Tag: canadiens

On Canadiens: Bergevin sacks Julien to salvage the season and his job

After only eighteen games played this season, the Montreal Canadiens announced this morning that they have fired head coach Claude Julien and his beleaguered powerplay guru, Kirk Muller.

In the hours that have passed, a debate roiling around this decision is whether this is a surprise, and whether the Canadiens have been too reactionary to their latest string of poor results and have been unfair to Julien, who has been the coach for the Canadiens since February 2017.

It is hard to evaluate this decision without the appropriate context. Given the situation that the Canadiens find themselves in, a period in which they have lost six of their last eight games, and have careened down the North Division standings, I cannot say that I am too surprised. In fact, in discussions with other friends that support the Canadiens in recent days, this very situation was discussed. Ultimately, the decision arose from the fact that this slump is not an isolated event, and harkens back to similar happenings that Julien could not resolve a year ago.

This season, the Canadiens started the first ten games of the season 7-1-2, obtaining 16 points and keeping pace with the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the North Division. During that time, they played a swashbuckling brand of hockey; rolling all four forward lines, receiving balanced scoring (scoring 44 goals in that span) from all parts of the lineup, and completely suffocating their opposition with an aggressive forecheck and pace through the neutral zone.

The Canadiens have played with this pulsating, high tempo system on and off since the start of the 2018/19 season, and I wrote a post to share my excitement for how the team may finally sustain this physically taxing style over the shortened 56 game schedule.

As is often the case, the first ten games provided us with only a limited sample of what the Canadiens could accomplish. In those ten games in particular, the problem is that the Canadiens played the Vancouver Canucks five times.

The Canucks were unable to matchup against the Canadiens, and in many of those games, were completely overwhelmed, unable to deal with the Habs’ forechecking pressure. The Canadiens went 4-0-1 and outscored the Canucks 28-15. Through the sheer mental attrition of facing the same opponent so frequently in a short period of time, the Canucks were clearly worn out and demoralized.

The grandiosity that came from beating up the Canucks in such a manner, came to a crashing halt over the subsequent eight games, as the Canadiens have gone 2-4-2 (6 points), a span that has seen them lose three times to the lowly Ottawa Senators. Most concerning of all is that the Canadiens dominant style of play, where they play with pace, balance, an aggressive forecheck, and on the front foot has given way to a more reactive, less aggressive (shooting more from the point) and more mistake prone game (2nd most penalized team in the league), that has been compounded by subpar special teams (20th ranked powerplay, 22nd ranked penalty kill) and below average goaltending from Carey Price.

In the end, Marc Bergevin was forced into making this decision today. Bergevin has been at the helm of the Canadiens since the end of the 2012 season, and during that span, has made the playoffs outright only four times. If the Canadiens miss the playoffs this season, it will represent four straight season that the team has failed to meet this minimum expectation (NOTE: last season’s bubble playoff is hard to count as a playoff appearance, considering the Canadiens were considerably behind the 8th seed in the East when the season was suspended). Although Bergevin has earned plaudits for his trades over the last few seasons, this abject record is a difficult one to justify, especially in a market that was once accustomed to winning and celebrates how high the standards are.

Given the overall level of mediocrity, it is conceivable that if the Canadiens miss the playoffs this season, that Geoff Molson will finally fire Bergevin in the end (of note, Bergevin is signed until the summer of 2022).

Since the disastrous season of 2017-18, Bergevin has led the Canadiens down a great “reset,” restocking the club with young players and draft picks, and the Canadiens once again have the highest number of draft picks of any team, in the upcoming 2021 NHL Draft. Yet, while restocking his cupboard has been a priority, Bergevin is also in the precarious position of having to “win now”, as both Carey Price and Shea Weber, his two highest priced players, are rapidly nearing the end of their peak performance years (though many skeptics contend that both are well past their expiration date already).

After last summer’s performance in the bubble, where the Canadiens defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins to advance to the playoffs, and where they put up a strong six game struggle against the Philadelphia Flyers, Bergevin strengthened a team that looked capable of competing. He added pieces to reinforce the team, in bringing in scorers Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli, depth on defense in Joel Edmundson, and a goaltender that could truly give Carey Price some rest, in Jake Allen. It was also expected that centres Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were ready to build on their strong performances in the bubble.

Reasonably, the expectations for the Canadiens were raised, and many prognosticators projected that the team would compete with the Maple Leafs for the top spot in the North Division. It all started well enough, the pomposity was in full force, but that has all but since deflated over the last three weeks.

