After last season, one of the areas that the Montreal Canadiens could clearly improve is their penalty kill. In the regular season, they had a penalty kill percentage of 78.2%, which ranked 18th in the league, with a slightly lower percentage in the playoffs at 78.1%.
It certainly wasn't the worst, but the margin between winning the Atlantic Division and being a Wild Card was so small that being closer to a Top 10 penalty kill unit might have been enough to get them past the Sabres and Lightning.
This season, the Canadiens have brought in Derek Lalonde, and the penalty kill is already expected to be different. On Wednesday, a few players discussed the changes they are expecting this season.
Jake Evans was asked if the plan is to have more people on the penalty kill due to the Canadiens wanting to be more aggressive this season. "I think the way we're going to be killing it, it might get a little bit more fatiguing," Evans said. "So if you always have guys ready and even if you have to use them, guys knowing what they have to do, if they need to get out there, it's a good idea."
Josh Anderson was asked a similar question in what he sees the workload being for the penalty kill, with more players being part of their penalty kill. "It's a little different system than what we're used to, but I kind of like what [Derek Lalonde] has brought to our team with the PK being a little bit more aggressive," Anderson said.
Derek Lalonde has had success in previous stops with the penalty kill
Lalonde joined the Montreal Canadiens in July after not being brought back on the Toronto Maple Leafs' new coaching staff under Jim Hiller. Last season, the Maple Leafs had a season they would want to forget, but the penalty kill didn't suffer, and they finished eighth in the league in penalty kill.
He didn't have the same success with his penatly kill units during his two-and-a-half seasons as head coach of the Red Wings, but in the four seasons prior to joining Detroit, he was an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning. In each of those four seasons, the Lightning finished in the top half of the league in penalty kill percentage and even had Top 5 units in two of them.
The Montreal Canadiens have the players to be successful on the penalty kill with Jake Evans and Josh Anderson, along with Phillip Danault and Mike Matheson, all of whom had over 100 minutes of penalty kill time last season. In addition, the Canadiens could work in players like Zachary Bolduc or Florian Xhekaj (if he earns a spot on the Montreal Canadiens out of training camp) or possibly the Selke Trophy-winning Nick Suzuki.
After a deep playoff run, the expectations are even higher for the Montreal Canadiens and an improved penalty kill will go a long way in helping them meet those lofty goals.
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