier. As if the night wasn’t going to be great simply because Bob Cole was calling his final game bringing an end to his 50-year career, compound that with Montreal hosting Toronto. Oh baby! As Mr. Cole would say! Then Ryan Poehling decided that he was going to have himself a night.

It is always special for a player when they are able to score a goal in their first game. Not very many players have been able to do that. Well, Ryan Poehling decided that he was going to give Auston Matthews a run for his money.

Let’s not forget Auston Matthews’ NHL debut when he scored four goals against the Ottawa Senators. Ryan Poehling scoring a hat-trick AND the shootout winner had the Bell Centre rocking like it was a playoff game. Listening to Bob Cole call the shootout winner gave me goosebumps! That was the best way to end the season, well, maybe the second best. The best would have been all that and then still make the playoffs. Right, I said I was going to end positive! Moving on! Congratulations to Ryan Poehling for a night he and his family will never forget!

Josh’s Off-Season Shopping List

• Scoring forward
• Top-4 left-handed defenceman
• Reliable backup goaltender
• More depth at the forward position

Josh’s Off-Season Target List

• Scoring forward: Ryan Dzingel-type player or offer-sheeting Mitch Marner would always be nice
• Top-4 left-handed defenceman: Jake Gardiner on a short-term deal, or trade for a Cam Fowler-type player