New year’s resolutions for the Canadiens

Habs gear - Christmas gifts

Not sure exactly what Bob Gainey or Jacques Martin may have wanted for Christmas. I’m sure getting Andrei Markov back in action is about the best gift anyone in Montreal could have asked for.

Markov is such a huge part of the team’s defensive and offensive flow. You can’t really ask for everything for Christmas…. well, my daughter can and does… but Santa certainly doesn’t deliver everything you see on TV.

So there might be a couple of things on the agenda in Montreal that Santa thought might be better suited to be dealt with by the coaching staff and the players in the new year.

A very concerning statistic is the amount of shots on goal that both Carey Price and more recently Jaroslav Halak has had to face.

Going back 5 games the Canadiens had managed 31 shots against the Minnesota Wild and only allowed 21 shots. Since then, they allowed 40 against the Islanders, 50 against the Thrashers, 47 against the Hurricanes and last night’s 49 against the Leafs!

If there is any hope that the Canadiens will make a run at the playoffs in the spring this stat has to change. At least level it out!

Now don’t get me wrong… I’ve enjoyed watching Jaroslav Halak stand on his head as the Canadiens have won a bunch of games in a row where they’ve been so badly outshot. Being a Habs fan… it’s not the prettiest thing in the world but it’s great to see Halak play so well. Let’s just not pretend it’s gonna last forever.

Seeing as Santa isn’t and won’t coach the team, let’s hope he sent some kind of gift that will inspire not only the coaches but the players to make this one of their new year’s resolutions.

I’m tired of talking about and seeing the player injuries on paper. But maybe once Hamrlik comes back and Gionta gets back out there it will help limit some shots.

For now, we’re almost in January and the Canadiens are 7th in the east. Prime position to make a playoff run.

Posted by Yves Arsenault on Dec 27 2009. Filed under Montreal Canadiens, Northeast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.