Penton: Improving Habs becoming a threat once again
By Bruce Penton
Normalcy is returning to the National Hockey League now that the Montreal Canadiens are a threat again.
The Canadiens, the league’s flagship team and winner of more Stanley Cups than any other franchise, have fallen on bad times in recent years, but are one of the league’s surprise success stories this season.
Crave TV ran a documentary on the Habs, called ‘The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens’, that focused on efforts made by front-office staff to return the Canadiens to their glory days. And judging by recent results — nine wins in an 11-game span over Christmas and into the new year, for instance — it’s working. At one point, Montreal was two games above .500, which was something worth celebrating. In one late-December stretch, Montreal won back-to-back-to-back road games against Tampa Bay, Florida and Vegas, following up later with road wins over Cup contenders Colorado and Washington.
The Canadiens, whose 24 Stanley Cups wins are 11 ahead of second-place Toronto, have had three successive last-place finishes in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, but find themselves in a battle for an Eastern Conference wildcard playoff position as the season approaches its halfway mark.
In fact, this iteration of the Canadiens, given a couple of years of growth, could develop into a Stanley Cup contender. Offensively, Cole Caufield is one of the NHL’s most prolific scorers. Lline-mate Nick Suzuki, the team captain, leads the team in points. One of the most exciting young defencemen in the league, rookie Lane Hutson, plays a ton of minutes and quarterbacks their power play. Slovakia’s Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2022, is developing nicely, with more points than any other member of the ’22 draft class (Hutson went 62nd in the same draft). And while many around the NHL shook their heads when the Habs acquired Patrik Laine and a second-round pick in a trade with Columbus for Jordan Harris, the acquisition has turned out great. The Finnish forward, a former Jet and Blue Jacket, scored nine goals in his first 14 games for Montreal and adds the power to their power play. Still to join the team is Russian sniper Ivan Demidov, a sharpshooter who was selected No. 5 in the 2024 draft.
On the defensive side, Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle and Alexandre Carrier join Hutson as game-changers on the blueline, and the recent emergence of rookie goalie Jakub Dobes, who won his first two games with a .982 save percentage, to share duties with six-year vet Sam Montembeault gives Montreal fans hope another Patrick Roy-Carey Price stabilizing influence will develop between the pipes.
General manager Kent Hughes is taking a low-key approach. “We still have a lot to learn,” Hughes said in a Canadian Press story. “I'm glad we're playing better than we did at the start of the season, but we've played 40 games and are (just) over the .500 mark. We're not celebrating for nothing. We haven't achieved anything yet.”
Headline at theonion.com: “LeBron pressures Bronny to have grandchildren before he’s too old to play with them in NBA.”
Brett McMurphy on Bluesky: “Forget the Kentucky Derby, Jack Sawyer’s 83-yard fumble return for Ohio State (vs. Texas) is the most exciting two minutes in sports.”
Columnist Norman Chad, on Twitter: “ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky talks more in a three-man booth than the late Vin Scully talked in a one-man booth.”
Jack Finarelli on his sportscurmudgeon.com website, on Orlovsky: “I am a full-fledged supporter of the First Amendment guaranteeing free speech, but I think Orlovsky’s performance was a violation of that right.”
Vancouver comedy guy Torben Rolfsen: “Canada was bounced earlier in the World Junior for the second straight tourney. Now we’ll be subject to more federal commissions, inquiries and referendums than in a normal election year.”
Rolfsen agailn: “Latvia has fewer people than Greater Vancouver, but way happier hockey fans.”
Bob Molinaro of pilot online.com (Hampton, Va.): “Did you notice that ESPN began running Masters commercials on Jan. 1? C’mon now. It’s the Masters. As if people would forget to watch.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “New Orleans police recently were looking for ex-WWE star Davey Boy Smith for assaulting wrestler Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts –– by throwing coffee at him. So the complaint had grounds.”
Headline at theonion.com: “NBA Team Physicians Admit They Only Know Medical Stuff About Legs”
From the golf site First Call: “Scottie Scheffler suffered an injury to his right hand from broken glass while preparing Christmas dinner, keeping him out of action for a few weeks. Shouldn’t a man who won $62 million with his hands last year be kept away from sharp objects?”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “No one of sound mind will sign Pete Alonso for nine seasons. But that’s assuming that everyone in baseball is of sound mind.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca