Habs Desperate for Scoring Help

2.3 Goals Per Game Just Won’t Cut It

Injuries are one thing, but when your team just can’t find a way to buy a goal, literally, there is a problem.

Here’s how the Habs offense is stacking up against the rest of the NHL:

• - Goals For: 62 – 25th in the NHL
• - Goals per Game: 2.30 – 27th in the NHL
• - Shots per Game: 28.1 – 25th in the NHL
• - Power Play %: 17.1 – 24th in the NHL

Considering that the Canadiens spend $34 million dollars on their offense, that is a pretty poor return.

Obviously the Habs have had their fair share of injuries and that has severely affected their chemistry and offensive abilities, but with only Tomas Plekanec and Michael Cammalleri living up to expectations, that leaves a lot of money on table not contributing.

Scott Gomez has all but disappeared since his first 10 games, being hampered by a groin injury hasn’t helped, but the Habs need a lot more out of the 2-time Stanley Cup winner if they are going to justify taking on his contract.

Brian Gionta was an offensive lightning rod for the Habs and is being sorely missed at the moment. Perhaps the true, unofficial, captain of this new Canadiens squad, Gionta has been a sparkplug on the bench and in the room while helping out in more ways than one when on the ice. Gio is the spark that Gomez needs and it is clear to see how much Scotty misses him. With his broken foot on the mend, and a return slowly nearing, Habs fans can take solace in the fact that at least some form of offensive help is on its way.

Andrei Kostitsyn has been the bane of most Habs fans ire through the early part of this season as he has failed to come close to any of the expectations set before him. With a meagre 2 goals in 24 games, the former first rounder is starting to look juicier and juicier as trade bait. In his defense, he was playing some mildly inspired hockey in the 5 games prior to his current injury, but with his return expected on Thursday, and with his little brother Sergei back with the team(presumably to give Andrei some comfort and confidence), those grand expectations that befall the gifted scoring left winger are going to be right back at the forefront. Andrei needs to produce now, or he might face the same fate as recent former top Habs picks, Guillaume Latendresse(2nd rounder) and Kyle Chipchura(1st rounder).
Speaking of Sergei, now that he has returned to the team, he seems to be playing as if he has gotten the message. His demotion to Hamilton was not a quick stint but rather a prolonged immersion in refocusing the promising young play-maker. The younger Kostitsyn is going to be leaned on heavily as a spark for the team, especially in the absence of Gionta, but also to help his older brother regain his poise and passion for the game. Sergei may literally be the Montreal Canadiens make or break player. If he plays up to the expectation of his former linemates in Junior(Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner), the Habs could find renewed hope for the season.

The role players have more or less lived up to their expectations, primarily Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit, while Max Lapierre has been given a second chance in the wake of the Latendresse trade.

The rest of the forwards battling it out for roles on the team on a nightly basis have seemingly secured roles on the Canadiens. Tom Pyatt, the “throw-in” in the Higgins/Gomez trade has proven he can skate at the NHL level. Perhaps not so much as his Bulldog counterpart, Ryan White, but considering the fact that Bob Gainey has chosen to move Latendresse and Chipchura, both hopefuls for roles on the 3rd and 4th lines, while they were in town, one has to consider the fact that, perhaps, White and Pyatt forced Gainey’s hand in moving the other 2 forwards. Add recently recovered Matt D’Agostini and Greg Stewart to the mix, and that seems to be the group of youngsters that will spend the rest of the year helping the Habs out on the bottom two trios.

That pretty much leaves Habs power-forward prospect, Max Pacioretty, and newly acquired power-forward prospect, Benoit Pouliot.

Pacioretty and Pouliot are both former first rounders, with Pouliot being a former #4 overall pick, ironically selected one spot ahead of current Habs netminder, Carey Price.

Patches is slowly starting to come around under the grooming of head coach Jacques Martin and honestly seems to be making progress with each passing game. Many people have waffled over Pacioretty during his young career as a Hab, but considering the talent set he possesses and the sizeable frame he still has to grow into, it appears that it won’t be long until Pacioretty is ready to take on his projected role of a top six power forward. His progression and development coupled with Andrei Kostitsyn’s lack thereof since the beginning of the season, may prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Kostitsyn. That is, unless the pressure of Pacioretty stealing his spot combined with the recall of his brother Sergei, spurs him on to becoming the player he can be.

As for Benoit Pouliot, general manager Bob Gainey may have pulled off his greatest coup as GM of the Canadiens. Granted Pouliot arrives in Quebec as a troubled young man who had a rough go learning the ropes with the Wild in Minnesota, but if anyone would have told you at the draft in 2005 that, in 4 years time, as a Habs fan, you would have the #4 AND the #5 pick from the draft to build your team with, would you have believed them? If the Habs had gotten Price and Pouliot at the time of the draft, no one would have ever cared that they were only 4 slots away from landing the coveted top pick and Carey Price.

So why should it be any different now?

Well, the obvious answer is that both Price and Pouliot have struggled at various times in their careers, but both have the immense potential to great. And that is the challenge bestowed upon Montreal’s new head coach Jacques Martin.

A challenge that, quite frankly, was the specific reason for his hiring in Montreal.

Martin’s main goal is to turn the Habs into a winner, but his secondary purpose is to develop the perhaps, sometimes, maligned Montreal prospects into true-blood NHL’ers.

The Habs are in need of having their prospects live up to their potential because they have wagered a great deal of their future expenses on veteran offense and leadership.

With the removal of #84 and #28 from the Canadiens lineup, Montreal seems to be moving towards a larger move of some sort.

With approximately a little over $3.5 million dollars available against the salary cap, the Canadiens are in a place where they can make a major trade, should they choose to do so. But that is a question for another day.

For now, the Canadiens have to realize that their current production does not cut it and that the Habs are going to need a greater output from their forwards if they can expect to make it into the playoffs.

Montreal has the opportunity to be a completely different team by January, but with 16 games left in December, this make or break month, it might be too late by the team Andrei Markov makes a return.

In order to avoid that, the vets will need to return and start making a difference(Gomez, Gionta, AKost) and Jacques Martin will need to bring out the best in Benoit Pouliot, Max Pacioretty and Sergei Kostitsyn.

A lot will have to go right for the Habs to make the playoffs, but with new ownership finally in place and healthy players returning to the lineup every day, the Canadiens are going to have make their own luck and take advantage of their opportunities now.

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