Montreal Canadiens: 7 Talking Points

3. Xavier Ouellet and Alternative Options on Defence

In just about every advanced metric this season, Xavier Ouellet ranks 8th of the 8 defensemen to have played for the Habs. These metrics include Corsi For %, Goals For %, Shots For %, Expected Goals For % and High Danger Scoring Chances For %. In most of these, Ouellet finds himself in the high 30% range.

This basically means that the Canadiens have not at all been controlling the run of play or the momentum when Ouellet has stepped on the ice, and the same can be said about Mete, though the latter propped up his stats with a very strong outing against Vancouver on Saturday. The Canadiens’ top-6 defensemen that started the season have been significantly better than Mete and Ouellet so far this season. In Mete’s three previous seasons, he has always been above 50% in these metrics, though, so his struggles this year seem to be an anomaly.

Beyond advanced stats, however, Ouellet has looked out of place in the games he has played thus far, the defensive structure is rather shaky when he steps on the ice. His chemistry with Alex Romanov is virtually non-existent as well, which has not helped, in 35 minutes played together, their expected goals percentage is at a terrible 34.78%.

I have watched most of the Laval Rocket’s games this season and Ouellet has consistently been one of their worst defencemen, so his call-up was not exactly based on recent merit. He has really struggled so far this season and should be sent back down to the AHL.

While his pairing with Mete played surprisingly well in the bubble last summer, the same could be said about the rest of the defensive corps; Kulak-Petry dominated possession while Chiarot-Weber bullied opponents. The entire d-corps overperformed in the play-ins/play-offs. I believe that the Habs would be best off trading for a bonafide puck-moving left-shot defenseman, something the team needed even prior to Chiarot’s injury.

If this is not an option, then giving one of Otto Leskinen (who happens to be a puck-moving left-defenseman) or Cale Fleury (who would enable Romanov to play on his natural left side) a shot at the NHL lineup could be wise. Both have been playing very good hockey in Laval and would fit the Habs’ defensive needs better than Ouellet. The alternative to calling someone up would be to keep Victor Mete in the lineup, which would be my preferred patch.

The Edmundson-Weber pairing is even clunkier than the Chiarot-Weber pairing, which can easily be taken advantage of in the modern NHL. Mete is not the perfect defensive partner for Weber, as is clear by the fact that they have not played together in a year and a half, but the pair complement each other quite well. They make up for each-others significant faults and are more difficult to exploit than when apart.

I would quite like to see the Habs keep the Kulak-Petry pairing, for the time being, so bumping Mete up to the Weber pairing would push Edmundson down to the third with Romanov, which could be a really fun duo to watch: physical and defensively-sound. Another bonus of giving Mete that ice time would be to showcase him for a trade; he could be a decent piece in a move to acquire a more permanent solution at left-defence.