When Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes took over as the Habs’ two-headed management team, their openly admitted goal was to rebuild the team and acquire enough high-end talent to allow the Canadiens to compete for the Stanley cup for more than a few seasons.
After years of trying to come up with gameplans to counter the opposing team’s superior talent, Montreal has turned the tables. The Canadiens force opposing teams to adapt to them instead. Of course they’re still a young team (youngest in the NHL for the second straight season), they’ll make mistakes and there are certainly things to clean up after giving up 37 shots to the offensively challenged Calgary Flames, but it’s been very encouraging to see this team find ways to win by overcoming their shortcomings through hard work and talent.
If you need the perfect example of this change, just look at how Martin St. Louis is now approaching 3-on 3-overtime. The time of sending defensively sound players out there to prevent the other team’s stars from scoring is over. Montreal now has to weapons to actually be the aggressor with the likes of Caufield, Suzuki, Demidov, Hutson, Matheson, Dobson leading the charge. Montreal now has three wins and zero losses in overtime situations and these extra points accumulated each time could very well be the difference between making or missing the playoffs at the end of the year.
Dobes deserves to keep playing
I’ve said it for a few years now, I think Samuel Montembeault is a good goaltender. In the past few years, he was always amongst the best goaltenders in the league in many important stats including goals saved above average and save percentage against high scoring chances. While he hasn’t played his best hockey since the season began, I’m sure he’ll get many opportunities to claim back his number one goaltender status during the long grind that is a NHL season. The first one coming very quickly as Montreal plays their second of back-to-back games against the Edmonton Oilers.
This being said, there is absolutely no reason to remove Jakub Dobes between the pipes right now. We’ve always known Dobes had a very high potential with his combination of size, athletic abilities and compete level but his lack of experience was showing last season in his first NHL season. I think we can see alot more poise from him so far this season and it makes complete sense to ride the hot goalie for as long as it lasts as Dobes currently sits 2nd in the entire NHL for both save percentage (.950) and goals allowed per game (1.47). The Canadiens will need both their goaltenders to perform well and if Dobes and Montembeault end up splitting the net as a 1A/1B kind of tendem, it will only make the team that much stronger.
Canadiens injury update on players we miss… a little?
Patrik Laine and Kirby Dach (aka the usual suspects on the injury list) have had very different updates on their conditions this week. Dach is set to return against Edmonton tonight while reports have Laine seeking a second opinion on his lower body injury. I’m glad Dach is coming back as he’s a significant improvement over Owen Beck or Joshua Roy. I’m also curious to see him between two of the new additions on the team in Bolduc and Veleno as both players are playing very well considering their respective expectations.
As for Laine, despite all the talent he holds, I cannot say I’ve missed him. Both powerplay units are working fine without him and, in his absence, I’m sure the coaching staff are able to form lines that have a clear identity instead of somehow needing to plug in a player that’s quite simply a liability in most 5 on 5 situations. I do think Laine’s been trying his best to try and meet the expectations of Martin St-Louis, but it doesn’t feel like the fast game the Canadiens are playing is suited for him.
Appreciating Alex Newhook
When Kent Hughes acquired Alex Newhook in 2023 in exchange for a late first and a second round pick, it wasn’t clear what kind of player they were getting. Newhook showed interesting skill and most of all impressive speed, but his ability to play at centre or even as a regular top 6 player was very much in question.
Two years later, it’s become more and more obvious Newhook’s ideal role would be on a third line, ideally on the wing. This being said, the Habs also decided to use Newhook’s speed to good use on the penalty kill this year and it’s been a fantastic fit for both the player and the team. He has capably replaced Dvorak on the 2nd penalty kill unit, helping the team maintain a respectable 79% success rate despite losing key players in that department. He most likely increased his own value as he enters year 3 of his 4 year deal he signed with the Canadiens after the trade. Most teams wouldn’t consider Newhook as a fit on their top six or powerplay, but if he can keep being an effective penalty killer and use his speed as a potential threat to even score goals in this situation, we may have found the right “fit” for this player moving forward.
Oh and of course, playing with a player like Ivan Demidov also helps him shine but let’s give him credit where it’s due, he’s been doing his part alongside Oliver Kapanen to make this line work.
Two more games to play on this western road trip for the Habs as they look to remain at the top of the Atlantic division. They might not stay there all season, but they are certainly making me want to stay up late just to watch them have, on most nights, the edge on talent and give us a show worth watching.
Thank you all for reading and have a nice day!
