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In Hainsight: Expected Result and Awful Timing |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Martin St-Louis said it best: “We’ve got 10 NHL player injured” and that’s not an excuse but the truth. A team that aspires to the big prize like the Leafs should have no trouble beating a Canadiens’ team that’s mainly formed of AHL players and rookies and after the Habs were able to withstand the storm in the first, cream eventually raised to the top and the rest of the game belonged to Toronto as it should have. Final score: Toronto 5 Montreal 1.
There were a couple of bright spots for the Habs at least in the game, Josh Anderson got his 16th goal of the year, which will help his trade value and Justin Barron made a few impressive plays as well. If some people were quick to say that Hughes didn’t get enough in return for Lehkonen, Barron might make them eat their words, the young defender has great mobility and a knack for launching the attack from the defensive zone on top of being right handed, a rare commodity in Montreal. I would even add Jonathan Drouin to the list of positives, he took 7 shots on goals and served some pretty sweet passes throughout the game which should have led to at least a couple of goals if his linemates had been able to convert.
Newcomer Ryan O’Reilly got his first point as a Leaf with an assist on Michael Bunting’s second goal of the game and he spent his first game centering John Tavares and Mitch Marner. The Leafs are clearly pleased with the fact that they were able to get their hands on one of the rare polyvalent centers available this trade deadline. With Bo Horvat now on Long Island and O’Reilly in Toronto, Sean Monahan should have become the next best option but circumstances have made it so he isn’t.
Normally, when Martin St-Louis is asked about the status of an injured player, he limits himself to saying: “I don’t know”, but yesterday, he went a bit further adding that Monahan had kind of reached a plateau in his recovery. What does that mean exactly? It’s hard to say aside from the fact that his progress as stalled, if you’re on a plateau, you’re not getting better. Is the plateau high enough to allow him to play? It seems doubtful and with 5 games left until the deadline, he needs to play and show that he can still do it if the Habs are to have a chance in hell of trading him.
Yesterday, TVA Sports hinted that what was originally just a bone injury might have turned into a groin issue. A broken bone is easy enough to manage and recover from but a muscle injury, like a groin one is quite a lot trickier and screams of “buyer beware”. Add to that the fact that Joel Edmundson isn’t even skating, and the trade deadline could be quite quiet for the Habs. Unless of course Kent Hughes is dead set on getting another first-round pick and gets what he wants in return for Josh Anderson, but apparently, the GM’s asking price is quite high and it’s hard to tell if anyone will be willing to fork it out.
I know, not everyone would like to see Anderson traded, but the reality is by the time the Canadiens are ready to compete, his best days will be behind him and right now, he’s looking very good playing on the top line. Next year, when the team is healthier (hopefully), there’s no guarantee that he’ll be riding shotgun with Caufield and Suzuki and be such an attractive commodity. There’s definitely some food for thought there for the Canadiens’ GM.
This morning, the Canadiens will be holding their annual skills competition at the Bell Centre, it’s a shame that so many of their talented players won’t be taking part. The Habs will next be in action on Tuesday when they’ll take on the Devils in New Jersey before playing the Flyers and the Sens on Friday and Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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