Bergevin’s decision to fire Julien needs to be understood in the context of what happened last season. After barely missing out on the playoffs in the final weekend of the regular season in 2019, the Canadiens started the 2019-20 season reasonably well, posting a record of 11-5-3 in their first 19 games. On the night of their 19th game however, they lost both Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron to long term injuries, and the Canadiens promptly lost their next eight games in succession.

The team would lose eight games in a row for a second time, in a period just after Christmas, and it derailed any aspirations that the team would make the playoffs. Of note, the team lost all four games last season to the worst team in the league, the Detroit Red Wings.

Those eight game stretches were difficult, and it seemed that the team played well in parts, but not well enough. Aside from replacing injured players in the lineup, Julien made very little changes, and was unable to conjure a response in any manner that could have salvaged the season. The play became static, bereft of the speed and control that marked the team’s high point, and the special teams continued to lag. By the time he did, the Canadiens were lapped by their rivals in the Atlantic Division, and could never recover.

Fast forward to this season, and the same “negative energy” (as labelled by captain Shea Weber) and lack of response has been spiraling around the Canadiens. Last night, with the Canadiens having lost five of their last seven games, and needing a more urgent performance against an objectively inferior and inexperienced opponent, found themselves dominated by the Ottawa Senators for the first 15 minutes, and trailing 2-0 (before Shea Weber scored in the 16th minute).

It was in sports’ parlance a “statement game,” and after being outshot 19-9 in the second period, to their credit, the Canadiens responded in the third, outshooting the Sens 12-4, and ending regulation with a 4-4 tie.

Ultimately the Canadiens controversially lost (a last second winner by Brendan Gallagher was ruled out due to a dubious goaltender interference review), and as they have been passed in the standings by the Oilers and the Jets in recent days, the pressure has been mounting. The system that they surprised and overwhelmed their opponents with is no longer novel, and the trend of taking more shots from the opposition blue line is alarmingly similar to how the Canadiens played during their eight game losing streaks a year ago.

The urgency feels even more intense this season, in a divisional format in which every game feels part of a zero-sum game, and every loss is doubly felt. Given the level of expectation at the start of the season, Bergevin truly felt this was an opportunity to conquer the Canadian division with a deep team, get a place in the NHL’s “final four” and mount a serious challenge for the Stanley Cup. Sitting on his hands any longer would have jeopardized that opportunity.

In the end, it is sad to see Claude Julien leave again (he was fired in 2006 by Bob Gainey, the general manager of the Canadiens at the time). Although over four years with the Canadiens, in this tenure, his teams were mostly mediocre in the standings, they performed well on 5 v 5 metrics, appeared to have some structure, but were sunk by atrocious special teams (26th in the powerplay and 29th on the penalty kill during his time) and the lack of an elite offensive star finisher.

In comes, Dominique Ducharme, a young coach who has been an assistant to Julien for the last two seasons, who has an excellent track record coaching in Canadian major junior hockey (with Halifax and Drummondville) and the Canadian World Junior team. Of course, without NHL head coaching experience, it will be a tall order replace a veteran like Julien, who brought structure to the Canadiens over his four years. Ducharme also inherits the same plagued special teams and struggling Carey Price that finally felled Julien.

If Ducharme can bring the Canadiens out of the struggle that they are currently mired in, he can salvage the season and we can all carry on. If he cannot, then almost assuredly, Marc Bergevin will be joining Claude Julien as another casualty of 2021, for his repeated failures in leading the Canadiens to prominence.

Jaideep Kanungo

On Canadiens: Are the Habs better off compared to last season?

On the surface of it, the Montreal Canadiens lineup entering the 2019/20 season does not appear much different from the one that narrowly missed the playoffs by two points in 2018/19. As other Eastern Conference teams reinforced their teams this offseason, the question remains whether the Habs have done enough to contend for a playoff spot.

The Canadiens did move on from Jordie Benn (who signed with Vancouver as a free agent), Antii Niemi (who signed with Jokerit of the KHL) and Andrew Shaw. The Habs sent Andrew Shaw to the Chicago Blackhawks for 2nd (2020), 3rd (2021) and 7th (2020) round picks. The incoming players include netminder Keith Kinkaid, depth defenseman Ben Chiarot and checking centreman, Nick Cousins.

