I don’t see any improvement in almost two years in the Habs’ defensive system in their own zone with most of the same players. Being a fan of The Gazette’s Hockey Inside/Out Show, I think Rick Green would be a good addition behind the Habs bench to help St. Louis and replace Stéphane Robidas. Thoughts?
Sheldon Stein
After being the No. 1 overall pick at the 1976 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals, Green played 15 seasons in the NHL, including seven with the Canadiens and was part of Montreal’s 1986 Stanley Cup team. After retiring as a player, Green spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach, including four with the Canadiens. While Green hasn’t coached in the NHL since the 2005-06 season, the 68-year-old still follows the game closely and spoke about the Canadiens’ hybrid defensive system on this week’s HI/O Show.
Green said he gets confused when watching the Canadiens’ hybrid system, which is a mix of zone and man-on-man coverage in their own end. The system basically has them playing man-on-man when the puck is high in the zone and then switches to a high-pressure zone system when the puck is down low in the zone.
“I’m still trying to figure out exactly what that means,” Green said about the hybrid system. “But one thing that I believed in — and still believe in — once you get into a situation where you’re chasing a lot of times you’re getting yourself tired out because you are chasing and you’re not necessarily protecting the area you should be protecting and you get breakdowns, and you’re on the wrong side of the play. I always believe that when in doubt come back to your position, protect the middle of the ice, keep everything to the outside and you’re going to be in an area where you’re going to respond to any loose pucks or any rebounds, and then you work from the middle out and keep everything on the outside without getting yourself running left D on the right, right on the left.”
Green added the key is for players to know their responsibilities in the defensive zone.
“Where you should and shouldn’t be because you just can’t give up the type of prime-time scoring chances that they’re giving and expect to win a lot of games,” Green said. “How many times do you see their D get caught both behind the net?”
Personally, I was surprised the Canadiens didn’t add an assistant coach with plenty of NHL experience to help St. Louis after Alex Burrows stepped down from his position during the off-season to spend more time with his family. Robidas does a very good job in helping the young defencemen with their development, but I still think the Canadiens could use another experienced NHL coach — whether it’s Green or someone else — to help them out. There’s no salary cap on coaches and there’s room for another one behind the Canadiens’ bench.
Do you think the Canadiens will dump their hybrid defensive system? They look confused in their D zone.
gmdvancouver on X @gmdvancouver
“Even last game I watched (Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings), there’s a lot of motion from the opponent’s team, but we didn’t give up Grade A off of that,” St. Louis said. “Maybe a shot from the point and then that gets tipped and stuff. We got to grab a stick.
“That system is not bulletproof, but when it’s executed it’s good,” St. Louis added. “But other teams are not going to make it easy on you. Whatever system you’re playing, the five guys have to do their job. If one guy doesn’t do the job or if one guy loses his stick, one guy falls, there’s holes in every system when that happens. And sometimes you get away with it because they didn’t notice that, they didn’t capitalize on it. But I’m not worried about our structure. It’s just driving home the details inside of it.”
Little observation here. Looks like Martin St. Louis is overwhelmed as a hockey coach. It looks like it’s going too fast for him. Isn’t it time for him to get some help from a hockey brain to help him behind the bench? What do you think of Jacques Lemaire as a mentor?
Pat Carpinteri
Lemaire already has a job with the New York Islanders as a special assignment coach, working for general manager Lou Lamoriello and head coach Patrick Roy. The 79-year-old Lemaire has worked for the Islanders since 2018.
Former Canadien Chris Nilan, who joins Green on the Hockey Inside/Out Show each week and was also part of the 1986 Stanley Cup team, still believes in the defensive system Lemaire used when he was head coach of the Canadiens in 1983-84 and 1984-85 and Nilan was playing for him. Lemaire won the Stanley Cup as head coach of the New Jersey Devils in 1995 with Lamoriello as the team’s GM.
Nilan believes the Canadiens get confused now in their own end with the hybrid system they’re using.
“You know what they could use?” Nilan said on this week’s HI/O Show. “They could use a session, or a couple of sessions, with the great Jacques Lemaire on how to play down below the dots. I’m telling you. … When we played under that system we always had a defenceman in front of the net. The only time we had two D in the corner was on a penalty-kill and the weak-side forward dropped to the net on the PK. Because Lemaire always wanted two D in the corner (on the PK) because they’re used to battling in their own end and they were strong and they’re used to that.
“I know you got a lot of young players and you want them to play offence and all that — that’s great,” Nilan added about the Canadiens. “But if you can’t defend you’re not going anywhere in this league.”
If you have a question you’d like to ask for our weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to [email protected]
Nilan believes the Canadiens get confused now in their own end with the hybrid system they’re using.
“You know what they could use?” Nilan said on this week’s HI/O Show. “They could use a session, or a couple of sessions, with the great Jacques Lemaire on how to play down below the dots. I’m telling you. … When we played under that system we always had a defenceman in front of the net. The only time we had two D in the corner was on a penalty-kill and the weak-side forward dropped to the net on the PK. Because Lemaire always wanted two D in the corner (on the PK) because they’re used to battling in their own end and they were strong and they’re used to that.
“I know you got a lot of young players and you want them to play offence and all that — that’s great,” Nilan added about the Canadiens. “But if you can’t defend you’re not going anywhere in this league.”
If you have a question you’d like to ask for our weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to [email protected]
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