Some notes on defenseman deployment 5v5 in the last three games. Habs have really cracked down on the shots against in these games against some average competition.

• Hutson is the workhorse; Hutson and Guhle are getting top minutes, but not as a pairing. Hutson is being used to drive offense and gets key offensive zone starts, while Guhle gets the key defensive zone starts
• Surprisingly, Savard is being deployed offensively, and Struble and Xhekaj are playing hard minutes, getting way more defensive minutes. It looks like coach wants all out offense when there is a chance in the other teams zone.
• I included goals for stats geeks just to illustrate how bad an indicator of performanace that is for 3 games. It makes Savard look like a driver of offense, and Guhle look like the goat (as opposed to the GOAT) when the opposite is true. Struble and Xhekaj apepar to adjusting well to limited minutes on bottom pairing, particularly Xhekaj.

https://preview.redd.it/2520n4f69p0e1.png?width=760&format=png&auto=webp&s=266fd3c60e8c80fc50ea1feb1c10edbfc1307dae

Looking at Hutson's line matchings for these three games is a wild ride, but it appears to be working. Here's an example of his on ice matchings against Buffalo with comments:

• Not more than 6 minutes with any one player in ~20 minutes of icetime. Hutson plays the field!
• Top pairing is with Newhook in offensive zone! It looks like MSL is trying everfything to get Newhook going.
• Paired with Savard in hard defensive zone starts and with Matheson in hyper offensive zone starts; the latter is insanely high risk/high reward as these are guys that love to pinch and maybe the reason the last game was a run and gun game with lots of 2-1s.
• Pairings with the other d-men appears to be the result of line changes.

https://preview.redd.it/bqk1z7egip0e1.png?width=607&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ff764f2f91ba651b4f8a142203319fca379e0d3

Hey Habs Fans!

I've been a Habs fan for 40yrs now, die hard. However, I've just not been able to watch games this year. I've seen all the highlights though.

I'm curious about thoughts on Lane Hutson? Clearly he's a wizard with the puck, and he's able to find a way to defend given his size. But I've seen some absolutely brutal defensive play as well. Given I have no context to most of his plays (they're just highlights/lowlights), how has he been progressing? What does he have to work on? What is his ceiling? How about his floor?

Help me understand! :P

Imagine a 18 year / 1283 assists career without any goal.

Hey All,

Anyone know if the new Lululemon Habs gear is being sold at Tricolore? The site only seems to mention the Lids store on Ste Catherine. Thanks

Habs defense has been grsadually improving with the return of Guhle.

Below are the period by period gameflow stats for the season and the gameflow stats for the last game. I've marked the the games of the Guhle injury and the insertion of Condatta into the line up. Adding them to the line up appears to have had the effect of improving the defensive gameflow stats.

First, for perspective, the league median shot attempts per period is a little over 19. Let's ignore the effect of the 3rd period in the opening game where the Leafs went all out for a goal (Habs won 1-0) and skewed the stats with 44 shot attempts. In general, when we were without Guhle we couldn't go a whole game without a period where the Habs zone turned into a shooting range, with shot attempts against exceeding 26 5 times. Since inserting Ghule back in the line up, this hasn't happened once.

The second step occurs in the last 3 games with the addition of Condatta. Since then, Habs shot attempts against has been below the league average in 7/9 periods.

It's obvious how Guhle makes the defense better in the last 6 games. Guhle is a defensman's defenseman, that can move the puck, move a player from the front of the net, and hold his position defensively, I think he is now a top 4 defenseman, and his development shows progress in the rebuild (with a solid Bergevin 16 overall draft pick). He illustrates the difference developing a good top 4 defenseman can bring. His absence also illustrates how fragile we are. We cannot afford to lose a top 4 guy because no one is ready to step up yet to play those kinds of minutes. We need another top 4 guy to contend and survive the next injury to one of our top 4 guys.

https://preview.redd.it/051ghczg3k0e1.png?width=901&format=png&auto=webp&s=26a94992ef814ff9cfca6b59c8efe58fd77833b3

Can't really figure out what Condata is doing or if its just a coincidence, but the fourth line has been playing very well since adding him. They've actually been generating a lot of offense as a trio with their limited 4th line minutes.

https://preview.redd.it/mrjjm32efk0e1.png?width=484&format=png&auto=webp&s=5832750024e5d1ae8c6e47ee4719588f7ec92608

It might not feel that habs gameflow stats are improving from last game against BUF. The reason is you see wild swings in momentum within one period between Buffalo and Montreal, especially in the third period. It's what made it an entertaining game. In general, though, shot attempts were even and below the league average for both teams.

https://preview.redd.it/3jbhnmhd6k0e1.png?width=751&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f29c95e6793d70bb5d43e495a8392f7df65d4b2

Here's the monthly Consolidated Rankings from Eliteprospects for the 24-25 NHL Draft. With the Habs in their current standings, any player(s) that catch you eye?

Personally, big fan of Martone & Misa. I can honestly say I haven't gone out of my way much to watch Hagens yet.