Most notably, the Habs signed centre Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet of 5 years, worth $8.454 million per season. The Carolina Hurricanes emphatically matched the contract, retained Aho, and openly mocked the Canadiens in doing so. In the aftermath, there was much derision from members of the hockey media and fans of opposing teams on social media. It was felt that the Habs did not make a serious attempt at an offer sheet, that the annual salary being offered was too low, and the terms being far too easy for Carolina to match.

The Canadiens made a shrewd and calculated gamble in tendering Aho the offer sheet that they did. They identified a player that fills a need, as a young, slick, skilled, playmaking number one centre. They also identified a team that they judged to potentially have money problems in Carolina. While owner Tom Dundon is a billionaire, he recently had troubles with the folding of the Alliance of American Football, a project he purportedly invested $70 million into and subsequently lost. Furthermore, Dundon has proved to be notoriously cheap at building his hockey club, dismissing previous Canes’ General Manager, Ron Francis, over contract demands, which were meagre by all accounts. The Canadiens structured their offer sheet in a way that upon signing, Aho was due a $21 million dollar signing bonus. It was a financial stress test for Dundon if there ever was one.

Based on the comments Canadiens’ GM Marc Bergevin made on 1 July, the team did not feel that going up in terms of annual salary (AAV) would have made significant difference whether Carolina would match the offer. At $8.454 million, the compensation was a first, second and third round pick. Had they gone up in AAV, they would have had to surrender an additional first round pick. Had they gone up to an AAV of $10.6 million, the compensation would have been quite steep, at four first round picks.

On a five year deal (which Aho signed, and what most RFAs are thought to be interested in, after Auston Matthews signed a five year contract with the Maple Leafs), surrendering two to four first round picks would have been a steep price. This is of particular importance in an NHL where even good teams can have an anomalous season, miss the playoffs, and find themselves in the NHL Draft Lottery. Increasing the AAV also would not have substantially changed the bonus structure.

The Canadiens made the offer, it got matched, and the saga was closed. It was a worthwhile attempt, and though unsuccessful it showed the Canadiens intent in wanting to acquire talent through different means. The Canadiens have failed repeatedly in luring the glamour unrestricted free agent to Montreal, chiefly due to factors out of its control, including poor weather, the highest tax rate in the league, and the NHL players’ general disdain for having to live in a city where English is not the only language.

Yet, there remains the question of whether the Canadiens are actually a better hockey team heading into this season.

The loss of Andrew Shaw cannot be understated. When Shaw was signed to a six year contract, worth $3.9 million per season in 2016, few would have given Marc Bergevin credit for spending his money wisely. Over three seasons with the Canadiens, Shaw did not once appear in more than 70 games in a season . He has also experienced a series of concussions over this span, which limited his effectiveness.

Yet, this past season, he managed a career high in assists and points (47 pts in 63 games), largely playing alongside Max Domi. He was incredibly 25th in the NHL in 5 on 5 goals per 60, and the Canadiens controlled 60% of high danger attempts when he was on the ice. By all accounts, Shaw was also the classic “glue guy” in the Canadiens room, with many young players sharing stories on how the veteran helped them get acquainted to life in the professional game.

Shaw was deemed expendable, as the Canadiens who had ample salary cap room over the last three seasons, will come into a cap crunch in the summer of 2021, with many key contracts expiring including those to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling, Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher and Jeff Petry. There may have been no better time to move on from Shaw, after a career season, but his loss remains significant.

Nick Cousins was brought in as a free agent signing from Arizona, for a one year, $1 million deal. Cousins offensive production pales in comparison to Shaw, but perhaps the edge that he plays with may help placate the fans that usually fawn over such attributes.

The swap of Jordie Benn for Ben Chiarot may also be a bit of a downgrade on defense. The 28 year old Chiarot was signed after spending his entire career with the Winnipeg Jets. He signed a three year contract, with an annual cap figure of $3.5 million. For much of last season, Chiarot was partnered with Dustin Byfuglien, and he hit career highs in games played (78) and points (20). Additionally, when Chiarot was paired with Byfuglien, his contributions were positive (>50% CF), a number which fell off substantially when he was with other partners.

Chiarot is a big, physical, relatively immobile defender, who head coach Claude Julien will hope can clear out the persistent traffic in front of Carey Price’s goal. The concern is that he carries a relatively large cap hit for what he provides, and is signed beyond the dreaded summer of 2021. This point is especially hard to swallow, since Jordie Benn signed a two year deal with the Canucks for $2 million per season. It is quite difficult to look at both players and suggest that Chiarot will be significantly better than Benn, considering their offensive numbers and defensive attributes are quite similar.

