Much has been made of the fact the Canadiens could have their first 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphousse in 1993-94 and our first point-per game player since Alex Kovalev in 2007-08. I believe practically every team that has been around since that time has had one or the other. Based on our long history of offensive talent from the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, my question is: why haven’t we had either for such a long time? Is it poor scouting with regards to offensive players or poor development of players that were good junior point producers? It is amazing to me that we couldn’t even get lucky with someone like a Pavel Datsyuk, Jamie Benn or Joe Pavelski — to name a few — who were late-round draft picks.
Ray Holden
I think it’s a combination of poor drafting, even poorer development and coaches who stressed defensive-minded play and punished players for mistakes made while trying to create offence.
Now with Martin St. Louis — an offensive-minded coach — we’re seeing more production from talented players like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, who are given more freedom to create offence. Caufield is on pace to score 41 goals, Suzuki is on pace to finish with 80 points (two shy of a point-per-game) and Hutson is on pace to finish with 67 points, which would be the most by a Canadiens defenceman since Andrei Markov had 64 in 2007-08.
Does the Montreal hockey prestige and mystique still exist?
Ed Helinski
I believe it does — even though the Canadiens haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1993. That’s still a lot better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t won since 1967.
The Canadiens’ record of 24 Stanley Cup championships looks untouchable when you consider the Leafs rank second with 13, followed by the Detroit Red Wings with 11. No other team has won more than six Stanley Cups.
The CH remains an iconic brand and NHL players still believe games in Montreal are something special — especially on a Saturday night.
The NHL is a better league when the Canadiens are doing well — and the same applies for all the Original Six teams.
I thought I heard last year when the Habs traded Jake Allen that he needed to get to 40 games played with the Devils, which included last year’s handful of games. Am I wrong? Then we would get a second-round pick if he played over 40 games.
Go Habs Go on X — @habby44
You’re partly wrong. When the Canadiens traded Allen to the Devils ahead of last season’s NHL trade deadline they received a conditional third-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft that would become a second-round pick if Allen plays 40 games THIS season AND if whichever team he’s playing on makes the playoffs.
Allen has only played in 15 games this season with the Devils, posting a 6-8-1 record, along with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. However, Allen’s workload will increase now that New Jersey’s No. 1 goalie, Jacob Markstrom, is sidelined for 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL in his knee suffered in Wednesday’s 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Markstrom has played in 36 games this season, posting a 21-9-5 record with a 2.20 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
The Canadiens will play the Devils Saturday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., Citytv, SNE, TVA Sports).
It seems that Arber Xhekaj’s ice time is being significantly reduced. Why?
Ian Bernasconi
I don’t think his ice time has been significantly reduced while playing on the third defence pairing. Xhekaj is averaging 14:51 of ice time per game, which is just over a minute less than last season when he averaged 15:56. His defence partner, David Savard, is averaging 18:02 because he’s a regular on the penalty-kill, averaging a team-high 3:33 of PK time per game. Xhekaj averages only 1:07 of PK time per game.
Xhekaj had a season-high 21:01 of ice time in the Canadiens’ 9-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 12. In the 19 games since then, he has had less than 13 minutes of ice time only six times.
Is there a future for Filip Mesar on the Habs? Does he still have value on the trade market?
Paul O on X — @nanerc_paul
It’s still too early to determine what the future might hold for Mesar, who turned 21 on Jan. 3.
Mesar, selected in the first round (26th overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft, got off to a good start as an AHL rookie this season, posting 1-4-5 totals in his first five games before suffering a lower-body injury that sidelined him for almost two months. He has now played 17 games with the Rocket and has 2-6-8 totals.
Mesar is one of 10 players selected in the first round of the 2022 draft who have yet to play a game in the NHL. Only 17 first-round picks from that year have played more than 20 games in the NHL. The Canadiens’ Juraj Slafkovsky, selected first overall, leads all players from that draft with 165 NHL games.
As for Mesar’s trade value, alone it wouldn’t be very much at this point, but he could be made part of an attractive package deal. There are reasons why Mesar was drafted as high as he was. He definitely has talent.
How is Luke Tuch doing in Laval and would he be a call-up candidate this season?
Paul O on X — @nanerc_paul
Tuch has 5-6-11 totals in 30 games during his first full season with the Rocket after playing four seasons at Boston University.
I’d be surprised if he gets called up this season with the Canadiens probably believing a full year in the AHL will be best for the 22-year-old forward’s development.
When I was a kid (OK, a few years ago in the era of wooden sticks) when one broke one of the refs quickly picked up the broken pieces. You would regularly see them skating around the play while clutching the broken pieces. Now, in the age of composites and many more broken sticks, all the refs seem to purposely ignore the broken pieces on the ice, which disrupt the play and are a danger to the players while waiting for a whistle to dispose of the debris. What gives?
Mark
I have often wondered the same thing. For an answer to this one I reached out to former NHL referee Dave Jackson, a Pointe-Claire native who worked more than 1,500 games in the NHL before hanging up his whistle in 2018. Jackson now works as a rules analyst for ESPN’s coverage of NHL games.
“There really isn’t a directive, one way or the other,” Jackson said. “Some guys always pick up sticks and others don’t. The overriding protocol is don’t miss a call or get caught in the middle of the play while picking one up. Personally, I NEVER picked up sticks. Refs can be as superstitious as players. Early on in my career (with only one ref on the ice) I picked up a broken stick twice. Both times I missed an impactful penalty. I swore after the second time that it’s the linesman’s responsibility.”
If you have a question you’d like to ask for our weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to [email protected]