Basu and Godin: Canadiens special teams adjustments, where Josh Anderson is most valuable

On Saturday morning, Martin St. Louis was talking about how he felt he got so focused on how awful the Canadiens were performing on special teams that he ignored their play at five-on-five. He vowed to learn from it and to always keep that all-important phase of the game top of mind.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t still tinker with those pesky special teams.

On Saturday evening, we saw a less predictable version of the power play and a more aggressive version of the penalty kill, and both units were about as effective as we’ve seen them in weeks.

Let’s start with the power play, where Jonathan Drouin aptly described what the problem had become.

“Sometimes we were always doing the same thing so that when you watched the video, you could pretty much know what we were going to do,” Drouin said after the game Saturday. “Tonight we wanted to spread out (the penalty kill) as much as possible, stretch it on both sides.”

Drouin pointed out how Kirby Dach’s one-timer goal from the bumper came immediately after Cole Caufield had hit the post shooting from the left side. What was different was not Caufield shooting from the left circle, it was effectively using the player in the bumper position in the middle of the slot, whether it was Dach or Nick Suzuki on the top unit.

This is an example from earlier on that same four-minute power play in the second period against the Blues. The important player to watch here is Pavel Buchnevich, No. 89 for the Blues, or the player on the left side who is closest to Caufield. More specifically, watch how Buchnevich is playing Caufield when Dach has the puck on the right flank early in the clip, and how he is defending Caufield later in the clip when Suzuki has the puck on the right flank.

More or less the same situation, but the way Buchnevich reacts is very different.

Early in the clip, Buchnevich is nowhere near Suzuki in the slot because, surely based on the video the Blues had done on the Canadiens power play, Suzuki was not a threat in that position. The Canadiens almost never generate shots from that spot. So Buchnevich essentially leaves Suzuki to his three teammates and stays home on Caufield. But later, once Suzuki had a quality scoring chance in that spot off a pass from the goal line from Christian Dvorak, Buchnevich is forced to respect that threat when Suzuki has the puck on the flank and Dach is in the bumper.

All of a sudden, Suzuki has a lane to find Caufield for a one-timer. Sometimes, stretching the penalty kill means forcing them to be more compact to free up their biggest threat.

The Canadiens generated a few opportunities from the bumper Saturday, including Dach’s goal later in that same power play.

“That’s always been an option, but we just haven’t really been doing a good job of getting that bumper open, or the bumper being in the wrong spot at the wrong time,” Suzuki said after practice Sunday. “So that’s got a couple of looks in the slot there. It’s about manipulating the PK into getting the looks that you want.”

On the penalty kill, it’s a subtle change, but one that was long overdue.

Essentially, the forwards have been mandated with harassing the puck carrier high in the zone, switching more often, eliminating time and forcing quicker decisions from their opponents. It’s not reckless aggression, but it’s aggression nonetheless, especially compared to the completely passive mandate those forwards had previously.

“That’s mainly it,” Jake Evans said after the game Saturday. “I think we were sitting back a little too much, and when you get skilled players on the other side, they like that. They want time and space to find guys, so it’s just making it a little harder.”

Witness Evans and Suzuki working together on the Blues’ first power play of the game. Rather than being more or less static, they are moving all over the top of the zone.

It’s not a drastic change, but it’s not always a drastic change that’s necessary. Sometimes a subtle tweak is more effective.

“It hasn’t really changed that much. It’s pretty similar to the adjustment we made on it a month or so ago,” Suzuki said. “I think the forwards’ jobs are a little different, but I think we did a pretty good job against a good power play yesterday. We’re looking to improve and still trying to be better as a PK unit. And we’re trying to play with the same forwards, read off each other and not give up too many grade-A scoring chances.”

You might be telling yourself right now that these changes had been obvious for weeks, and we won’t disagree with you. Why this didn’t happen sooner is a different discussion, but for one night at least, the changes were effective no matter their poor timing.

