by Corey Desormeaux , Managing Editor, All Habs Hockey Magazine

OTTAWA, ON – Welp, just like that it’s my turn to try and answer your questions about the Habs. Stick-tap to my buddy and colleague Marc for holding it down in his first Mailbag edition. We will continue to switch week by week until our readers make an absolute fuss.

In all seriousness, I really enjoy doing the Mailbag and I hope you’ve been enjoying the responses thus far. Keep the questions coming!

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Do you have a question or a topic you would like us to discuss? Okay, here’s what you can do.

Let us know:

1. who you are
2. where you’re from
3. if you wish, send us a photo of you in your favourite Habs gear
4. who’s your favorite player, present or past
5. and of course, your question

You can contact us via Twitter, our Facebook page or send an email.

We’ll feature you, and your question, in the All Habs Mailbag!

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Michel Therrien said that he sometimes puts Mike Brown on a line with Alex Galchenyuk when Alex is getting bumped around. Seems to me that Brown on the first line is an advantage to the Habs opponent, so wouldn’t this mean that Galchenyuk would be sure to get hit even more? — Evan (Fernie, BC)

Hi Evan,

Let me begin by saying I’ve always been envious of our fellow fans on the West Coast. I can’t imagine how good life would be if Habs games would start as the workday ended and my bedtime would never exceed 9pm.

Anyway…

This is a very unpopular opinion, but I like Mike Brown for a number of reasons. He gives his all every single shift, understands his role on the team and positioning, plays with an edge while rarely taking poor penalties, and he’s quick enough to play 4^th line minutes in the NHL.

That said, there are a lot of things Mike Brown is bad at. Like…shooting, puck-handling and vision.

You’re right in saying that playing Mike Brown on the top line is an advantage to the Habs opponent. You can put any other Canadiens winger on that line and their chances of scoring would increase. Whether Mike Brown is on the ice or not makes no difference in the amount of times Galchenyuk is hit. This is the NHL, no one is passing up a clean hit regardless of who is on the ice.

In the game I believe you are referring to, Galchenyuk took a run at the net and took the opposing goalie with him. The game was quite chippy after this happened between whistles. What I think Michel Therrien was trying to do here was avoid after whistle scrums involving Galchenyuk.

@xCoreyDx @AllHabs nice to see DPS doing well on his new team what is wrong with coach and management on this team?

— Larry Michaud (@michaudlarry) March 21, 2016

 

Thanks for your question Larry. I’m going to be quick with my answer to this one. Rest-assured it’s not because I don’t like you Larry, but because thinking about the many things that are wrong with the coach and management will make me sick. I don’t like being sick, Larry.

My co-host Marc and I discussed DSP on Habs Banter this week. Neither of us believes this one is on the coach or management, despite their many problems.

A CTV Montreal reporter is convinced that Steven Stamkos will choose Montreal over Toronto. Is this even a possibility? — Alex (Candiac, QC.)

Alex, this would rule. And the CTV Reporter isn’t the first of this opinion either as Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet has said the same. Although Stamkos may very well have Montreal higher on his list than Toronto, he also has to have Montreal higher than the rest of the NHL teams. Even if Montreal is Steven’s number one destination, the team has to free up a lot of cap space to sign a player of his calibre. So while I believe it is a possibility, I am definitely not holding my breath or making any side bets.

Do you think that the Oilers would trade down from a top-3 draft position to get a defencemen? What would the Habs have to add to their first round pick (8-10 overall) to get the Oilers pick? — Wyatt (Newmarket, ON)

Hi Wyatt,

This draft has a lot of hype surrounding it. Trading into the top-3 will be more difficult in comparison to some other drafts. There’s elite offensive talent in the top-3 with Matthews, Laine and Puljujarvi projected as the top picks, something Montreal clearly lacks.

With that said, outside of the top-3 picks there’s some real good talent as well, Marc wrote about some of them in the last edition of the Mailbag. I guess what I am trying to say is that if the Habs are picking between 8-10 I don’t think they’d trade the pick. However, I think I know where your mind is going. The Oilers need defenceman and there are some attractive prospects that could fall to the 8-10 position. The Canadiens need elite scoring and that could be available in the top-3. Seems like the perfect recipe…

If a trade were to happen, I think the Canadiens would have package a young defenceman like Nathan Beaulieu or Noah Juulsen, a serviceable forward with a friendly cap hit (think Eller or Andrighetto) and their first round pick to make it happen.

