The Montreal Canadiens are where they should be in the standings after the season’s unofficial first half.
The all-star break has arrived, and the Canadiens currently sit in seventh in the Atlantic division and 26th in the NHL with a 20-21-8 record through 49 games. The Habs held a 20-25-4 record through 49 games in 2022-23. Injuries have been feasting on the team, as has been the case for the past several seasons.
Promising centre Kirby Dach tore his ACL in the second game of the season and is expected to miss the entire season. Centre Alex Newhook sustained a high ankle sprain in December and was slated to miss 10-12 weeks. Centre Christian Dvorak and defenceman Chris Wideman have also missed significant time.
Nevertheless, the Canadiens have persevered and look rather similar to the 2022-23 team in several categories. The team’s 2.78 goal-per-game pace through 49 games in 2023-24 mirrors its 2.83 goals per game clip from last season.
According to NaturalStatTrick’s expected goals model—how many goals a goaltender should allow based on the quality of shots that they face—Habs goaltender Samuel Montembeault is having another solid season. He has saved 7.76 goals above expected over the course of the season according to the model, meaning the average goalie would allow roughly eight more goals than Montembeault has this season. He is already approaching his 2022-23 performance, where he finished with 8.3 goals saved above expected in 40 games.
As they did in 2022-23, young players continue to lead the team. Captain Nick Suzuki (24) is the team’s leading scorer with 42 points in 49 games. He notched a career-high 66 points last season and is currently on a slightly better pace at 70 points over 82 games.
Winger Cole Caufield (23) is the team’s leading goal scorer with 17. It’s a step down from his 26 goals in 46 games last season, where his unfortunate injury likely prevented him from becoming the franchise’s first 40-goal scorer in 31 years. However, he has touched twine more often as of late, scoring six goals in his past eight games.
One reason for the 2023-24 Canadiens to be cautious is the 2022-23 team’s second-half collapse, going 11-18-2 record in their final 31 games following the all-star break. But this iteration of the Habs could look much different soon with the Mar. 8 trade deadline rapidly approaching. Centre Sean Monahan, defenseman Mike Matheson, and goaltender Jake Allen have all been heavily involved in trade rumours. With the team well outside of playoff contention, general manager Kent Hughes and his colleagues could be looking to get valuable returns for those players.
Right now the Habs would hold the seventh overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft. Barring any major turnaround, they should not shift more than one or two places in the overall standings down the home stretch.
Rejan Houle on the ice with the Montreal Canadiens. Archive Image courtesy of the club de hockey Montreal
Former Montreal Canadiens player Réjean Houle remembers his playing time and what the future holds
The Montreal Canadiens professional hockey team brought fame to some of the greatest names in hockey history and has been around since 1909. Réjean Houle saw his time shine in the 1970s and as a general manager in 1995 until 2000.
Houle is a former right wing of the Montreal Canadiens from 1969 to 1983. He was born in Rouyn-Noranda, located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. He started his hockey career playing with the Thetford Mines Junior team from 1966 to 1967, before moving to the Montreal Junior Canadiens the following year. He was the first overall draft pick in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens in 1969. During his active career, he helped bring five of the ten Stanley Cups home to Montreal. After his retirement, he returned to the team as General Manager and later as the President of the Canadiens Alumni Association.
Houle remembers growing up watching hockey with his father, dreaming of one day becoming what he was seeing on the television screen.
“I always dreamed of playing for the Canadiens. I was able to achieve my goal several years later by putting in the necessary effort, I made it,” said Houle.
Archive Image courtesy of the club de hockey Montreal
While he admits he was not one of the big names of the team at the time, he is proud to have been surrounded by some of the greats such as Jean Béliveau, Guy Lafleur, and Bob Gainey.
“I was on the third line. I was working to help the team win, but I had a specific role. I didn’t score ‘Guy Lafleur’ goals,” said Houle.
Playing as a right wing, he contributed to the lineup by making the necessary passes to earn a victory, which makes his role just as important as center.