October update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Habs/comments/1g3m260/202425_nhl_entry_draft_top_16_consolidated/

I was listening to the podcast and wanted to highlight a couple of things I've heard. If you want to listen to the podcast yourself

_________________________________________

Friedge: "Now I wanted to ask you. You had a funny story of what had happened to you and John Bartlett in Pittsburgh with Montreal-Pittsburgh post game. You guys were having one after the game in the hotel bar and what happened?"

Kyle: "So, yeah. We get back to our hotel and we're in the restaurant in the lobby right next door and we were sitting and it was John Bartlett, Garry Galley, the rest of our production crew. There was seven or eight of us that were sitting down there and we were sitting at a table that was right next to the window where you can see out into the lobby, and I had my back to it, but Bartlett could see - he was looking out through the window. At one point, he just stops and said 'Annnd the Canadiens are here and the Canadiens are checking in into the hotel'. Which was strange, of course. It was the end of their road trip, they were supposed to be headed back to Montreal post game and all of the sudden you see the entire team roll in with their luggage and everything and it was like uh-oh. Something's gone haywire here. And we learn soon after what had happened, I guess the plane that was there sitting at the airport in Pittsburgh, the fuel truck was going to gas up the plane at some point on Saturday, whether it was the afternoon or evening, or whatever, made contact with the plane. I don't know how severe it was, but clearly when that happens, even a slight bump, now you have to go through a whole series of checks and balances, to make sure that the plane is still okay to fly again. So they weren't going anywhere Saturday night. They were staying at a different hotel the night before in downtown Pittsburgh. Saturday night, they were full, so they had to repo and scramble and find a place. They ended up where we were staying, just at another part of the downtown core there, but man, now you go alright. And it's funny, like that was a week after Carolina had plane troubles trying to get from Seattle to Vancouver.... It was just a bizzarre scene. I think they were able to get off the ground on Sunday morning and eventually get back to Montreal, but talk about salt in the wound for the Canadiens after just a really frustrating road trip. No points in two games and you're grounded in Pittsburgh on Saturday night."

__________________________________________

Friedge: "Hearing you say about how you think that [St-Louis] and Suzuki are on the same page and there's no issue in the room and I think that goes to, you know, he was very critical of them on Thursday but not on Saturday.... when you're the coach, you can't repeatedly pound on the team. Players have to believe that you're on their side. The players have to believe that you're going through the struggles with them and you're not blaming them for the struggles.... The players have to know that St-Louis is with them. I think the other interesting thing about St-Louis, and I would say this about him, and I say this with great respect. Of all of the players I've ever daelt with in the NHL, I don't know if there's one that had more pride than St-Louis. Anyone who is great at anything has enormous pride and drive. But I don't think there was a guy who was more proud than St-Louis was. My arrival in Hockey Night in Canada, coincided where his career really took off. That 03-04 season. Where he had the magnificient year and they won the Stanley Cup. That year I spent a couple of days in Vermont at a Stanley Cup party, not as a guest, but doing a feature. And we got to know each other pretty well and I always had a good relationship with him and I've seen it. When people question him, he never forgets. He never forgets. Because there is still a little bit of, I think it's perfectly normal and perfectly healthy, that guy who people said was too small to make it. Like that never goes away, right? There was so many moments. One of the Tampa players told me that in St-Louis' hayday, there was nobody who grabbed the sheet to check their ice-time quicker after games than St-Louis. And it was because if he felt that he wasn't getting what he deserved, and he always checked to make sure he was right, he would take it as a personal affront. And I remember that there a year where they played the Devils in the playoffs and the Devils were really good, and him and Lecavalier were playng 26 minutes in the first couple of games, and Tortorella - everyone - was like there's no way this can continue,.. It's too much that I am asking of them, and we go to him and say that it's too much, and he'd go 'Oh yeah? Who tells you that? Why do you think that?' Like the idea that he couldn't do something, was so personally offensive to him, that his eyes would just pierce right through you..... [Friedge continues on about how St-Louis made it to the Olympics as an injury replacement and despite the great interview they had when they were celebrating the gold medal and St-Louis was so happy that most reporters thought that there was no way that there would still be a problem between him and Tampa Bay, but when he came back to Tampa he still asked to be traded.]... That's St-Louis. Watching him now, for the first time, you could see that he felt that his coaching was getting questioned a little bit. And he got his back up, and in a lot of ways, I think that turned out to be a great thing for him, because I think he will be more determined to find a solution to all of this. You can't change that the team is not ready, but you can change the way they play, and the way they defend, right? I think that will motivate him to do it. But I saw the look on his face, he's like 'People are doubting me?' And you knew it was going to happen eventuatlly, it happens to every coach. It happens to everybody, but I saw it last week... I'll tell you, this guy? That will motivate him. I have seen it too often. I've seen him like 'You think I can't do that?" and the desire to prove you wrong. All NHL players, especially the great ones have it to some level, but nobody I've dealt with, more than him. I'm interested to see where it takes him and the Canadiens."

I'm just messing with Ya'll.

Pretty nice to see Gally score like this tho.