How the Montreal Canadiens Can Reform Their Defence

The Montreal Canadiens’ flaws have been blatantly exposed in the playoffs; what aspects of the defence need to change and how can it be done?

As I am sure is the case with all Habs fans, this series against the Toronto Maple Leafs has been incredibly frustrating for me to watch. The powerplay is lifeless, the offence stagnant, and the defence… where to start with the defence? The only consistently good (or even great) part of the Montreal Canadiens has been Carey Price, who has once again come to play in the postseason and is being let down by his team in every facet of the game; apart from hitting that is, at least the Habs are getting more hits in.

I would like to preface the article by clearly stating that this is an opinion piece. I am not claiming to know the answers to fixing the team, but I am arguing that reforming certain parts of the roster’s construction would go a long way in making the team more competitive and enjoyable to watch, based on how teams with these elements perform throughout the league.

Ironically, I don’t think that the offence is the problem for the Montreal Canadiens, a team that has scored four goals in as many playoff games thus far this postseason. From what I am seeing, the structure and composition of the defensive corps are central to most of the Canadiens’ struggles this season. We are talking about a defensive group with four members who play a very similar game, one that has become exploitable in the modern NHL.

Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson and Jon Merrill are all big, strong, stay-at-home defencemen who supposedly make up for their lack of mobility and speed with brute force and net-clearing ability. Unlike some, I don’t believe that this mould of player is obsolete in the NHL. I do, however, believe that they have to be insulated with mobile defencemen who excel in transition. If the Montreal Canadiens had two out of these four and added two dependable defensive players that can counter-attack on a whim, the defensive corps would be in far better shape.

As we have seen all season and especially in the playoffs, having four relatively slow defencemen who do not bring any value in transition both handicaps the team in transition to actually gain offensive zone time and facilitates breakaways and 2 on 1s for the other team, something the Leafs have taken great advantage of.

The Montreal Canadiens have also been let down by their defence in the offensive zone. Zone-entries have become hugely cumbersome and I cannot count the number of times the rare moments of offensive-zone possession were wasted by the fumbling of the puck when passed back to the blueline, something that holds true both at even strength and on the powerplay.

As it turns out, building a defensive corps after your own style of play that excelled two decades ago is not necessarily the key to success.

Avalanche defencemen eligible for the expansion draft include Cale Makar, Sam Girard and Devon Toews – three of the five best defensemen in the league this season in my opinion. Along with, notably, Ryan Graves and Jacob MacDonald. The big caveat here is that 33-year-old Erik Johnson who has been injured all season has a no-movement clause, which forces Colorado to protect him, leaving them with only two other defensemen to protect, assuming they decide to protect seven forwards and three defensemen rather than eight skaters.

Losing Graves would hurt, as he is a big defensive defenceman with more mobility than the Habs’ four, but with limited value in transition. And Losing MacDonald, who has played a tremendous season versus fairly easy competition would not be ideal. But it is the prospect of losing Toews or Girard for nothing that Joe Sakic will need to avoid. Girard is younger and more mobile, while Toews (who was acquired for two measly second-round picks last offseason) is better in his own zone. But both are tremendous players who would improve any team in the league.

Colorado could either make a trade with Seattle to not lose one of these two, or they could look elsewhere, like Montreal, for instance, to resolve this problem. The Habs would have no issue taking on a defenceman prior to the expansion draft, especially if this was necessary for acquiring an elite player. The Habs are exposing one of Joel Edmundson and Ben Chiarot anyways, if both are options for Seattle, especially if Jake Allen is also available, the team remains in a similar position for the expansion draft.

I would personally go all out for either of these players, giving up significant prospects and draft picks would be necessary, but, in my mind, it would be more than worthwhile. And, as good as Girard and Toews are, the Avalanche have the luxury of being able to replace one of them with Bowen Byram or Conor Timmins, two young defencemen made for the modern game.

While bringing Samuel Girard home is more poetic, acquiring Toews is likely far more feasible. If the Avalanche were to trade him, they would make a hefty profit from the bargain they paid for him just half a year ago. Toews makes $4.1 million for the next three seasons and turned 27 in February. A package along the lines of this might get the job done:

The Avalanche would acquire a very promising defenceman for the future in Guhle, along with a tenacious forward who would complement their bottom-6 quite well and would improve upon the two picks they paid for Toews to begin with. It’s a high price, for sure, but the Habs need to make a splash to reform their defensive corps if they don’t plan on entering a full-scale rebuild. The time has come to double down on the fact that a strong but slow group of defencemen just doesn’t work in the modern NHL.

For context, Devon Toews scored 9 goals and 31 points in 53 games this season. He was the third-best player and best defenseman (with over 500 minutes played) in the league in terms of on-ice expected goals at even strength with 63.09% (behind just MacKinnon and Rantanen). He was also the 12th best defenceman in terms of goals-for percentage with 61.36%.

Toews also plays a big role in the penalty kill. He is very well-rounded and elite in his own zone and in transition. He is exactly what the Montreal Canadiens need.