“There is an expression, ‘you have to know which chair is yours,’ so a player must know what he can give to the team. That doesn’t mean he’s not as recognized as Guy Lafleur, but inside the team, he plays an important role,” said Houle.
Photo by Charlotte Megelas
As a former General Manager, he saw how the game changed on the ice. In hockey changes are minimal since coaches have kept similar strategies on managing the game, according to Houle. He says the players now have more range on the ice.
“Before, you couldn’t get too far to the side of the red line because it was offside, whereas now you can get from the red line to the opponent’s other blue line, so the play is much faster, the puck circulates much more now than before,” said Houle.
Houle not only made passes to help the team win, he also scored 161 goals himself. In recent years, he noticed that the new style of hockey sticks give more feel and power to the puck.
“The ‘one timers’ at the time, didn’t exist. The sticks are different, they are lighter, they have a kind of spring in the stick so it speeds up the game. The puck comes at 100 miles an hour,” said Houle.
He remembers his time with the team as an honour. No matter how much time has passed in his career, he and his former teammates still stay in touch and remain connected as one big family.
“We keep this link there always. For us it’s very important because the years go by, but you have to remember the good times. Then in the most difficult moments, we stick together and we get through it,” said Houle.
He commemorated his teammate and friend Guy Lafleur, who passed away in 2022. To the fans, Lafleur was “Le Démon Blond,” but for Houle, “He was a star.”
After building that strong connection with the sport, Houle did not see himself leaving hockey overall. Houle played hockey for 14 years, and when the time came for him to retire, he knew his life would change once he left the team.
“The most important change is when you retire because you didn’t feel like it, I didn’t feel like retiring,” said Houle.
Since Houle was in the same era as Guy Lafleur, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, and Jean Béliveau, he had the honor of winning five Stanley Cups. He remembers the feeling of winning those cups as a privilege in his career.
“When you’ve tasted it once, you always want to win it, then when you play with good players, your chances are always there of winning it, so that’s kind of the period that I lived in. I was lucky. Timing is everything sometimes in life,” said Houle.
To Houle, hockey is more than just a sport. He has grown to appreciate it more as a spectator after he retired and seeing how many people come together and watch it.
“There is great satisfaction because the Canadiens is a team that is very involved in the community. People don’t realize that, but it’s very important because it unites a community,” said Houle.
When the Montreal Canadiens arrive, whether you’re French, English, Asian, Lebanese or Canadian, the team will always be a symbol to Montreal, according to Houle.
Houle had a huge support system of his teammates, who became his friends as the seasons went by. He continues to love their support and thanks them for helping him become the player he always knew he could be.
“To have the opportunity to play with members of the hall of fame, great players in the organization, it helps you when you’re younger to become better yourself because you are well surrounded,” said Houle.
“The most you can do is improve yourself when you have people around and helping you out, that’s what it was in my case. I was lucky that way.”
Houle owes everything to hockey, from helping raise his own family to focusing on his life after his professional career. He is still active with the Canadiens as the President of the Alumni Association, and he attends every home game surrounded by other former players and their families. Houle remembers hockey as a big part of his life, from when he was watching it on television with his father, to building a legacy with the team. Truly a full circle moment for a Rouyn-Noranda kid with a dream.
Current interim head coach Dominique Ducharme may be the team’s next permanent man behind the bench
The Montreal Canadiens fired head coach Claude Julien on Feb. 24, after four years with the team. The Habs have missed the playoffs twice with Julien. Last season, the Canadiens were lucky enough to be the lowest-ranked club to qualify for the playoffs in a unique COVID-19 playoff format that saw 24 teams fight for the title.
Dominique Ducharme, who was already assistant coach, is taking the lead behind the bench for the rest of the season. However, it’s unsure if the Canadiens will look to bring in a new head coach for the upcoming seasons during the summer or if they will officially make Ducharme their new head coach.
This could depend on the team’s performances this season. After what looked like a solid start to this season, the team has been lacking consistency these past weeks, and losses have been more frequent than wins.