Josh Anderson’s value in the ‘pretty soft’ NHL

During the first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs that began the Canadiens’ run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, Josh Anderson’s physically punishing style was a major asset for Montreal. The way he consistently pressured and hit Jake Muzzin, most notably, put one of the Maple Leafs’ most important defencemen on his heels. It was as though, every shift, Muzzin heard the whistle of the 5 o’clock train.

The combination of speed and physicality that Anderson can bring has never been better deployed with the Canadiens than it was in that series. But since then, this aspect of Anderson’s game has become far more sporadic.

Before this season, that could have been explained by injuries getting in the way, along with a coaching change and a desire from St. Louis to stimulate what he saw as a dormant portion of his hockey sense. So, is Anderson attempting to add facets to his game, to even redefine himself as a player?

“I wouldn’t say I’m trying to reinvent myself, no, by all means,” Anderson replied. “I know the player I am. Maybe for whatever reason I haven’t been as physical, but I’m trying to play within the new rules that have changed over the last couple of years, and maybe our style of play a little bit. But you can always bring that physicality to the game, and that’s something that I’ve got to continue to be better at, and more consistent at.”

It’s true that the level of intensity and aggressiveness that Anderson showed against the Maple Leafs is not sustainable for 82 games. But it’s worth asking if, this season, the two-game suspension Anderson served at the beginning of November for a hit on Alex Pietrangelo might have impacted his reluctance to play that way.

Anderson doesn’t necessarily have a particular rule in mind that is holding him back, but he feels somewhat handcuffed by the way games are officiated today.

“It’s just the way things are called these days,” he said. “The hits in the head, the hits in the shoulder … I think the game is pretty soft nowadays, but that’s the direction the league’s moving.”

In a league geared more toward speed and skill to the detriment of physical play, things can go in two directions: Either the fact the game itself is less physical takes the wind out of the sails of physical players and eventually devalues that style of play, or the fact that physical play is more rare means players who play that style should use that rareness as an advantage.

“You can’t really chase the physicality too, right?” Anderson said. “It depends on the play, it depends on which players come around the net or that are forechecking, so you have to be careful where you hit them too. Guys are so quick now, they turn in the right direction to protect themselves. It’s just that the game has just changed so much in the last four or five years. When I came into the league, it was so much more physical. You saw the big hits, open ice hits, and now they’re hard to find. You don’t really see them very often. But yeah, technically it could be an advantage because there’s not many physical guys out there right now.”

St. Louis obviously wants the Canadiens to take full advantage of the rare combination of assets Anderson possesses, and he feels his big winger can evolve the way the game is evolving because he has the speed to do it.

As for the physical part of it, St. Louis feels it’s a matter of identifying the right moments to bring that element of his game.

“If I tell Andy that he needs to be physical tonight, that’s all he’s going to look for. You have to play the game,” St. Louis said. “There are games where you’ll show up with three or four hits early on, where you’ll often find yourself as the F1 and get some good opportunities. And there will be other games where you won’t have as many opportunities. It all depends on how the other team plays and situations that present themselves to you on the ice. You have to be physical, but smart at the same time. You can’t run around all over the place looking to be physical and taking yourself out of position.”

In an attempt to avoid that trap, perhaps Anderson has swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction, because he is far more careful than before. Maybe it’s part of a process, a goal of being more effective in an NHL that is changing. Anderson says he knows what kind of player he is, but right now, he seems like someone who is looking for himself.

But there’s another factor that can’t be ignored.

When Marc Bergevin acquired him and immediately signed him to a long-term contract, the former Canadiens GM saw his team as one that could do damage in the playoffs on a consistent basis. And if the kind of physical play Anderson brings is less common in the regular season, it remains impactful in the playoffs, as that series against the Maple Leafs demonstrated.

Anderson has a rare player profile in the NHL, but it’s one that is not fully exploited outside of a playoff context. His value on a team likely to miss the playoffs for two if not three years is therefore far less than it would be on a team that could contend for the Stanley Cup over that same time frame. And on the trade market, Anderson might very well be the type of rare asset that could elevate a solid team to contender status.

There are some bullets you save for the most crucial moments, and the Canadiens won’t have those moments this season. Anderson has more to give, but it’s probably a better team that will be able to get it out of him.

