1. Luxury 7th Defenceman
This week’s 7 talking points were a little bit tougher to find than last week’s were; the Habs played just a single game and Cole Caufield was held pointless against a powerhouse Michigan team. So I had to do a little bit of digging, I found some interesting storylines nonetheless!
First up is the Canadiens’ defensive depth. While I am of the mind that the Canadiens defence has been slightly less than stellar through 15 games, the depth is there. There really isn’t a huge gap in quality between the third defenceman on the depth-chart (Chiarot) and the seventh (Mete). While this is indicative of the current lack of high-end quality on the left side of the defence, it also speaks to the abundance of decent players further down the depth chart.
Now, I designated Mete as the seventh defenceman despite his phenomenal performance against the Maple Leafs last week because he has lacked consistency in his limited playing time this season. I thought he looked quite good in the game he played with Brett Kulak, but extremely shaky in his first game of the season against the Canucks alongside Alexander Romanov. I assume and hope he gets the nod on Saturday considering how good he was a week ago, but he needs to show a bit more to take Kulak’s spot going forward.
I have quite appreciated Kulak’s play since the bubble, I even wrote an article praising his performances in the playoffs, and I do believe he would be just as effective alongside Jeff Petry as Joel Edmundson has been. Still, if Mete can maintain the level of play he showed last weekend, he has a spot in this lineup. If Mete can be similarly reliable defensively to Kulak, he should get the nod, because he brings two elements to the table that the Canadiens’ defensive corps lacks: speed and mobility.
No defenceman in the Canadiens’ organization is quicker than Mete and, while Romanov and Petry are quick and mobile, Weber, Chiarot and Edmundson are not, though it should be noted that Chiarot is by far the most mobile of the latter bunch. Mete makes things happen, and so does Romanov; if deployed correctly at even strength those two could wreak havoc on the opposition’s bottom lines and pairing.
Kulak is no slouch either though, he is reliable defensively despite having taken too many avoidable minor penalties this season. Both he and Mete deserve a spot on an NHL lineup. That the Canadiens get to leave one of the two in the press box on any given game day is nothing short of a luxury.