If Canadiens’ General Manager Marc Bergevin wants to sign a more experienced head coach this summer, there are some good candidates. However, we know that this Montreal market has always looked for bilingual coaches. In that category, options are very limited in terms of established coaches.
Gerard Gallant would be a familiar face to the Canadiens. He was an assistant coach with the team during the 2012‒13 season. He then coached the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights. He has experience with veterans and rookies.
Another candidate could be former Dallas Stars head coach and current St. Louis Blues Assistant Head Coach Jim Montgomery. While not as experienced as Gallant, Montgomery has a 67-49-10 record in the National Hockey League (NHL), and an impressive 125-57-26 record with the Denver Pioneers in college hockey.
No matter Bergevin’s decision, it will need to be for the long term, as this Canadiens team is packed with young players and a promising future.
The National Hockey League trade deadline is one of the most exciting days of the year for hockey fans.
After weeks of rumors all over social media, we’ll finally know who’s getting traded and where some players are heading in the last sprint before playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens have been quite calm during the trade deadline the past few seasons, mostly trading picks and veterans. While some teams make the most of trade deadline day, moving their superstars in exchange for the acquisitions they need, Habs general manager Marc Bergevin has largely opted for making his key moves during the summer break instead.
In 2016, Bergevin made a trade that people still talk about today, acquiring current team captain Shea Weber from the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenceman P.K. Subban. He also traded Lars Eller before acquiring right-winger Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks in another deal. The following year, he got Jonathan Drouin from the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 2017-18, the Canadiens traded their 2012 first-round pick, Alex Galchenyuk, to the Arizona Coyotes for Max Domi, who scored 72 points in his first season in Montreal. Finally, Bergevin traded Shaw back to Chicago last summer.
Montreal’s biggest acquisition on trade deadline day goes back, arguably, to March 2, 2015 when the team acquired defenceman Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers. Since then, the team made no significant trades, considering the only moves were trades for picks and players like Jordan Weal, which weren’t enough for the team to qualify for the playoffs since 2016-17.
As teams not qualifying for the postseason often trade established players for future assets, like draft picks, and become what we call “sellers.” The chances of seeing the Canadiens do so and be on the selling side are fairly high.
Assuming Bergevin decides to be a seller in the upcoming days, many players could interest the other 30 general managers of the NHL. Does that mean superstar goalie Carey Price could get traded? It would be shocking to see it happen. However, veterans Ilya Kovalchuk, Nate Thompson and Petry are all on the well-known TSN Trade Bait list, a list of the players most likely to be traded before the trade deadline has passed.
With the emergence of young forwards like Cole Caufield, Ryan Poehling and Joni Ikonen, in addition to great hopes on defence with Alexander Romanov, Cale Fleury, Josh Brook and more, Bergevin knows the goal is for them to be in the lineup fairly soon.
In fact, Fleury already played with the big club this season, showing great signs of development, and what he could bring in the coming years. Head coach Claude Julien sometimes scratches him as the team’s seventh defenceman, but if a trade happens, perhaps with Petry, he might have a chance to play as a regular blueliner for the remainder of the games this year.
Recent years at the deadline have showed how much value depth centres are worth. For example, 35-year-old veteran Brian Boyle, who signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers in October, has been traded twice the past three years, all around the trade deadline. Both times, the club who traded Boyle acquired at least a second-round draft pick.
Thompson can win faceoffs, play important minutes defensively, on the penalty kill, and can bring depth to a contending team looking for that extra forward entering the playoffs. As injuries can seriously impact a team’s season, and sometimes be the reason for them falling short of expectations, general managers of contending teams often prefer trading away their draft picks for those extra, proven players—in order to be prepared for any scenario. Thompson could be a player to fill that role elsewhere.
Of course, the Canadiens aren’t lacking draft picks for this year’s NHL Entry Draft, which will be held at the Bell Centre in June. The team currently has 11 selections, with three second-round picks. In that sense, the urge to trade players for picks right now isn’t there.