The Canadiens also brought in netminder Keith Kinkaid, to serve as backup netminder for Carey Price. Last season, Anti Niemi, who had surprised the Habs with his play in 2017/18, had a series of gaffe prone performances, causing Claude Julien to lose complete trust in him. As the Canadiens chased a playoff spot down the stretch, Julien played Carey Price in 28 of the team’s final 29 games, including in four back to back situations, where normally the club’s backup would have provided a start.

Kinkaid was a standout with the New Jersey Devils in 2017/18, when he took over starting duties briefly after injury besieged Cory Schneider. He played 41 games, posted a respectable .913 save percentage, and was critical in helping the Devils clinch a post season berth. Last season however was a different story, and his numbers crumbled. Kinkaid posted a .891 save percentage, was traded to Columbus at the trade deadline, and failed to inspire coach John Tortorella. The Jackets paid the Devils a 5th round pick for Kinkaid, and literally received nothing from him, as he did not feature a single second.

At a one year deal worth $1.75 million, the Canadiens hope that Kinkaid can recapture his form from 2017/18, and help provide Price with some relief, and allow their star to make no more than 55-60 starts.

It remains uncertain whether these personnel changes truly make the Canadiens a better team heading into this coming season. With an increasingly competitive Atlantic Division, featuring strong contenders, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston, and a burgeoning power in Florida with new head coach, Joel Quenneville, the Canadiens will need to see the emergence and continual development of their young players, like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Victor Mete, who may need to play more important roles. Rookie Ryan Poehling, who notched a hat trick in his first and only NHL game, may make the club and surprise, but as a whole, any contribution from him would be viewed as a bonus.

I remain skeptical whether this is a playoff team for this coming year, but with the Canadiens burgeoning prospect pipeline, being a consistently competitive team in the years to come is on the cards. Hopefully before the Stanley Cup drought reaches 30 years.

Jaideep Kanungo

On Canadiens: Season is over, but the world is not

When Charlie Lindgren stopped Kasperi Kapanen on the final shot, in the final shootout in the final Canadiens game of the season, there was an immediate sense of exultation and joy amongst the players on the ice at the Bell Centre clad in red, and the millions of Canadiens fans in the stands and watching on television. After all, it was a Canadiens victory on a Saturday night, against the hubristic, self acclaimed “dynastic,” rival Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yet, the thrill of the victory was not in celebration of what was hoped for days earlier, that of confirmation that the team had qualified for the playoffs. No. Rather, the jolt of excitement came from the way this team played, a genuine, helter skelter, firewagon hockey, and for the hope for the future that this team promises.

The game on Saturday night was a thrilling game from start to finish, as the Canadiens traded goals with the Leafs all evening, and where the staunch defensive hockey that the Habs valiantly played over the last month of the season was quickly abandoned for a crowd pleasing, back and forth game of shinny.

No player shone more brightly on that stage, than a youngster from Minnesota playing in his first NHL game. Signed a week earlier to the Canadiens, Ryan Poehling remarkably became the sixth player in NHL history to record a hat-trick in his first NHL game, and capped the historic evening off with a shootout winning goal. The game also marked the final broadcast of the venerable 50 year career of Hockey Night in Canada announcer Bob Cole. Imagine that for a debut; four shots, four goals, in just over 11 minutes of ice-time, on a Saturday night on one of hockey’s grandest stages, broadcast to an entire country and narrated by one of the game’s most legendary voices.

These scenes would not have been fathomable, given the despair and emptiness that resulted from the Columbus Blue Jackets’s win in New York against the Rangers the night before. That result knocked the Canadiens out of the playoff race, and stripped the Canadiens-Maple Leafs’ Saturday night tilt of all of its pomp and grandiosity.

The day Poehling signed with the Canadiens, there was much fanfare and discussion as to whether he would feature in any of the Canadiens games this week, against Tampa Bay, Washington or Toronto. These were do-or-die games, and given how coach Claude Julien stresses the importance of having all four lines contribute, how he emphasizes conservative and disciplined hockey, it was seen as highly unlikely that a raw rookie like Poehling would feature in these “playoff-like” games. Marc Bergevin essentially quashed any notion that Poehling would feature in these games on the conference call in which he discussed the signing.

