Greetings Habs Addicts!
The Montreal Canadiens are 8-2-1 heading into this evening's game against the Calgary Flames. The record is certainly misleading on how they have played to this point. They have shown tremendous character by winning six of those games by one-goal margins, often after trailing to start the game. They have also scored three goals or less in eight of their eleven games (5-3 in those games) this season. The team is even in goals for/against at 29/29 and they are averaging only 2.4 goals per game while allowing 2.6 goals per game. While the penalty-killing is just as strong as last year (86.7%; 6th best in the NHL) the power-play has been power-less with only a 9.4% conversion rate (three goals in 32 attempts; two of the goals were scored in the same game). The Canadiens have been relying on all-world goaltender Carey Price to keep them in the games and he has thus far delivered. But is this a smoke and mirrors start or will the team turn things around offensively?
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| Dale Weise & P.K. Subban. Photo Credit: montreal.ctvnews.ca |
A couple of weeks back, HabsAddicts' own Fred Poulin analyzed the struggling power-play and offered up a hockey player's perspective on what is going wrong and how it can be corrected. Since that time, the Canadiens have not converted a power-play goal (five games; 12 power-play opportunities). Clearly the rest of the NHL has keyed in on P.K. Subban being the catalyst to the Habs' offense with the man advantage. Subban spends most of his time at the point awaiting an opportunity to unleash his booming slap-shot at the net. But Subban is rarely moved from the point this season and any hockey player will tell you that a stationary target is much easier to defend then a moving target.
Subban is an extremely talented offensive defenseman. His right-handed shot is one of the hardest point shots in hockey. He is very similar in that regard to Shea Weber, the right-handed shooting all-star from the Nashville Predators. Weber last year led all defensemen in scoring with 23 goals. A video montage of all of his 2013-14 goals can be found on YouTube. For those who do not wish to take the link to the video, the summary of this goals based on location on the ice are as follows:
The same page on YouTube also has a summary video of all of P.K. Subban's goals from last year's regular season and playoffs. Again, for those who do not wish to view the video the summary of those goals relative to position on the ice are as follows:
One noticeable difference, aside from Weber having more goals (23 regular season vs 15 for Subban in regular season/playoffs) is that Weber pinches more on rushes and power-plays and scored eight of his goals from within the face-off circles or the slot area whereas Subban is more content to stick to the blue line and fire lasers. As we have seen from some of his rushes, including his gorgeous breakaway goal against Colorado this season, Subban has the stick-handling ability to fight through traffic and score from in close. Having a player like Subban floating along the blue line waiting for one-timers is a waste of his immense talent. There is no reason why Subban cannot score 20+ goals in this league if utilized correctly.
Another difference in the videos is that in almost every single one of Weber's goals, there is traffic in front of the net. The Predators have never had top-level scoring talent on their roster. They are always a defence-first grinding team who scores by committee and yet they have a player leading the NHL in goals by a defenceman; one who's biggest weapon is a slap-shot, not necessarily creative stick-handling. They achieve this by having one or two bodies in front of the net, providing enough of a screen on the goalie that he cannot pick up the shot right away. If you cannot locate the shot coming at you from that velocity, you are not saving it. Ask a Major League Baseball hitter if he can hit a 100 MPH fastball if he does not pick it up right away out of the pitcher's hand. He will tell you there is no chance. And they are not being screened.
P.K. Subban has that kind of shot.
The Canadiens do not have a big body in front of the net on the power-play this year. Teams are keying on Subban and the goalie is getting a view of the shot as it comes in. Brendan Gallagher does what he can up front, but he does not have the size to truly screen the goalies, as most of them in the NHL are well over six-feet tall. Max Pacioretty is a sniper, not a net crasher. Little David Desharnais is not screening anyone and Alex Galchenyuk is not a power-forward.
Good power-plays have traffic in front of the net. In their primes, both Todd Bertuzzi and John LeClair were forces to deal with in front of the net. Boston uses Milan Lucic in that role. Pittsburgh has Chris Kunitz to bang home rebounds. Montreal does not have skilled players with size like this on the roster. But they do have one gritty player who is skilled enough to hold his own with the puck and big enough to stand in front of the net and bang in rebounds. One player who can use his tremendous speed to get to the corner and win battles for the loose puck off dump-ins. That player is Dale Weise.
Weise is not a sniper. He is not a pure goal-scorer, but he is a strong and sturdy presence who can get in front of the net and take the abuse from an opposing defender. He showed in the playoffs that he can score a big goal and win the battles. With skilled shooters such as Pacioretty and Subban on the ice along with puck-handlers such as Galchenyuk or Desharnais and the general at the point in Markov, having a player like Weise on the ice to take the onus off Gallagher in front of the net could be an effective way to occupy a defender up front and force two bodies to be blocking the view of the goaltender. If the Canadiens can find ways to move Subban into the slot or pinch from the blue-line more, there is no reason why the Habs cannot have a Shea Weber of their own. We do not need Weise to score 20 goals, just create a solid screen and occupy a defender and let the goal scorers do their work.
When trying to score goals the conventional way is not working, it may be time to think outside the box. Teams are keying on the point with Subban and the Canadiens are not generating any traffic in front of the goal. That is allowing the four defenders to box them out and keep the Canadiens on the perimeter. There is no reason to take a defender away from Subban. Forcing one of those four to fight Weise in the slot will open up more space for Subban to maneuver around. Allowing him to pinch into the circles or the slot to shoot will give a screened goalie even less time to locate and react to one of the NHL's hardest shots. Like a the ball player trying to hit the fastball, you will not hit what you cannot see.
Michel Therrien is making some changes to his line pairings tonight against Calgary. What he should be doing is changing his power-play strategy. It has been ineffective all year long.
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Nick Malofy is a transplanted Montrealer, currently living in evil LeafLand. He is a contributor here at HabsAddict.com and give him a follow, as he can often be found rambling on Twitter.
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