If Bergevin decides to trade someone like Thompson, it could help the case of Poehling, or Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was sent down to the American Hockey League (AHL) Laval Rocket on Feb. 1. It’s doubtful that both will spend the entire season with the Rocket next year, so an option could be to let at least one of them finish the season with Montreal.
Both Poehling and Kotkaniemi have NHL experience, especially the latter, who has more than 100 games played with the Canadiens already. These two young forwards are expected by many to play an important role for the Habs in the future, as they could be the top two centres in a few years. However, for that to happen, they’ll need to fit in somewhere in the lineup, which currently has enough centres.
Last season, Poehling played his first career NHL game on the last game of the Canadiens’ season because the team was already out of playoff contention.
This year, the team’s fate seems to be already known, which could lead to more ice time for prospects, especially if trades happen.
We’ll have many questions answered today at 3 p.m. Who knows what the 31 teams will look like once the trade deadline has passed.
Third time’s the charm?
Chicago Bulls franchise point guard Derek Rose underwent a successful surgery to remove a damaged portion of his torn right knee. The former NBA all-star has been sidelined for what is now three years in a row due to a series of unfortunate knee injuries afflicting both of the point guard’s knees. However, unlike the other two operations from last year and the year before, Rose isn’t expected to be out for nearly as long. The Chicago Bulls organization is confident that their star will make a return before the regular season’s end in April. A spokesperson for the Bulls stated to the media that the timetable for Rose’s return is an estimated four to six weeks. The Chicago Bulls are currently sitting atop the Eastern Conference’s central division with an impressive 37-23 record.
Dez Bryant gets paid—sort of
The Dallas Cowboys have informed Dez Bryant and his camp that they will be using their 2015 franchise tag on the star receiver. Bryant, who just completed the last year of his rookie contract made just over $2M this past season, while posting up career numbers helping lead the way for the Cowboys to win their first playoff game since 1996. The news will surely not be well received on the receiver’s end who has been publicly opposed to the idea of getting franchise tagged. The Cowboys have elected to use the non-exclusive franchise tag, meaning, under NFL rules, Bryant is still technically a free agent, however, any team interested in signing Bryant will have to match the offer sheet and give up two first round picks in the process. Despite the groaning on the star receiver’s end, the $13M pay raise in guaranteed money for the upcoming season will hopefully help quell the disdain.
The Price is right
Carey Price is the best goaltender in the NHL. Period. After collecting his sixth shutout of the season against the beleaguered Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens net-minder reminded us all that of one thing, when it comes to professional goaltending, the 27-year-old B.C. native is the best in the business. Whether the praise be from Washington head coach Barry Trotz or from Leafs Captain Dion Phaneuf this season, the name Carey Price is synonymous with goaltending excellence that hasn’t been seen since the glory days of Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy. In fact this weekend Price who leads the NHL in three of the four major goaltending statistics (goals against average, wins and save percentage) surpassed Roy on the Canadiens’ all-time shutout list. Only time will tell if King Carey will bring the Montreal Canadiens to the same heights as Roy did in both 1986 and 1993. Stanley Cup glory is the only thing that eludes his already glowing resume.
Like a debilitated canine on its last breath, it is time to take the Montreal Canadiens language controversy and put it to sleep.
I love the Habs. As a French-Canadian I feel close to my team and I truly believe they’re an institution in this province. I watch their games in French on RDS because it’s how I was raised; the commentators are Quebecers and I can relate to them more easily than I can to Bob Cole on CBC.
I didn’t shed a single tear when Randy ‘unilingual’ Cunneyworth was chosen to coach the Habs until the end of the season. He’s respected by the players and they couldn’t care less about his language abilities (or disabilities rather). It’s embarrassing to make such a big deal about this “issue,” mostly because it’s yet another deterrent for big name players to come to Montreal.
When they acquired Rene Bourque last week, he tweeted about not being able to speak French and the fear that put into him. Reporters greeted him at the airport and asked if he planned on learning French. Do you think he cares? Is that the kind of reception he wants?
The province needs to rally behind the only NHL team it has, but instead, a few hundred separatists with too much time on their hands gather and protest in front of the Bell Centre, in the hopes of raising awareness to their so-called plight. Aren’t there enough distractions already?
The Habs are losing badly; the media circles every practice and game like vultures, star players are injured and under-performing, and some of them even fight during practice. On top of all that, they have to cater to the province’s archaic notion that a coach has to speak French? If the Habs had been winning left and right, there would be no issue—Celine Dion could be coaching and they wouldn’t care. By emphasizing that the coach has to speak French, the Canadiens organization is limiting itself to a very small pool of coaches it can choose from, and ignoring others who are equally or more qualified for the position.
Some say if Cunneyworth had said a few words in French during his initial press conference, the media would have been satisfied. So what’s the difference between speaking no French, and saying ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’? The Habs lost yet another game last week against Ottawa in which they had the lead. The players are the ones performing on the ice and they alone can affect the outcome of a game. Habs legend Guy Lafleur said it best: “It doesn’t matter if you speak German, Russian, or whatever. The bottom line is: win the games and then make the playoffs and try to win the Stanley Cup.”
The Habs actually had a string of French-speaking coaches in the past decade: Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau. Guess what? None of them lasted more than three years. We fire them and complain about not having the right coaches. How does that make sense? I see very little difference between Cunneyworth giving his post-game comments in English, or adding, “Now I’ll say the exact same thing in extremely broken French.”
The media needs to grow up and realize it’s always been about winning. The Habs have enough problems of their own. Laissez-les jouer.
Canadiens need to respect the culture
Julian Mei
I didn’t grow up in Montreal. I’m not a die-hard Canadiens fan. I don’t speak French, nor do identify with the culture. Still, though, I feel that the Francophones, especially those in the media, have the right to be upset with the hiring of a monolingual coach.
The Canadiens are not just a hockey team. They are an institution. A way of life. They define the city more than corruption, crumbling infrastructure and strip clubs do combined.
It is reasonable for some Francophones to view the interim hiring of Randy Cunneyworth as the further “anglo-izing” of their beloved Habitants. Very few players on the team can speak French and if even the coach doesn’t speak the language it sends the message that the Canadiens are just another NHL team, who just happen to play in a French speaking city. Sure, fans may warm up to Anglo players or coaches, but there is a reason names like Richard, Beliveau and Roy resonate in ways that Shutt, Gainey and Dryden just don’t.
Of course, Montreal is a bilingual city, in a primarily French speaking province. If you want to work in any important position in this province you need to be able to get by in French. And here’s a news flash: head coach of the Montreal Canadiens is a pretty damn important position. The coach is the captain of the ship and if the majority of the team’s fans can’t identify, or even understand what he is saying, it creates strain between the team and the community that cherishes it so much.
Having an English speaking coach also makes it difficult for the members of the french media. Even though some can get by in English, if you are trying to operate in a language you aren’t fully comfortable with, it becomes difficult to build a relationship and communicate with your source so you can properly understand the stories and issues surrounding the team. At the very least, the Canadiens should use some of their riches to pay a translator to sit with Cunneyworth during interviews. However, as someone who has had to operate in such a way at times, working with a translator can also become difficult and frustrating to carry on a conversation.
An argument that is often made is that the team handcuffs itself by excluding English coaches as potential candidates. This is partially true, but it’s not as though there are no capable bilingual coaches. I believe of the remaining four teams in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, three had French speaking coaches. It’s not as though the team has a policy where they only hire people from Uzbekistan. There are plenty of brilliant hockey minds in this country who can function in the two official languages.
This being said, the Montreal Canadiens’ head coach’s office has had a revolving door installed on it the past few seasons. The fans and media never seem to be happy. It is time for both sides to meet in the middle.
Fans and media need to realize the Habs’ roster this season is not very good and, regardless of who is behind the bench, if you don’t have the talent on the ice, it just doesn’t matter.
The team, though, needs to put this issue to rest at the end of the season and hire a coach who can speak French.
