Pressure on GM Bergevin to improve Canadiens
There should be no shortage of news Wednesday.
For starters, the NHL trading deadline is at 3 p.m. and Canadiens fans will be waiting to see whether general manger Marc Bergevin can pull another rabbit out of the hat.
You might recall that Bergevin stole Thomas Vanek from the Islanders back in 2014. Vanek helped the Canadiens in their playoff push, although he was less successful in the post-season.
Two years ago, Bergevin picked up defenceman Jeff Petry as a rental and then sold him on the idea of sticking around.
This time around, there’s a debate over whether the Canadiens need another forward who can score or a puck-moving defenceman to complement Shea Weber. The reality is the Canadiens need both and the question is whether Bergevin is willing to part with some of his assets and whether he can clear the cap space necessary to accommodate the newcomers.
Thursday’s shutout loss to the Islanders put the spotlight on the Canadiens’ inability to generate offence — they have scored 20 goals in the past 12 games and have been shut out in four of their last eight games — but also pointed out some glaring weaknesses on defence. There’s lot of talk about Weber slowing down, but he’s not getting much help from Alexei Emelin, who has gone from having his best season to being ordinary.
And in the moments leading up to the deadline, there will be a focus on what happens on the ice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. P.K. Subban and the Nashville Predators will be in town to play the Canadiens and they are scheduled to practise in Brossard at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The Thursday game between the Canadiens and Predators will be Subban’s first opportunity to face his former teammates. He missed the Jan. 3 game in Nashville — the Canadiens won that one 2-1 in overtime — because of a bad back. Subban has hit his stride lately. He has one goal and six assists in his last five games and is a plus-6 in that span. Weber has two goals and an assist in his last five games, but is a minus-6 in that stretch. The odds are: The Colorado duo of Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog are two of the top players on the trade market, but the oddsmakers at bodog.com don’t see either player moving. You can move 5-2 odds on either of them moving and that’s because GM Joe Sakic has set a high asking price for the forwards. Bodog expects Martin Hanzal (5-13) and Kevin Shattenkirk (1-2) to move. It also had Patrick Eaves listed at 5-11 before
Dallas traded him to Anaheim on Friday. And someone has a sense of honour because you can get 7-1 odds if you want to bet that the Canadiens will trade for Thomas Vanek. Les Canadiennes begin playoffs: While the Canadiens are out of town, there’s plenty of local hockey action highlighted by the Canadian Women’s Hockey League semifinal between Les Canadiennes and the Brampton Thunder. Game 1 was played Friday night and the second game in the best-of-three series will be played Saturday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard at 5:30 p.m. The third game, if necessary, will be played Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The series matches the two top scorers in the CWHL, Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin and Brampton’s Jess Jones.
There’s also a full slate of university action. In OUAA men’s semifinal action, McGill faces UQTR in Game 2 of their third series in Trois-Rivières. McGill has a 1-0
lead and Game 3, if necessary, will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at McConnell Arena.
The McGill women have a 1-0 lead over Ottawa. Game 2 is Saturday in the nation’s capital. If a third game is necessary, it will be played Sunday afternoon at McGill. The other semifinal pits Concordia against defending national champion Université de Montréal. Concordia won the opener 6-2 and will be at home for Game 2 Saturday 3 p.m., If a third game is necessary, it will be played Sunday at 2 p.m., at UdeM. Desbiens finalist for U.S. award: University of Wisconsin senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens is one of the 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which goes to the top women’s player in U.S. college hockey. A native of La Malbaie, Desbiens has a 23-1-4 record and leads the NCAA in save percentage (.961), goals-against average (0.74) and shutouts (13).