Thus, it was the Canadiens’s elimination on Friday evening that allowed Poehling to find himself centering the Canadiens fourth line on Saturday night. The Canadiens also rested Carey Price, who started 26 of the Canadiens last 27 games, and played Charlie Lindgren in goal for the first time this season.

It would have been conceivable for the crowd and the team to come out flat, having had their hearts ripped out from their chests less than 24 hours earlier. But after trailing 2-0 early in the game, Poehling’s first goal late in the first period piqued the Bell Centre’s interest. His second goal, in the second period, turned the mood into a more festive one. As the teams traded goals back and forth, and the Leafs held a 5-4 lead in the third, it was Poehling’s hat-trick which sent the crowd into a near delirious state.

From then on, every time Poehling touched the puck, there was an audible murmur, a palpable sense that something would happen. And so when the Habs and Leafs were tied after three shooters in the game’s final act, the shootout, the crowd was stirred into a frenzy when Poehling skated towards centre ice to take the Habs’s fourth attempt. Poehling slalomed down the ice, and fired a sneaky wrist shot past Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen to put the Canadiens up. Lindgren would stop Kapanen, and skate to the Canadiens bench in sheer bliss, as the team and crowd around him exploded with the genuine ecstasy of victory.

After the celebrations on the ice wore off, there was a bittersweet sense to the evening. The Canadiens have missed playoffs in recent years, and in the most recent seasons in 2012, 2016 and 2018, the team was reduced to playing meaningless games for over a month. The atmosphere grew near hostile each of those years, as a series of players who have never been heard from since (Mike Blunden, Petteri Nokkelainen, Darren Dietz, John Scott), mindlessly skated out the season for the sake of filling a lineup card. When those seasons ended, there was a sense of gratitude that fans could move on with their lives, rather than consecrate two and a half hours nightly to such dross and pointlessness.

Yet, in spite of missing the playoffs in back to back years, last night, there was a genuine sense of sadness. This team was one that had expectations of being a lottery team at the start of the season, and there was extreme fan resentment towards Marc Bergevin for his work over the last three seasons, and even Carey Price and Shea Weber felt some wrath for their enormous contracts. Bergevin and Julien’s messages about the team lacking “character” last season (which were cited as a major reason for why they missed the playoffs) were largely derided and mocked by those that felt they were out of touch with the sophistication of the modern game.

However, after 82 games, there is a sense of sadness because this edition of the Canadiens actually did have a lot of “character.” They were resilient throughout the season, were one of the top 5 teams in “5 on 5” situations all season, and played fast, exciting and up tempo hockey. Furthermore, there were glimpses of how this team has some legitimate pieces for the future, whether it be Jesperi Kotkaniemi playing with the Habs, Alexander Romanov playing as an 18 year old in the KHL, Nick Suzuki dominating the OHL and now Ryan Poehling, who put on an unforgettable show in his first NHL game.

In the end, the Canadiens missed the playoffs despite finishing the season with 96 points. Only two teams in NHL history have had more points and have missed the playoffs. Both the 2014-15 Boston Bruins and 2017-18 Florida Panthers missed the playoffs with more points, and ignominiously failed to make the playoffs the following year as well.

Ultimately, there is no guarantee that the Canadiens will make the playoffs next year, despite all their youth and all the promises that youth brings. But, what this year’s Canadiens did provide was a lot of fun for its fans, and an ounce of hope for the future. In the end, those are just some of the reasons we watch the game, and that’s not a bad mindset to go into the summer with.

Jaideep Kanungo

On Canadiens: In appreciation of Artturi Lehkonen

To the casual, box-score observer of the Montreal Canadiens, Artturi Lehkonen is a player that does not generate much discussion or buzz. As the Canadiens performance this year continues to surprise skeptics, the players who the casual observers have credited for this success have been Carey Price and Shea Weber (for the usual good reasons), Max Domi (leads the team in points, with 71), and Brendan Gallagher (leads the team in goals, with 33).

Of course, for the lazy pundit who clearly has not watched nor followed the Canadiens much this season, this would be a quick way to draw conclusions and move on with the discussion. But this approach really undersells the great performances of other players, including Philip Danault, who is turning into Patrice Bergeron-lite for his ability to play against opposition top lines, Tomas Tatar, whose defensive prowess has been a revelation for Canadiens fans in addition to his offensive production, and Paul Byron, who has been an effective Swiss army knife, that can play any role for the club and that keeps opposition defenders on edge with his speed and smarts.