 

https://twitter.com/jazzyjay47/status/711717747038748674

Good question Jay. I am not convinced the Montreal Canadiens need a “big” shakeup but the names you’ve mentioned in your question are players I can definitely see Marc Bergevin acquiring interest on. However, I only see one of the three as “tradable”.

Plekanec – In my opinion, the time to trade Plekanec was last season before he signed his extension. As an upcoming unrestricted free agent he would have been a nice trade chip for Marc Bergevin. However, the 33 year old, who has spent his whole career with the Montreal Canadiens, will count for $6 million against the cap until his contract expires at the end of the 2017-18 season. His contract and age are the reasons why Plekanec is untradeable this offseason.

For the record, I love Tomas Plekanec. In my eyes, he’s Mr. Reliable, I even wrote about it! He’s one of the most underrated, underappreciated players in the game. He’s defensively sound and a 50 to 60 point producer. With all that said, his point production has taken a dip this year and his current contract will take him to the age of 35. It’s difficult to imagine a team taking on his $6 million cap hit with his best years behind him.

Desharnais – How do I say he’s untradeable politely?

Desharnais is a player I liked in the past. Rising from the ECHL, he’s a true underdog story (I’m just setting the stage so I can crush him with what I write without feeling too bad).

Since Michel Therrien’s arrival, Desharnais has had every opportunity to succeed in Montreal. He’s been given the privilege of favourable deployment, the most skilled linemates on the team, powerplay time, and first line minutes.  However, he has never hit 20 goals; in fact he has only hit 15 goals twice in his career. Now, I realise he’s hit 60 points once, even 50 points once, but his Individual Points Percentage (IPP) has only been over 65 twice. IPP is the percentage of goals scored while the player is on the ice in which the player had a point on.

Between 2011-15 Desharnais’ IPP averages at 60.9%. Canadiens player’s with a higher IPP over said time include, Lars Eller, Brandon Prust, Dale Weise, Torrey Mitchell, Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec. Furthermore, Desharnais is credited with a lot of secondary assists. Colleague Chris Nardella refers to a tweet from Editor-in-Chief Rick Stephens in his latest piece about Desharnais. One could argue that Desharnais has been masked by Pacioretty’s success, something that might scare teams off.

Desharnais is not the type of player to create space on the ice. He’s not a strong skater; he’s soft on the puck, and rarely wins one-on-one battles. He’s got great vision, but often passes up shooting opportunities looking for the perfect play. What I am trying to say here is he doesn’t bring much to the table.

This, compounded with the fact that he has a cap hit of $3.5M I can’t imagine teams lining up to trade for this guy. Some comparable contracts include Kyle Turris, Cam Atkinson, Mark Stone and Mikael Backlund. The first three have been 20 goal scorers multiple times in their young careers and the later is a defensively sound third line centre in Calgary.

With all of this said, I do think the team looks to trade him given the logjam at the centre position and the fact that he should be at least 4^th on the depth chart at the position. But in order to do so I think the Habs would have to lose the deal with the opposing team taking Desharnais’ contract as compensation.

Emelin – My favourite player. You’d know I am kidding if you listened to the latest episode of Habs Banter.

Out of the list you’ve provided me I think Emelin is the most likely to be traded and here’s why…

On July 1, Alexei Emelin’s full no-trade clause expires and his modified no-trade clause kicks in. This means that Emelin needs to provide the organization with a short list of teams that he would accept a trade to. The Habs have the most expensive defensive core in the league, and clearing Emelin’s $4.1 million cap hit would go a long way in opening up space to acquire a top-six forward.

Emelin has spent the bulk of his career playing in the top-4, something many teams around the league value. Emelin plays with a physical edge to his game, and rarely takes chances offensively. He has done a lot to improve on his puck-handling skills this season and I’m hoping teams have been paying attention. I think the Canadiens feel he is expendable given that Greg Pateryn can fill his role and most likely exceed what Emelin brings to the table at much lower cost.