by Blain Potvin, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
At the end of last season’s debacle, Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson sat in front of a crowd of journalists and fielded questions about a historically bad season. Bergevin used the term “attitude” an inordinate amount of times to explain what had gone wrong according to his perspective.
We can call it The Bergyscheme? The Molson Method? A plan by any name will still boil down to a re-tool on the fly. Bergevin is going to keep Carey Price and Shea Weber as the seasoned veterans of the team to fill key roles on and off the ice in the hopes he can get this edition of the Habs into the playoffs.
“So call it whatever you want.”
And Bergevin isn’t that concerned what it is called. “I want to have a team that’s going to compete to make the playoffs this year and get better every year,” said Bergevin. “So call it whatever you want.”
Bergevin has the advantage of having depth on the wings. Trevor Timmins has drafted drafted right-handed defencemen then focused on adding depth at center. That group includes Josh Brook, Cale Fleury, Nick Suzuki, Ryan Poehling and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
It reflects Bergevin’s newly-revised vision of building through the draft. Yet, the prospect pool, despite being improved, is still missing depth on the left side of the blue line and is also lacking in short term help for the NHL club.
Bergevin exacerbated the problem by choosing not to re-sign Andrei Markov, trading Mikhail Sergachev, and shedding Nathan Beaulieu, Greg Pateryn, Mark Barberio and Joe Morrow. Had he chosen not to make the trade for Andrew Shaw, it is likely that left-handed defenceman Samuel Girard would be in a Canadiens jersey (along with Alex DeBrincat.)
That being said, what can the Canadiens do to improve their blue line in the short to medium term? The right side is set with Weber, Jeff Petry and Noah Juulsen. The left side is a dog’s breakfast filled with a couple potential second pairing defenseman in Victor Mete and Mike Reilly, yet weighed down by a slew of bottom pairing or depth defencemen that can be easily interchanged or cast away.
One option is to be patient and draft what they need. Another is to wait for potential NCAA unrestricted free agents (UFA) to become available. The first player for the NCAA option is the much touted Jimmy Schuldt. My colleague Matt Smith went into detail on him prior to Schuldt participating in Habs development camp. There is no question that he will be a highly sought after commodity seen as being NHL ready. The Habs may be able to leverage his familiarity with the team, and his associations with Charlie Lindgren and Poehling.
Another UFA worth noting is 21-year-old Halifax product Cameron Lee. The nephew of Jean-Sebastien Giguere is clearly on the Habs radar as he was a recent invite to the Habs development camp.
Lee is a highly-mobile, smooth-skating six-foot, 190-pound left-handed defenseman. He uses his mobility and speed to close gaps to puck carriers where he applies pressure with an active stick. Once he has possession Lee will use his skating abilities to create distance from his pursuers and drive the transition with an accurate first pass to a forward in motion.
The Western Michigan product also has an accurate point shot that he uses to create rebounds and also keep defenders honest when on the power play. Last season he produced six goals and 24 points in 36 games. So far this season he has four goals and nine points in 12 games which would put him on pace for his career bests in both categories.
However, if a trade were to happen, there may be a good fit in the medium term for the Habs. My concern is that a trade may be too costly.
The Kings are suffering from several issues that are causing a good team to have a bad year. Habs fans may have some sympathy for the Kings plight after seeing similar issues with their own roster over the last few seasons.
The Kings are currently sitting near the bottom of the NHL standings and suffering from long term injuries Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell. Their offence has taken a nose dive as well as their core is aging and the team lacks enough speed to compete as they cling to the old methods of using a dump and chase style.
That all points to a team willing to shake things up and shed some salary while adding younger, faster, less expensive options. One name that could fit with the Canadiens is that of 29-year-old Jake Muzzin, a six-foot-three-inch, 213 pound left-handed defender.
Muzzin has the size teams covet. More importantly, he also has the mobility. He has proven puck-moving capabilities while putting up some solid point totals. More importantly, he is capable of playing heavy minutes in all situations playing a style somewhat similar to Petry’s.
Muzzin averages over 21-minutes per game while having over 58 per cent of his shifts starting in the defensive zone, which points to the coaching staff trusting his defensive play. His advanced stats point to a responsible two-way defender. On a team struggling to score and defend, Muzzin is still a plus player while leading all defenders on his team in all possession stats.
Muzzin would instantly be the choice to be paired with Weber and they would form an excellent top pairing. It would also solidify the blue line immediately in all situations as well as help place the younger talent in their proper roles allowing them to play within their talents.
That sounds wonderful, yet it does not propel the Canadiens into Cup contention. At best it solidifies their position as playoff contenders. The cost of trading for a proven top three defender would cost far more to the Habs than the value returned. The safer long term scenario would be to use their own draft picks and the UFA pool to add the needed depth at defence.
The Canadiens have exceeded my expectations thus far this season with a faster, more entertaining brand of hockey. They are also in an unexpected battle for a wild card spot.
In my opinion, Bergevin must try to avoid selling futures simply to improve for short term gain. The key to any re-tool is to keep draft picks and the core youth together to develop as a group even if it means living with some growing pains in a roller coaster season.