Habs Mailbag: Causes for concern for Canadiens in Year 3 of rebuilding

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What are your thoughts on the current state of Canadian rebuilding? Are they behind or ahead? In my opinion they have improved but their young defenders have been struggling this year and some poor goals have cost them dearly.

Retired Hulkamaniac in X — @WholesalerCynic

I think it will take five years before you can really start analyzing whether the restructuring will work. This is only Year 3 for the Canadiens and the first 11 games are certainly a step short of management’s pre-season goal of being “in the mix” for a playoff spot. That wasn’t helped by Patrik Laine’s preseason knee injury, and the shaky goaltending of both Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau, as well as the growing pains of the young defensemen, proved very painful. Going into the season, I thought defense and goaltending were the two biggest question marks. The lack of competitiveness that has led to so many blowouts in some games has been my biggest concern so far, and the disappointment of losing (and poor goalkeeping) may be starting to set in. This is not a good thing.

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Martin St. Think Louis’ honeymoon is over?

NP in X — @Consolidator01

All honeymoons come to an end, and this one is definitely the one in St. It starts with St. Louis scoring six or more goals in five of the Canadiens’ first 11 games.

Fans have been patient during this remake, but now they are disappointed and It showed the time the Canadiens were booed at the Bell Centre. finally 8-2 defeat to Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. It’s one thing for a rebuilding team to lose games, but losing so often is unacceptable.

St. St. Louis was skating hard at practice in Washington on Friday before his players flew to Pittsburgh for Saturday’s game against the Penguins. (19:00, SNE, Citytv, TVA Sports).

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Do anyone on the coaching staff think their system might be a little too complicated at this point for such a young team? Confusion seems to reign at certain points in each game.

Chris Bogucki on X — @ChrisHabs18

Currently in St. The answer seems to be no, as they stick to St. Louis’ hybrid defensive zone system, which is a mix of zone and man-to-man. St. Louis does not believe the players are confused and says no system is bulletproof, but his system is a good one when implemented properly and he is not worried about the defensive structure. “It just brings out the details inside,” he said recently. But Canadians certainly seem confused, and it might be a good idea to simplify things.

Do you see Mike Matheson on this team next season?

#38@Marchellus on X — @DonMarcellus7

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the first 11 games, it’s how difficult it is to win with a young defensive group. Teams need experienced players, and Matheson is a good player who should stick around because he leads by example and is a leader off the ice as well as what he does on the ice. The 30-year-old has one more season left on his contract and if the Canadiens are going to move him, I think it will be at next season’s trade deadline. Unless they decide to re-sign Matheson, which doesn’t seem like a bad idea at this point.

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If you were the Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes, what would you want in the draft? Keeper? Forward? Defensive? Or trade it and upgrade at right guard or top-six forward?

CaleDoyle on X — @cagglecale

It looks like the Canadiens will receive a high draft pick for the fourth year in a row. Teams can get into trouble when they draft high in the draft instead of just taking the best player available. Jesperi Kotkaniemi (No. 3 overall in 2018) is an example where the Canadiens are desperately searching for a center. The Canadiens could take left winger Brady Tkachuk, who went to Ottawa with the next pick and is the Senators’ captain, with 6-7-13 totals in nine games this season and 168 goals in his seven seasons in the NHL. Kotkaniemi currently has 65 career goals with the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s too early to tell, but defenseman David Reinbacher could be another example after the Canadiens drafted him No. 5 overall in 2023 largely because he’s a right-shot defenseman. The Canadiens could take right winger Matvei Michkov, who went to Philadelphia with the No. 7 pick and is 4-5-9 in his first 11 games with the Flyers this season. If the Canadiens get another high pick in next year’s draft, I’d be surprised if they trade him.

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Did you enjoy Bruce Springsteen’s concert on Thursday night?

D.Boivin @AllenDenB

It was a spectacular three hour show of The Boss. The Canadiens need more players to give the 75-year-old Springsteen the effort on the ice that he does on stage.

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