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Hockey Hainsight
When Kent Hughes took over from Marc Bergevin as general manager, he said that in an ideal world, his Montreal Canadiens would be a fast and offensive minded team. He hired the right man to get his team to focus on those concepts in Martin St-Louis, but so far, the coach doesn’t have the right personnel to play that kind of hockey. Bergevin said time and time again that you can never have too many defensemen and it showed in the Canadiens’ drafting strategy, which is why, right now, Montreal is looking at a logjam of lefties on the blue line. Yes, I know, Kent Hughes also selected a defenseman as his first pick last July but given the state of affairs when it comes to righties, it’s understandable.
As always, the Canadiens’ blue line hasn’t been spared by injuries this season with David Savard, Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj all falling in the first quarter of the campaign, while Chris Wideman hasn’t even played so far. As a result, some of the depth defensemen got an opportunity to show what they were made of. On the right, Gustav Lindstrom had a chance to step in and on the left, Jayden Struble grabbed his opportunity with both hands and held on tightly. So tightly in fact that once Arber Xhekaj was ready to return, he was sent down to Laval for the first time in his career. In three games with the Rocket so far, the rugged defenseman got a pair of assists, took 6 shots, no penalties and has a -1 rating. Xhekaj was apparently sent down to work on his defensive game and was also told to stay out of the box which he has done so far. However, as well as Struble has played, I admit that I’ve missed Xhekaj at times, especially when games had a certain physical edge.
If there are already too many cooks on the lefties side, there will be even more in short order. Guhle, Matheson, Harris, Xhekaj, Strubble, Norlinder and Trudeau are already in the NHL/AHL but soon, Lane Hutson and Adam Engstrom should come knocking. When Hutson finishes his sophomore season with BU, he is likely to sign his entry level contract and get his first taste of professional hockey this spring.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens are still struggling to score goals and that’s not on their blueline since as of yesterday, their blue line brigade was tied with Colorado’s as the ones who had contributed the most goals. That’s no small feat since Montreal doesn’t have a Cale Makar on its roster, at least not yet (some are hoping Hutson will turn into that kind of player). Considering the Canadiens could definitely use some skills up front, now could be a good time to trade a young defenseman who has proven he can make it in the NHL for some help in that department. Who should be the one to go? That’s a tough question to answer, some would like to send Matheson elsewhere, but I don’t see the alternate captain moving. This young blue line does need some veteran leadership after all.
Could Jordan Harris and an attractive pick at the one of the next two drafts get Hughes something that would warrant the trade? After all, Montreal has got 11 picks in each of the 2024 and 2025 draft. Harris is currently on injured reserve, but the Canadiens’ latest update about him on December 12 had him ready to return in 10 to 12 days.
If the defensive depth cannot get the Canadiens some skills up front though, Hughes will have to find another way to sort out that issue if he wants this rebuild to keep going the right way. Last night, the goaltending woes of the Edmonton Oilers kept going in spectacular fashion. Edmonton lost 7-4 to Tampa Bay even though they outshot John Cooper’s team 57-24. Starter Stuart Skinner gave up five goals in just 22 shots for a save percentage of .773. Now could be a good time for Hughes to give Ken Holland a call…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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