It was the biggest challenge of the season for the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night. The New York Rangers are picked by many to win the Stanley Cup this season, and they are off to a hot start.
The Canadiens showed that there are still a lot of growing pains remaining in this rebuild. It was an embarrassing night, losing 7-2.
Wilde Horses
It’s difficult to find positives when the eyes are wide open to all of the games that remain this season with the pieces clearly not in place yet, but that’s what a rebuild is, so the goal is to find some ‘green shoots’.
After six games of struggling to find his offensive mojo, Nick Suzuki brought it in a big way. He got his first goal of the season in the first period, but it was the second period marker that was pure Suzuki. He beat two defenders, then did a drag move on the goalie that never dragged, but just kept moving forward until he had an open net. It was gorgeous.
Josh Anderson assisted on the first goal for the Canadiens with a superb puck-battle win then pass to Suzuki, but it’s his defensive effort that is notable. Anderson is back-checking with intensity and becoming a more complete player than he was before. His work on the penalty kill is strong as well.
It doesn’t matter what the score is, what the month is, what the nagging injury status is, Brendan Gallagher is going to work his tail off for the Canadiens. In the second period, he simply would not be stopped as he bulldozed his way to goal to draw a penalty.
Oliver Kapanen continues to hint that he may be a strong NHL third line centre. In the second period, he drove to the net hard, weaving through two Rangers to get a shot on goal. It didn’t materialize in a difficult save, but the ability to beat defenders and the guts to attack the net are a good sign.
Wilde Goats
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the first 10 minutes of the contest. After Montreal had a good chance, the Rangers went right back down ice and scored only 54 seconds in. The zone coverage was abysmal. There were open Rangers everywhere.
Just over a minute later, the Rangers dumped the puck down ice. Jayden Struble and Logan Mailloux thought it was an icing call. They both skated nonchalantly to the puck, but there was no whistle. It was the easiest goal imaginable as two Rangers hooked up with the two Montreal blue liners doing nothing on the play, but looking at each other in confusion.
Four minutes later, the Canadiens made an attempt to get back in the game. Lane Hutson tried to dangle his way down ice, but was stripped of the puck as the last man back in the neutral zone. Reilly Smith went in all alone to make it 3-0 New York.
The Canadiens then gave up the first power play of the contest, and New York scored on that as well with a gorgeous three way passing play. It was a rout. Four goals on nine shots. Samuel Montembeault exited in favour of Cayden Primeau. Game over.
Wilde Cards
It’s time for a reset to the 2024-25 season. Not a reset of the hopes for the long future, but a reset of what is right in front of us as we consider what the Montreal Canadiens can achieve this year.
Before the season began, expectations were high. Management kept using the phrase ‘in the mix,’ suggesting that the Canadiens may be fighting for a playoff spot through out the season.
The lynchpin was the second line. Hopes were that Patrik Laine would find the form that gave him 44 goals in his best season. There was hope that Kirby Dach would recover from a huge knee reconstruction to be a force. The hope was that Alex Newhook would come along for the ride.
All three of those hopes have been dashed early in this season. Instead of the dream of a 70-goal line, we have a second line with one goal this year, and management saying that Dach is going to need some time. However, the second line is not where the biggest mistakes have been made in our expectations.
The real challenge that was missed is how long it takes for defenders to learn their craft. The average age of a winner of the Norris Trophy for best defender is 28.3 years. Experience is king on the blue line. Look at Mike Matheson who leapt a level at the age of 29.
Collectively, we are all far too hard on the Canadiens blue line, asking for results that just do not come at their experience level. It takes 200 to 300 games for a defender to find their best selves. It takes the age of 26 for a blue liner to start to control the game smartly.
The players that we are all impatient with are still so young that we need to do a reboot on our expectations for them.
Lane Hutson is 20. Justin Barron is 22. Arber Xhekaj is 23. Kaiden Guhle is 22. Jayden Struble is 23. Logan Mailloux is 21. This entire group is not even close to their ceiling. They’ve barely gotten started on their careers. They are all six of them from five to eight years away from their peak power in the league.
It is frustrating to be more patient. It is difficult to watch losses. It is difficult to see them learn their lessons right in front of our eyes. The rebuild is going well. It’s just not going as quickly as was hoped.
It may not even be next season that they jump up the standings. The defenders will still be young next year and the year after that. Add to that, more new players with big talent will arrive like Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage. They too will need their seasoning.
NHL maturity is a process. It’s a long process. It’s why this city never did a true rebuild, but has put bandages on problems since 1993. This is a true rebuild. It’s being done with purpose and intelligence. The smart way isn’t always the easy way in life.
The smart way in hockey has a lot of sacrifice in it. And so it goes…
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.