By the time the Montreal Canadiens take the ice on Thursday to play the Los Angeles Kings, the club will have more than a week of hockey in the books. That includes a quartet of matches that saw some highs and some lows. Four games do not a regular season make but there are some pertinent takeaways from what’s in the record books and some fair warnings to fans who may have gotten too excited too early.
Kaiden Guhle’s Strong Start
As the summer rolled along and then the preseason and training camp, it seemed as if most of the conversation about Montreal’s blue line concerned almost everybody other than Kaiden Guhle. He was part of the larger debates, yes, but a lot of ink was spilled – and keyboard tapping performed – to discuss Lane Hutson’s potential inclusion into the lineup, or how Arber Xhekaj is the hard-nosed defenceman the team was missing, or what to do with veterans David Savard and Mike Matheson, players getting up there in age who were either quite poor in 2023-24 or missed time due to injuries.
But through four contests, Guhle is proving to be the most solid presence. Keep in mind that as per MoneyPuck, Montreal has the highest expected goals against in the NHL at 12.34, and it isn’t even close. Their expected goal differential is a jaw-dropping negative-4.99. Next come the Chicago Blackhawks with minus-2.42. That’s not a good figure either but it’s far from negative-4.99!
Related: Canadiens Must Not Give Montembeault the Carey Price Treatment
It’s easy to point to netminder Samuel Montembeault for why the side has defied those numbers to a degree. His play between the pipes is unquestionably a reason why the Canadiens land in 12th with a minus-1.34 goals against the above-expected stat. That’s more than fair given the previously quoted numbers.
But Guhle’s contributions should not be overlooked. He’s logging tons of ice time so far (21:24) and is a plus-6. Consider that the Canadiens’ have lost half their games by two and three goals, so that’s a minus-5 shared by the team right there. Better still, in one of those matches, Monday’s 6-3 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 22-year-old finished at plus-1 courtesy of a cannon one-timer he scored in the first period. He was a plus-3 when the club fell 6-4 to the Boston Bruins last week.
The Alberta native is a big boy at 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds. That stature and his skill set allow him to make the sort of defensive plays – and offensive ones – Montreal desperately needs. Guhle is also proving his bravery in the face of assured pain as he leads the team in blocked shots with 18. It’s early days in 2024-25, but his play is the kind that might see him be the most important blueliner this season when all is said and done.
Emil Heineman Enjoys the Spotlight
Who? Emil Heineman, that’s who. There’s no foul in not being overly familiar with the 22-year-old Swede. The forward was drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2020 (43rd overall) but never suited up for them. His rights were traded to the Calgary Flames, after which he was quickly dealt to the Canadiens in 2022 – that was the deal that sent Tyler Toffoli westward.
He was included in the lineup four times in 2023-24, averaging 9:57 of ice time and found a way to finish the season plus-2.
He’s played thrice this season (the lone absence being the Boston game) and has already netted two goals. He opened the scoring on Saturday at home versus the Ottawa Senators when the latter’s defence clumsily left him alone in front of the crease to blast home a pass from Christian Dvorak on the power play. He found the back of the net again on Monday courtesy of a beautiful wrist shot on a second-period rush that gave the hosts a 3-2 advantage at the time.
Heineman looks supremely confident when he skates and shoots, which is the most a head coach can ask from a young player with limited big-league experience. He also appears to have that brilliant knack of being in the right place at the time to inflict damage. A nose for the goal, one might say. There is not much NHL tape on him (seven total contests at the pro level), but he’s sneakily become a weapon for Montreal in his early career.
Canadiens Fans Must Be Patient
Far be it for us to tell fans what to do. Should they choose to bemoan bad results, so be it. That said, the first week of Canadiens hockey has shown some of the good with some of the bad. The two aforementioned youngsters are having pleasant starts to the campaign, as are Montembeault and Cole Caufield (four goals already).
But nights like the 4-1 win over Ottawa – Montreal’s best showing through four games – are only a hint of what the future might hold, not an affirmation of what presently is. People lost their minds when the side surprisingly downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 on opening night. A closer inspection reveals that the Leafs probably did get “goalied.” The game in Boston was a downer even though the team showed some spirit, and on Monday, Pittsburgh reclaimed complete control once the Habs went up 3-2, ergo the 6-3 loss.
Hutson is a joy to watch skate and puck handle, but there is some P.K. Subban in his game. He’s highly skilled but sometimes he simply doesn’t defend well. It’s okay insofar as he’s only six matches into his professional career. On the flip side, the coaching staff has seen fit to throw him into the lion’s den and the inexperience occasionally shows.
Juraj Slafkovsky, who finally got on the board in Monday’s game with a power-play marker, is a lightweight when it comes to preventing the opposition from creating chances. Not that his specialty is supposed to be defending, but on two Penguins goals he looked weak. The Kris Letang goal that made it 5-3 started in Pittsburgh’s zone when Slafkovsky completely whiffed on a body check against the boards that would have prevented a rush.
Then there is goalie Cayden Primeau, who we wrote about over the weekend. He needs to step up on the nights his number is called to give Montembeault a rest.
Last week, fellow The Hockey Writers scribe Ryan Szporer penned that the Canadiens are a mystery in this early 2024-25 season. That was before the Ottawa game. Another way of looking at it is arguing that Montreal is completely in the thick of rebuilding. It started last season with a slightly better-than-usual campaign and has continued through four matches this season with the expected ups and downs. When a rebuild is at least heading in a positive direction, you get games like those versus Toronto and Ottawa. Boston and Pittsburgh games remind us these things take and patience is a virtue.
