Should the Habs hire a defensive coach like Claude Julien? Let Martin St. Louis focus on the offence and have someone like Julien take care of the defensive side?
Armchair GM on X — @HabschairGM
Yes.
I was surprised the Canadiens didn’t hire a coach with NHL experience to replace Alex Burrows after he stepped down from his role as an assistant coach this summer. St. Louis had zero NHL coaching experience when the Canadiens hired him and admits he’s still learning on the job. An experienced, defensive-minded coach like Julien could definitely help, especially with the Canadiens struggling in their own end with their hybrid defensive-zone system.
The St. Louis Blues hired Julien as an assistant coach this summer to help head coach Drew Bannister, who was hired last season to replace Craig Berube. Bannister has only 62 games of NHL head-coaching experience, but he was a head coach in the OHL for three seasons with the Soo Greyhounds and was also a head coach for five seasons in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage and Springfield Thunderbirds before being hired by the Blues.
The Blues, who will play the Canadiens Saturday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., Citytv, SNE, TVA Sports), have a 5-3-0 record and a plus-3 goal differential. The Canadiens are 2-4-1 with a minus-10 goal differential.
At what point in the rebuild do the Habs trade some of these prospects for legit NHL players? You can have too many prospects, no? You only have 50 contracts.
Dartmouth boy on X — @bogtrottr
Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, was asked about this when he was a guest on Mitch Melnick’s TSN 690 Radio show this month and noted the Canadiens would like to be “in the mix” for the playoffs this season and in a position to be buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline.
“I think the team, how they play over the next several months, will dictate that,” Gorton said. “But, for sure, we’re not against adding players that can help us. But it most likely is not going to be short-term rental type of thing. We’re not going to trade young players or draft picks for a short-term fix. That’s just not part of our plan.
“I think you can see that if you look with the draft picks we’ve acquired for the next several years, we have a couple of first rounds again (next year), second, third,” Gorton added. “I think it’s unrealistic to think over the next three years that we’re going to use all these draft picks on 18-year-old kids. But we’ll be using them to acquire other types of players that are maybe further advanced. Yeah, we’ll definitely be in those type of conversations.”
Has Cayden Primeau had enough time? Is it time to give up on him and bring up Jakub Dobes from the Laval Rocket? Primeau looks very shaky and sub-par.
LMayo on X — @lmayo
Primeau has now played in 47 career NHL games and has an 11-22-7 record with a 3.52 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage. In three games this season, the 25-year-old has a 0-1-1 record with a 4.21 GAA and a .880 save percentage. Personally, I’ve seen enough of Primeau to doubt he will develop into a legitimate NHL goalie. He lacks consistency and also seems to lack confidence with a bad habit of often looking behind him after he makes a save. He also loses his net quite often. But GM Kent Hughes has confidence in Primeau, which is why he didn’t send him to Laval last season for fear of losing the goalie to another team on waivers. Primeau would have to clear waivers again this season if the Canadiens want to send him down and call up Dobes. It will be interesting to see how long Hughes is willing to remain patient with Primeau.
A very basic question: when playing at home, how do the Habs decide if the game day skate takes place in Brossard or at the Bell Centre?
Chris Walker on X (@ChrisWalker1964)
St. Louis made the decision two seasons ago that all morning skates on game days would be held at the Bell Centre instead of in Brossard, like they had been since the team’s practice facility opened in 2008. It makes sense since just about all the players now live in the downtown area and it cuts down on the commute over the Champlain Bridge on game day. It also helps the players — especially the younger ones — feel more comfortable in the Bell Centre environment.
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