A Winning Habit
Fansided

Canadiens’ Current Weakness Can Soon Become Envy Of NHL

By Patrick Lortie

KENT, WASHINGTON - JUNE 07: Kaiden Guhle (Photo by Christopher Mast/Getty Images)
KENT, WASHINGTON - JUNE 07: Kaiden Guhle (Photo by Christopher Mast/Getty Images) /
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During the Canadiens’ Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2021, Dominique Ducharme and company ran an effective, although at times questionable, four man defensive system. Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson and Jeff Petry would play the bulk of the games, while Brett Kulak and Jon Merrill would at times barely see five minutes of ice time.

A high speed and hard nosed trap system backed up by a rejuvenated Carey Price helped shock the entire league and paved the way to a surprising trip the Finals. It was indeed fun while it lasted.

This past season we saw more holes than a block of swiss cheese at the blue line. The system was in shambles, the players were disorganized and discouraged and the team played without their captain all year and one of their leaders in Joel Edmundson for most of the season as well.

MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 19: Joel Edmundson #44 of the Montreal Canadiens skates against the Minnesota Wild during the third period at Centre Bell on April 19, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 19: Joel Edmundson #44 of the Montreal Canadiens skates against the Minnesota Wild during the third period at Centre Bell on April 19, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

We’ll avoid talking about Jeff Petry who John Wiens accurately pointed out that it took him about 78 games to realize the season had started.

While there’s nothing really enviable about the current crop at the blue line, the prospect of what it can look like in the near future is quite exciting, indeed.

The main core of the Canadiens’ defense can potentially be built around Alexander Romanov, Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron. We all know what Romanov can do and it’s almost scary to think that he hasn’t even reached his peak potential as of yet.

Kaiden Guhle is enjoying a dream season as he has recently been awarded playoff WHL MVP awards and is headed to the Memorial Cup. Local media has drawn many comparisons between Guhle and Shea Weber. I can see a little bit of that in the way he’s poised on the ice and his ability to score. Fans of a certain age might see more shades of Brian Leetch in his game.

As for Justin Barron, his short stint in the NHL has shown us that he has the confidence to make it as a regular in the show and if he puts the effort to keep working on his game, will eventually develop into another Jeff Petry type of defender.

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