The Montreal Canadiens announced today they signed Craig Ramsay to be their new coaching consultant. The Canadiens follow in the footsteps of the Toronto Maple Leafs hiring Jacques Lemaire, who was rumoured to be talking to the Canadiens about the same job.
Ramsay, 64, has a long history of coaching. A former Frank J. Selke trophy winner as a career player with the Buffalo Sabres, Ramsay was coaching an NHL team only two seasons after retiring as a hockey player. While his head coaching experience since 1986-87 has only amounted to 156 games with three teams over four seasons, Ramsay has been known as a successful assistant coach in the National Hockey League, winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lighning and being behind the bench most recently with the Edmonton Oilers. While Ramsay has been respected as a defensive minded coach, it’s his powerplay coaching that he brings the best possible tools to a National Hockey League team. And the Montreal Canadiens desperately need consulting in that category.
Craig Ramsay was named assistant coach of the Florida Panthers for the 2011-12 regular season behind head coach Kevin Dineen after Ramsay was dismissed from the Atlanta Thrashers (who just moved to Winnipeg). Ramsay took the powerplay to 7th in the league at 18.5%. In 2012-13, the Panthers plummeted to the bottom of the NHL standings after winning almost 40 games, but their powerplay improved to a 20.4%, good for 6th in the league. Ramsay was fired on November 8, 2013 along with Dineen and assistant coach Gord Murphy. The Panthers powerplay without Ramsay? 30th in the league, dropping to an abysmal 10%.
Ramsay spent a year off coaching any team, where his powerplay expertise was respected enough that NHL.com Senior Writer Dan Rosen asked him to give analysis on the St. Louis Blues powerplay struggles against the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. Ramsay’s words don’t sound so much like he’s talking about a Ken Hitchcock team but a Michel Therrien team.
“They’re relying on a single-concept power play, which is get it to the point and shoot it, or get it from the point to the half-wall and shoot it,” Ramsay said. “So they’re looking at 45- and 50-foot shots and hoping for some miracle shot, but I don’t see them with that guy, that big-time shooter. Chicago has recognized that and they’re just flexing out. They’re not ever afraid. They can take a penalty and they don’t get scared.”
While the Canadiens do have a big-time shooter in defenceman P.K. Subban, the 45 and 50 foot shots is all the powerplay did in 2014-15.
“The low guy never looked to the net, never took it to the net, never tried to pass through the crease, never tried any single thing to make Chicago come down,” Ramsay said. “There is no threat. If in fact you think your power play scores from out high, then you must show them something down low. You must threaten them with a low play to make them respect you and sag. If you can’t get them to sag, then penalty killers just giggle.
“St. Louis just has fallen in love with one concept, so they have to make a little switch.”
Sound like the powerplay that had a 5.5% in the playoffs last post-season? It’s no surprise that Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin made the call for Ramsay went Canadiens hall of famer Lemaire decided to go to Toronto. It likely came at the advice of assistant general manager Rick Dudley, who appointed Ramsay the Thrashers coach in their final season.
“Imagine this: They throw it low to the goal line and [David] Backes walks out, or they throw it low and [Jaden] Schwartz or [Vladimir] Tarasenko walks out with Backes in front,” Ramsay said. “You now have a 2-on-1 with a chance to score, and you’ve created fear in the Chicago Blackhawks.”
Replace Tarasenko with Max Pacioretty, Schwartz with Brendan Gallagher and Backes with Alex Galchenyuk and you got the kind of positive change Ramsay can bring in consulting for the Montreal Canadiens in 2015-16.
