The Montreal Canadiens have a 4-5-1 record after 10 games, but somehow it’s been much worse than that. After allowing eight outs against Seattle, the Canadiens had a chance at redemption in Washington, D.C
However, the same dreaded ‘goals against’ problem has cropped up again. They were beaten 6-3.
Wild horses
It’s preparation. The release is very fast. The result is that the goalkeeper is not yet ready to shoot. Cole Caufield has great shooting speed, and his accuracy is excellent, but not enough attention is paid to how quickly he can shoot long.
It was that quick release that got the Canadiens on the board in the second period. Caufield has been one of the few bright spots on the season and has lifted Nick Suzuki to better than a point per game as well.
Caufield has dazzled goaltenders this season with 10 goals in 11 games to become one of the leading scorers to start a season in Canadiens history. There will definitely be a lot of regression, as his shooting percentage is an impossible 30 on the season.
The other big bright spot this season has been Len Hutson who still looks shockingly comfortable in tight situations with a lot of minutes. The youngsters are struggling on defense this season, and you can infer that the younger and younger ones are going to have a hard time getting comfortable in the big man game.
Hutson has little difficulty. He does not have the physical presence to disrupt offensive attacks against him, so he becomes aggressive and takes up time and space, often in a surprising manner. It works. He needs some help from his partner when the cycle is low, but even then, he is by no means lost.
His shortcomings are so rarely seen that one becomes even more excited about his impressive offensive skill set. Even though it’s early in the season, Hutson’s rate of attacking chances is higher than any defender in the league. He really struggled with his teammates not converting many quality passes.
Hutson looked to have scored his first goal of the season with a quick volley into the top corner, but it turned out that Brendan Gallagher had the stick in the score. Hutson will have to wait for his first goal.
However, late in the period, Hutson was again assisted on Nick Suzuki’s tally as he collected an excellent pass from David Savard. Suzuki now has 13 points this season in 11 games. Hutson is up to seven points already. That’s a solid total for a player who just got his feet wet.
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Wild Goat
A common usage for the NHL in 2024 on the power play is just one defenseman, but with the manpower the Canadiens have, they might be better with two defensemen like the good old days. They are in a diamond formation often playing power when they set up, but this often means they don’t have enough presence at the point to keep the puck.
They have also fallen victim to the odd man rush a lot this season with the extra man. In fact, if not for the offside down the ice, they would have allowed a shorthanded goal. The challenge was made and the Canadians won the challenge.
If Hutson and Mike Matheson are in the first unit together, one of Kirby Dach or Juraj Slafkovsky will have to be pushed to the second unit. It will be worth it. Honestly, the most talented player on the ice with the man advantage is Hutson. He should draft the best players on the first unit.
The Canadiens should line up with two solid defensemen. Matheson is an old school classic. Shoots or passes to any of the half walls. Although he gets a lot of points each season, he is not a dynamic player on the power play. Hutson is dynamic and should show more.
Hutson already gets a lot of minutes per game, so the organization may be wary of adding more minutes to his total, but everyone knows that change will come one day. The child creates. There’s no denying it. He will be a special player.
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This complaint clearly takes a back seat due to the club’s significant inability to prevent the ball from entering their net. After the eight they allowed on Tuesday, it was six in the first 28 shots on Thursday. For these young players not to improve on last year is acceptable on the long journey of gaining experience, but it is also a bit worrying that there has been a decline.
The club last year defensively was better than this. They can’t keep goal, they can’t keep the ball out of the net.
Wild cards
It’s disappointing how much heat coach Martin St. Louis is getting this early in the season. A coach loses the media and fan base when he feels the club should be much better than it is.
Expectations were high that this season would be the turning point in the rebuilding. However, that was before several negative events occurred.
The high expectations had a strong second line in them, but Patrik Laine hurt his knee, Kirby Dutch couldn’t find his game, and Alex Newhook wasn’t involved enough. The second line has barely scored a goal, and with only one line, no one should expect a winning streak.
We also felt like the Blue Liners would simply get to the NHL and start dominating the first 100 games of their careers. Again, to step back and evaluate from the outside, young defenders struggle all the time. It is rare for a defender to perform well at 20 years old.
You can be pretty sure there is no heat in St. Louis in the Canadiens front office, nor in the locker room. They have a strong belief that he knows exactly what he is doing, and everyone respects him at a high level.
What has to happen for the Heat to get rid of a head coach is that everyone has to lower their expectations. This is difficult because it means admitting that an error was made in the evaluation before the start of the season.
Admit it here: I made a mistake. Without a second line, and with this young blue line making mistakes, they won’t be in the mix. This is not the coach’s fault. It’s all part of the rebuilding process that takes longer than we’d like.
We must look for gradual progress with a focus on enjoying the better days for players, while realizing that there will be some bad days as well.
All this does not mean that the organization did anything wrong. It just means it takes time. This time has to be given to the head coach or it will get ugly, and it will be unfair.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sportswriter, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after every Canadiens game.
