In Hainsight: Habs Are Free Falling

After taming the Bruins in an entertaining and thrilling win on November 11, the Canadiens have been unable to find any kind of energy or momentum. They’ve lost the four games they played this last week, and it wasn’t pretty. They were outscored 18-10 on the week by the Canucks, Flames, Golden Knights and Bruins. It’s the second time they lost four games in a row this season, and another loss against Anaheim on Wednesday would make it their longest losing streak of the year.

On top of plummeting in the standings, the Habs are also starting to have more than their fair share of injuries. Kirby Dach went down for the season in the 2^nd game of the year, David Savard still has weeks to go before returning, Arber Xhejkaj was taken out of the game against Vegas when he was hit by Barbashev and is now being evaluated daily for an upper-body injury, and Rafael Harvey Pinard was just added to injured reserve which prompted the team to recall Jayden Struble. If Xhekaj is not ready to return on Wednesday (which seems highly likely as he’s not travelling with the team today) when the Habs will take on Anaheim, Struble could make his NHL debut. Recalling him was the right thing to do, he’s been a rock in Laval since the start of the season and it will send a message to Trudeau and Norlinder, who were cut later at camp. Recalls have to be earned. They are not just handed out.

The lack of recent success of late has made “Team Tank” awaken from its deep slumber and a part of the Canadiens’ fans are openly wishing for a lottery draft pick and the opportunity to pick an impactful offensive forward. It’s easy to understand why this would be their wish, as the Canadiens are struggling to score once again this season (21^st in goals for and 27^th in goals against). While the power play has improved this year (18^th in the league with a 20% success rate), you can’t rely on the man advantage to win games, especially not when your team lacks discipline and lands in the penalty box way too often.

Of course, this means that what the Canadiens need right now is to improve their scoring at even strength. The Habs’ best players on paper will have to start being their best players on the ice as well. 18 games in, Cole Caufield has got just five games (the same amount as Brendan Gallagher) which means he’s on pace for 23 goals on the season and that’s clearly not enough. I mean, no one should expect Caufield to be scoring 50 goals per season yet, but he got 26 in just 46 games last year, meaning he’s underperforming right now.

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Montreal has said it often enough since the start of the campaign: their emphasis is not on results but on players’ development. Granted, there is more to players’ development than the points they are getting, but when you are the team’s sniper, it’s normal for fans and trainers alike to look at the goal total.

Martin St-Louis is using an attacking style of play with his team and while it’s very entertaining hockey to watch (when it works), it’s hard to play that style with the roster he currently has in hand. If this team is to be a contender eventually, it will need a good injection of firepower. Sure, Joshua Roy is looking very good in the AHL right now. He’s tied for second in scoring in the league at 18 points in 15 games, but he’s only got those 15 games of experience as a pro hockey player. Logic dictates that he needs more seasoning with the Rocket before being called up, especially if the pressure is on for the Canadiens to produce.

For now, the Canadiens will need to find a way to get their offense going. St-Louis seemed to want to do it by changing his line on Saturday, but the Habs’ lack of effort and involvement made it hard to evaluate the new combination. Still, I hope the coach sticks to those lines on Wednesday, giving himself a chance to see if that could work. I’ve been advocating for splitting up the “grey haired line” for a while, but Saturday was the first time Sean Monahan was put on the same line as Slafkovsky, who can benefit from Monahan’s hockey IQ and adaptability. Furthermore, Jesse Ylonen, who had two goals in Thursday’s game, was given a promotion to complete the line. I really need to see more or it…