Artturi Lehkonen is another player that belongs on that list of unheralded, but incredibly important players for the Canadiens. A quick glance at his statsheet shows rather modest, if not unimpressive, offensive numbers. Through 80 games, his 11 goals and 18 assists, ranks him 11th on the team in points (although his 29 point season is a career high). Additionally, Lehkonen has gone through crippling slumps this year. Prior to his goal against San Jose on 7 March, Lehkonen went 29 games without a goal. Prior to his assist against Tampa Bay on 2 April, Lehkonen went 27 games without an assist. NHL players that go nearly two months without goals or assists surely find themselves out of the lineup at one point or another, yet Lehkonen has played every game this year, and continues to earn the trust of his coach Claude Julien.

The value of Artturi Lehkonen comes from his ability to forecheck and his overall pitbull like tenacity to harry opposition defenders. When the Canadiens have been at their very best this season, they have succeeded at playing an aggressive “press/reload” style system. The major tenets of this system include 1) having the forecheckers win the puck back as quickly as possible or forcing the opposition defenseman to make an errant pass, 2) having the Canadiens defensemen step up in the neutral zone to cut off the puck carrier, or errant pass and 3) having the original forechecker skate back as quickly as possible to provide cover for the defenseman that has stepped into the neutral zone. This system requires intelligent and speedy forecheckers, who have the commitment and fitness to be aggressive in two directions.

Claude Julien has likely pointed to Artturi Lehkonen’s style of play as the style he would like all his forwards to play, and it becomes immediately apparent why. Lehkonen has been the embodiment of an aggressive, intelligent, and diligent forechecker, who even through his many offensive lulls, is still contributing to the team’s system and success, by winning offensive zone turnovers and wearing down opposition defensemen. Even as the Canadiens have gone through their own slumps as a team this season, where the energy level to keep up with the physical demands of this system have waned, Artturi Lehkonen was still exerting his influence.

Lehkonen started the season playing mostly with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia to form a Finnish trio, however as his offensive outputs declined, he was placed on the fourth line. Yet, Julien never took him out of the lineup altogether, and even mired in slump, in which he scored only once in 34 games, Julien promoted Lehkonen to play on the left side with Max Domi and Andrew Shaw. Since this change, which took place on 16 March against Chicago, Domi and Shaw have been able to spend much more time in the offensive zone as Lehkonen has provided much more stability. Additionally, in the nine games since this line was put together, Lehkonen has scored three times. Again, the numbers are not overwhelming, but the impact on the team’s overall play has been, as the Canadiens have been 6-2-1 during a stretch in which the club has been fighting for a playoff spot. Irrespective of where Lehkonen has played, he has put together a 53.5 CF% this year.

Lehkonen’s overall value was demonstrated on Tuesday night, when the Canadiens played arguably their best game of the season against the league’s best Tampa Bay Lightning, who have put together a 60 win season. The Canadiens played with a ferocious pace, outshooting Tampa 45-24 and controlling 85% of the high danger shots. It was Lehkonen who broke the game open with an impressive display of hand eye coordination in the third period, to put the Canadiens into a 3-2 lead. His laser eye perception was on display for Max Domi’s 4-2 goal, in which Lehkonen found a streaking Domi in an area of the the ice that no Tampa defender could cover. That goal brought the Bell Centre to life, and kept the Canadiens playoff hopes very much alive.

It is truly a cliche that hockey is a team game, that the best teams must have all 19 players dressed contributing something positive on the ice. At the end of the season, when the hockey pundits look at the Canadiens successes in the 2018-19 season, Artturi Lehkonen’s name will not register in the conversation. However, let’s be quite clear, his effort and persistence all season is a major reason for why the Canadiens are where they are now, and those that truly recognize how this underdog team got this far will recognize that Artturi Lehkonen has been an integral piece.

Jaideep Kanungo

Friends with Opinions Podcast: Episode 16

I had the pleasure of joining my friend Ahmad Ghahary on his Friends With Opinions podcast last week. In it, we discussed the Montreal Canadiens push for the playoffs, a look at the challenges that the club faces on the ice, and a bit of a forecast for the summer ahead for Marc Bergevin.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/friends-with-opinions-a-hockey-podcast/id1436506409?mt=2&i=1000432300980
Friends with Opinions Podcast: Episode 16