Similar to last season, but after 29 games and a 17-10-2 this time, the Montreal Canadiens have seen their first place overall in the NHL evaporate due to poor play in recent weeks, going 3-6-1 in their last ten games and failing to win consistently, especially on the road.
First in the NHL not a long time ago, the Canadiens are now ranked 11th in the league with only a seven-point lead of the ninth place Florida Panthers who have four games in hand on the Habs...
Let’s see 10 reasons why Michel Therrien needs to change his way of coaching or to be fired if GM Marc Bergevin and owner Geoff Molson have any hopes to see their team make the playoffs this season.
1. The slow starts almost every game: the Canadiens have scored only NINE GOALS in the first period, good for last place in the NHL. At the same time, the team is 6th in the league with 26 goals allowed in the first frame for a goal differential of -18 in the first period. -18! You cannot give up the lead every game and expect to win every time. Therrien just can't seem to prepare his team correctly. The Canadiens are the only playoff team with a negative goal differential this season (-2).
2. His ingrained man-crush on David Desharnais. While I like David as a person, Therrien needs to stop giving him every chance to succeed and remove him from Max Pacioretty's line. The diminutive pivot has only one even-strength goal this season and two in 29 games. He only has 15 points overall and is currently on pace for a mere 42 points over a full season. Despite his lack of offensive production, the head coach keeps giving him first power play duties as well as plenty of ice time. In Dallas, Desharnais played a season-low 14:43 minutes... that's not what I call "benching".
3. His consistent use of veterans such as Bryan Allen, Mike Weaver or Tom Gilbert over youngsters Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi. The two young defensemen are currently playing in the AHL while the above veterans keep making mistake after mistake. The same happened up front with Rene Bourque and Travis Moen who had to be traded by Marc Bergevin so that rookie Jiri Sekac could draw into the line-up every night.
4. His constant line juggling and questionable decisions regarding his offensive lines and defensive duos. For example, Therrien keeps pairing two righties together in Gilbert and Weaver, while he sticks two lefties together in Gonchar and Emelin. His constant use of grinder Dale Weise on a line with David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty is comical at best.
5. His affinity for a dump-and-chase style of play with a passive forecheck is not working. Because of the small size of the club’s forwards, the Habs would be better suited to adopt a west-east approach instead of a north-south strategy that is simply not working. The team needs to penetrate the offensive zone with the puck instead of dumping it and failing to retrieve it. The Habs need to forecheck with two forwards and use their speed to create turnovers in the offensive zone instead of letting the opposing teams come out of their zone too easily and enter the neutral zone without any pressure.
6. The utilization of natural center Alex Galchenyuk on the wing, even though players like Lars Eller and David Desharnais have struggled mightily at times. We finally saw Chucky at center last game due to the injury to Eller, but we can bet he will be back on the left wing for the contest against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
7. Poor defensive positioning had led to numerous scoring chances from the opposing teams and if it were not for Carey Price’s and Dustin Tokarski's stellar play, the Canadiens would have a far worse record. The defensemen have a hard time making a good first pass, often icing the puck because of an inaccurate pass or clearing the puck by the boards with the wingers having no real opportunity to catch the pass and make a clear exit of the defensive zone. The team is so discombobulated in the defensive zone that the opponents have been able to take advantage of this flaw.
8. The indiscipline of the team: while the Canadiens are 28th in the league with only 76 power play opportunities, and converting them at a dismal 14.5% rate, the team is 29th in the NHL with 105 penalty kill situations so far. Luckily for Therrien, his PK unit is doing the job, killing 83.8% of the penalties good for 11th overall. The team's penalty ratio is a pedestrian -31 differential on the season, a big reason why the club is in a downward spiral at the moment.
Therrien is clueless most of the time.
9. The inability to adjust the power play units after the early season failure. The solution is quite simple as the team needs to use movement and quick passes to free up Subban and his lethal one-timer to have any kind of success. I analysed the situation a few weeks ago here.
10. His inability to adapt during games and to match up his lines, especially at home where he is supposed to have the advantage with the last change. We have often seen the Canadiens get caught with their fourth line on the ice while the opponent’s first line jumps on the ice; situations that often led to a goal.
Below you will find the Habs’ expected lines for Tuesday’s match-up against the Canucks:
Max Pacioretty – Alex Galchenyuk – Brendan Gallagher
Sven Andrighetto – Tomas Plekanec – Jiri Sekac
Michael Bournival – Deavid Desharnais – P-A Parenteau
Brandon Prust – Manny Malhotra – Dale Weise
Extra: Eric Tangradi
Once again I am puzzled at the hockey decisions made by Michel Therrien and his coaching staff.
As for the defensive pairings, nobody has a clue what the duos will be and who is going to play or be scratched since both Bryan Allen and Mike Weaver seem to be injured and the team has yet to call up another defenseman from Hamilton…
It sounds like Therrien is quickly losing his dressing room as a result of poor decisions this season…
Is it time to panic in Montreal, or it's simply a bump in the road?
