Offence will be a problem for Habs
Shootout highlights team’s inability to get it in the net
Thursday’s intra-squad scrimmage in front of 17,000 fans at the Bell Centre might have been a sign of things to come for the Canadiens.
The event, which included free admission and free food, wrapped up with a shootout competition that looked like it would never end.
Alex Galchenyuk scored in Round 1 and Brendan Gallagher in Round 2, and then it turned into a bit of a comedy show. Shooter after shooter failed to score on either Carey Price or Peter Budaj before Max Pacioretty and Andrei Markov traded goals in the 16th round.
After three more rounds of misses, Brandon Prust finally put an end to it in the 20th round when he flipped the puck into Budaj’s midsection and then pushed him into the net with the puck. Unfortunately, that move won’t count during the regular season.
Five goals (one illegal) on 40 shots. If Prust hadn’t shoved Budaj into the net, they might have needed a mercy rule to end it.
Lack of scoring was a big reason why the Canadiens finished last in the Eastern Conference last season with a 31-35-16 record. The Canadiens scored 212 goals (an average of 2.58 per game) with only Florida and the New York Islanders (both with 203) scoring fewer in the conference. The Canadiens’ power play ranked 28th in the league with a 14.3-per-cent success rate and they were a dismal 5-12 in shootouts. Pacioretty had a great season, leading the Canadiens with 33-32-65 totals, but that ranked him only 38th in the NHL scoring race.
The Canadiens will definitely be tougher this season with the addition of freeagent signings Prust, Colby Armstrong and Francis Bouillon. And new coach Michel Therrien will try to turn the Bell Centre into “The House of Pain” for opponents — a term he liked to use for his home arenas when he was a junior coach in Laval and Granby. That toughness should help the Canadiens improve on their 16-15-10 home record from last season, which was the second-worst in the Eastern Conference ahead of only the Islanders (17-18-6).
The big question is: Who is going to score?
The Canadiens will be better than they were last season — which won’t be hard — but I don’t think they’ll score enough goals to make the playoffs.
Canadiens fans might be expecting big things from rookies Galchenyuk and Gallagher, who both survived Friday’s roster cuts, but TSN hockey analyst Ray Ferraro has a warning for them.
Ferraro scored an incredible 108 goals and added 84 assists during his final year of junior with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1983-84. He started the next season with the American Hockey League’s Binghamton Whalers, posting 20-13-33 totals in 37 games before being called up by the Hartford Whalers.
“I scored in my second (NHL) game in the Montreal Forum … a guy took a slapshot that hit me in the knee and went in,” Ferraro recalled in a telephone conversation Friday afternoon. “I didn’t score for 24 more games. I had a pretty good indication that this league was really hard.
“I just got no chances … I couldn’t get anywhere to get any chances,” Ferraro added. “And it’s demoralizing … one of the things that happens to young players is that you get discouraged. You’re like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be able to create some offence and I don’t get any chances.’ I went from 100 goals in junior, I scored 20 goals in the minors in half a year, I got to the NHL and I couldn’t get within 20 feet of the net. You become discouraged in a hurry.”
Ferraro, who finished his first NHL season with 11 goals and 17 assists in 44 games, added that the biggest adjustment for young players breaking into the NHL is the speed of the game.
“For Galchenyuk, his chore is going to be to make sure that he keeps the pace of what the NHL is, because it’s faster than anything he’s ever played … and he doesn’t know it yet,” said Ferraro, who finished his NHL career with 408 goals and 490 assists in 1,258 games. “He might know
I don’t think they’ll
score enough goals to make the
playoffs.
it in his head, but he doesn’t know it yet. When he gets the puck on the boards standing still — and don’t forget he’s a centre by trade — he’s going to be amazed at how fast the defence closes on him. But if he’s truly ready — and the only way you know is if he’s in the games — you’re going to see that pretty shortly he makes that pass and that he gets his feet going and he gets himself into position to shoot the puck. That’s what I would be looking for from him.”
As for Gallagher, Ferraro isn’t concerned about his lack of size at 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds. (Gallagher is one of seven players under 6-feet tall on the Canadiens’ roster).
“He’s built like a little bowling ball,” Ferraro said. “He’s physical without being reckless. He’s got a terrific role model to watch in Brian Gionta there. There’s lots to learn from watching if you’re smart enough to watch, and Brendan is.”
But Ferraro doesn’t believe Gallagher is ready for the NHL.
“I don’t think any 20-yearold is … if I was to generalize I would say no,” he said. “The reason being that Gally is an energetic player, he’s going to create off the forecheck, he’s got a really good shot, he’s got a nose for the net. But he’s just getting his feet wet at the pro game. Some junior players have a huge adjustment to the pro game … I don’t think Brendan’s adjustment is that big … I don’t think his game is going to change much from what you see. I just think that there’s probably not enough top-end minutes available for him. To play him on the fourth line to me would be almost counter-productive.
“I think Brendan’s got 10 or 11 goals in the American League (10 goals in 36 games) and that’s a real nice start for his first year,” Ferraro added. “I think where teams and fans get emotionally caught up in it is, you know: ‘We got to get him there.’ You don’t have to get him there … what you have to do is develop him. And if that means, in Brendan’s case, playing as a top forward in Hamilton then, in my opinion, that’s where he should go.”
What advice does Ferraro have for the two Habs rookies when they make their NHL debuts?
“Try not to look around too much, but look around because there’s never another first one, and enjoy it,” he said. “And the second thing would be don’t try to do too much … make the real simple play, allow the game to come to you a little bit and don’t panic if in the first couple of shifts you turn the puck over a couple of times … don’t panic, it’s going to happen.
“And then just play … just relax … or try to relax.”
Easier said than done ... especially in Montreal.