The Montreal Canadiens should break up the top line

The Montreal Canadiens have gotten a lot of production from their top line, but perhaps breaking it up could be a way to ignite things.

Every NHL team is having their respective reactions to their exhibition games. The Chicago Blackhawks shutout the St. Louis Blues 4-0, and many are ignoring the fact that the latter team won the Stanley Cup last season. The Florida Panthers were shutout 5-0 by Tampa Bay, and fans feel their team will never score again and that Sergei Bobrovsky is a bust (jury is still out there). The Montreal Canadiens had their heated reactions as well, but a lot of those reactions were to things that haven’t changed.

How the team plays isn’t going to be enough, and Claude Julien is going to have to start getting a little more creative. Certain things worked, and certain things didn’t work, and although it’s easy to focus on what didn’t, the Habs should also be focusing on what did. And something that certainly worked against the Toronto Maple Leafs was Nick Suzuki.

His offensive mind is something the Habs haven’t had in a while, and it makes him a serious threat. The biggest aspect of that is the deception that comes with his game. Julien does like to go with what is familiar in his lineup, and if that’s the case, relying on chemistry on the roster shouldn’t be too farfetched of an idea.

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Montreal’s top line has been together for the last two seasons. They’re the frontrunners of the team’s style of relentless forecheck and workman’s scoring, and the points they’ve put together of a unit are indicators of its success. That said when the roster remains the same and you need a shakeup, moving things around can’t hurt.

What if the Montreal Canadiens broke up that top line? The first question to come up would be, then who is going to get the assignments against the opposition’s top talent?

A complete destruction of the trio isn’t necessary. Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher should remain on the same line, and that way, you can still get offence from them. The purpose of the breakup would be to get Suzuki and Tomas Tatar on the same line.

The two clearly have a good thing going on the powerplay. Suzuki has four helpers on Tatar goals on the man advantage while the 29-year-old has returned the favour on three of his.

Suzuki is a fan of passes to the slot, while Tatar scores the majority of his goals from that area. According to IcyData.Hockey, 42% of his goals have been in the slot this season while it was 48% last season. It’s a natural fit, and the fact that they like playing with each other (per the results), it’s a wonder as to why this hasn’t been tried out at 5v5.

The assist to Tatar for Montreal’s first goal of the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs is another chapter of evidence in that book. Suzuki is aware of Tatar’s tendencies and knows where he’s going to be, so he fakes the shot and gets Morgan Rielly to commit to the block and then sends it to the slot where he knows Tatar will be. That partnership needs to be explored in more situations than the finishing seconds of a powerplay opportunity.

Artturi Lehkonen has been praised for his defensive game a lot more than his offensive game. If so, he could easily fill in for Tatar and complete that line while Tatar and Suzuki could be joined by say, Jonathan Drouin. Joel Armia would be another option, but it would contrast with Tatar as they are both slot-player shot-generators.

And this goes beyond this series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, it could be something to try it on a longer-term.

Claude Julien has options to fool around with but continues to stick to what he’s familiar with. Sometimes that works, but the current NHL has taught us that adaptability and being dynamic is key, especially with the talent other teams use.