The Montreal Canadiens have gotten off to a hot start this season. It’s certainly an early return, but Samuel Montembault was the best goaltender in the league in Week 1.
However, that ended in a bad night for Montembault and the Canadiens defense as the Pittsburgh Penguins won 6-3.
Wild horses
The rebuilding has many facets, but one of the difficulties the Canadiens face is that he hasn’t become one of the best ever. Stars are the ones who win Cups, and while Montreal has a ton of new players with potential, no one has put up big numbers or shown a skill set that suggests they’re in that star category.
The top line has been solid for long stretches, but no one has averaged a point per game, and the club is still searching for a top 40-goal scorer this century. The answer may be Ivan Demidov, the No. 5 overall prospect in 2024, who has a tremendous skill set.
On defense, the same problem continues as Montreal looks for someone to elevate their game and become a top-tier defender. Montreal is looking for a defender who can stop the best players in the game. They want a player who can take the lead when the game is on the line.
Enter Kaiden Guhle, who Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said of Saturday night: “You don’t win in this league consistently without defensemen like Kaiden Guhle. He plays against all the big players.”
Guhle has been knocking on the door, and he may have finally broken through this season. Guhle has clearly raised his game. It’s great timing considering he had an appendectomy just three weeks ago and had a short camp with just one preseason game.
Guhle looks like a first-pair defender. It shuts down the top players. The Canadiens have spent a lot of time around their goaltender, but when Ghoul is involved, the opposition has yet to score a goal this season.
It was Gohle who put the Canadiens on the scoreboard in the first period with a steal. Guhle now has a plus/minus rating of plus 6. He leads the team by a large margin. He also leads the team in advanced statistics such as Corsi and expected goals.
Aside from the first-choice goalkeeper, Gohle has been the club’s most consistent player so far, with only Len Hutson approaching him in defence. Once again, St. Louis rotated its pairs in the second period to bring the two together further. It looks like Hutson and Guhle could become a regular pair.
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The Canadiens were bad in the beginning, but in the second, they turned things around to have their best stretch of the season. Nick Suzuki had a two-point night. On the power play, Suzuki fed a pass to Juraj Slavkovski and all he had to do was put it into a wide-open net.
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Emil Heinemann then gave the Canadiens their first lead of the night with a rocket shot. General manager Kent Hughes demanded that Heineman be the intended forward in the trade with Calgary and that the shot he possesses was the reason.
To be a regular player in the NHL, a player must have at least one strong skill. When this skill is a howitzer shot, there is a lot of patience required for the other parts of the game to mature. With this shot, Heinemann will score goals. He looks solid enough defensively to not be expensive. Heinemann may have a good future.
He’s been a pleasant surprise so far this season, and if you’re going to overcome Montreal’s dire expectations, you need surprises.
Wild Goat
The Canadiens didn’t get their first shot until six minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the first period. They seem to be stuck in the quicksand of their own area. They were unable to win pucks and finished second in pucks. They didn’t have constant pressure.
The backbone of the change this season for the Canadiens is the second line. It was terrible last year. Second-worst goal total in the league for the second line, ahead of only San Jose. The return of Kirby Dutch hasn’t made a difference so far this season.
Dak is no longer the same player after his reconstructive knee surgery. He’s showing caution which is normal because he’s probably feeling some fear about the strength of that knee. He doesn’t skate either. Again, the organization must hope this is temporary.
Patience is required for Ladakh. It was a big injury. Both mind and body need to feel good again. Without Dak as a catalyst at the position thanks to his leadership abilities, Alex Newhook and Joel Armia don’t do much.
If the second line is dominated like it was last year, this season won’t be much different. It’s simple that way. The team reaches the playoffs with 35 goals from its second line when 70 is the goal.
Stay tuned. Be patient. There’s still plenty of season left, but this isn’t the same Dutch, and this is a frustrating start.
Wild cards
The Canadiens’ results have far outpaced their analysis this season. The win-loss record is good, but the underlying numbers are not good at all. The only analysis that is in Montreal’s favor is Montembault’s goaltending.
To start the season, Montembault in his first two games posted an above-expected 6.6 goals saved. This is a large number for an entire season. Second is Cam Talbot at 3.9. Being 2.5 goals behind in second place is shocking and unsustainable.
However, that’s the end of the good news. Montreal needs to play better than they have so far, especially defensively. Last year, the top line was able to put up strong numbers, flirting with 60 shares of expected goals. However, this year, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slavkovski are having issues. They only have 40 servings.
None of the fonts work well. Kirby Dutch has been a play-action driver, but he hasn’t impacted Joel Armia or Alex Newhook in any positive way. This line has only 31 expected goals shares. These numbers are very alarming. It may not seem like it now, but it cannot continue in the long term.
In defence, same issues, all partnerships hovering around 40 or worse, with the exception of Kayden Guhle and Len Hutson who have 71 runs which is seventh in the entire league.
Goalkeeping cannot be relied upon over and over again. Ultimately, the Canadiens have to play more hockey on the other club’s end, and have a better share of playoff opportunities.
The best that can be said about all of this is that the sample size is short. Fortunately, short samples can be distorted.
Montreal-based sportswriter Brian Wilde brings you the Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after every Canadiens game.
