Christmas is just around the corner. We’re all making our lists to Santa Clause, hoping that he will help our teams with a holiday boost and leave a nice bonus in our stockings. For the Montreal Canadiens, there is still a lot to change. Despite the team is sitting eighth overall in the NHL, the Habs have struggled mightily with both offense and defense. Only goaltending is the most consistent area night in, night out.
So all I want for Christmas is this:
Bryan Allen needs to stay in the press box. The six foot five, 34 year old has only played five games with the Habs since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for Rene Bourque (YAY), but that is still five games too many. The defender reminds me of another useless defenseman from last season. The always frustrating Douglas Murray. Allen is slow and hasn’t really shown any indication that he should be getting playing time over Nathan Beaulieu or Jarred Tinordi. In his fourth game with the Habs which was against the Buffalo Sabres, in the second part of the back to back, Sabres right winger Chris Stewart got on a breakaway with Allen and Mike Weaver behind him. Weaver tried to hook Stewart’s stick while Allen just tapped on Stewart’s ankle, just to let him know that he was behind him. Allen hasn’t played since December 3rd, a Habs loss to the Minnesota Wild, but let’s hope he stays in the press box. He is also contagious with the mumps disease right now, so maybe he could have a mild case of the mumps until his contract expires in July?
Galchenyuk stays at centre. Lars Eller was hurt in the Habs versus Chicago Blackhawks game, and while we should never wish injury upon any player, this worked out for the best. Galchenyuk, who was drafted as a centre, was finally placed at his natural position for the past two games. Even better was that he bumped David Desharnais from the first line with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher. While Galchenyuk hasn’t posted any points yet as a centre, he has been very efficient in the circle, posting above 60% success in his first full two games as a centre. He hasn’t been relied upon for defensive zone starts much lately, only starting two faceoffs in the defensive zone and losing both, but he is truly a threat in the offensive zone, winning a whopping 83% of his ozone starts in his first game, then a lower but still impressive 50% in his second. Practice will just make him even better and it will be interesting to see what happens when Eller is cleared to return, but the logical decision would be to keep Galchenyuk on the first line with Pacioretty and Gallagher.
Do something about David Desharnais. Now this is a touchy subject with all Habs fans. Half believe he is a valuable center and can still contribute offensively, while the other half believe he is useless and should be traded for a bag of pucks. I’m about in the middle. I don’t think he is a first line center, but I don’t think he is useless either. He can be a good third line center, but the third line center spot is reserved for Eller, who is currently injured. So when Eller does come back, what happens? Hopefully he doesn’t take his spot back on the first line and bump Galchenyuk back to a left wing. Does Desharnais take Galchenyuk’s spot on the wing? He did have some experience as a winger in his rookie season, so this could be an option. This also means that one of Michael Bournival or Sven Andrighetto will be sent down to the Hamilton Bulldogs or put in the press box. The press box isn’t the place for a young player on the rise. Another option would be trading Desharnais. He carries a 3.5 cap hit per year with another two years left on his contract so this may be a challenge for Marc Bergevin to move him, but if the Habs were to get a secondary scoring winger in return, this may be the best option seeing as how Galchenyuk, Plekanec, Eller, and Malhotra are a great mix down the middle. A trade still means that one of the youngsters needs to go down regardless though.
Work on the first period scoring dilemma. The Habs have scored an atrocious 10 goals in the first period, 29th in league behind Buffalo. Even the frigging Edmonton Oilers are ahead of the Habs with 15 goals in the first period. This is something that seriously needs to be reversed. The Habs also scored 29 goals in the second period, 11th in league, and 39 in the third, 2nd best in league. The Habs have been scored on 26 times in the first period, tied for sixth most in the league. This is more than double their input. The first period is one of the most important in games and for the Habs, it is no different. The comeback kids strategy will run out sooner or later and has already blown up in their faces a couple times so far this season. They play good hockey in the 2nd period, only being scored on 24 times, tied for 23rd, and 27 goals against in the 3rd period, tied for 11th. Ultimately the first period is where the most work is needed. If they can limit the goals in the first and score more, they can start actually being a contender, rather than pretending to be one.
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