The complicated transition from Laval to Montreal

There is a lot of chatter these days about the value of sending Juraj Slafkovský to Laval so he can play major minutes, get more puck touches and generally boost his confidence on the ice. We won’t get into all the merits and pitfalls of such a decision here — though we will say it is unlikely the Canadiens will do it — but there is another consideration to take into account. It’s not a major one, but it needs to be part of the discussion.

When Anthony Richard was first called up, he was immediately noticeable on the ice — generating chances, pouncing on turnovers and taking them toward the opposing net with speed to such an extent we felt he reminded us of Paul Byron when he first arrived in Montreal.

But since then, Richard has not been quite as noticeable — he hasn’t been pouncing on turnovers and turning them into scoring chances, at least not nearly as often.

There could be a reason for that. He’s adapting to the way the Canadiens defend.

“In Laval, it’s more old school, it’s more Xs and Os,” Richard said. “Everyone’s always in the same spot, no matter the situation. In the neutral zone we play a 1-1-3, which is more standard now. Whereas here it’s a lot of defensive reads, a lot of reads based on how many (opposing) players are attacking or who are taking their time to pick up speed, things like that. There are a lot of reads, and that’s the toughest adjustment to make at first — making good reads and not worrying about making mistakes. With how fast the game is, you can lose a guy, but the biggest difference is that you always have to be concentrating.

“In Laval you have guys to help you if you get beat, but here you need to grab a guy on the fly and stick with him. It’s a bit more man-to-man and it’s very much based on speed of execution.”

This is not Richard complaining, to be clear. He actually enjoys playing the game the way St. Louis is teaching it and thinks it suits his skill set better, once he gets used to it. When he first came up, he explained, Richard was simply playing and not worrying too much about the system and making mistakes. But that reality has changed as he tries to carve out a role on the team, and so some of the risks he took in Laval that led to him leading the AHL goals have disappeared because he’s lost the defensive safety net the Rocket’s system provided.

“I’d say that right now, I’m not exactly thinking on the ice but I’m paying more attention to the little details than I was in my first few games, when I was just playing the way I played in Laval knowing that if there was a mistake defensively, my teammates would correct them,” he said. “But now, I want to be responsible in all three zones. Our line wants to create offence without being scored on. I think it’s important for any fourth line to bring some energy but not get scored on.”

Richard played two NHL games prior to being called up by the Canadiens for the team that drafted him, the Nashville Predators, and later he came close to playing in the playoffs with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He said each time, the transition was much smoother because the way the farm team played in the AHL replicated the way the big club played in the NHL, which seems like a more ideal situation than the one Richard is describing here.

“It was so similar that it was just like playing another game except with different players,” Richard said. “For sure the transition is easier, but I like the way the Canadiens play; it’s based on playing fast with the puck and your feet, and that’s my strength. When I’ll be more comfortable, for sure this will be a system I’ll love.”

Again, making that transition easier would seem like a smart thing for the Canadiens to do. But on the other hand, perhaps Richard’s adjustment is a sign that the way the Canadiens play is not something AHL players can necessarily do, or at least not effectively. There’s a reason NHL players are in the NHL and AHL players are in the AHL; the ability to play with NHL pace and process the game at NHL speed is a big separator.

And there’s a reason why the Canadiens want Slafkovský to stay in Montreal, because sometimes to learn how to become an NHL player, you have to play in the NHL.

Canadiens amateur scouting staff gathers in town for meetings

In every corner of the NHL, the start of a new year and the conclusion of the World Junior Championship means it’s time for teams to gather their amateur scouts to take stock of where things stand.

For the Canadiens, who are holding their scouting meetings in Montreal over three days this week, it is the first time general manager Kent Hughes and co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov will be involved in this annual process, even if Bobrov has done it with other organizations in the past.

Last year, following the firing of Trevor Timmins in late November, it was Martin Lapointe who took care of the midseason meeting, operating more or less the same way Timmins did in the past. The travel schedules of the various scouts were revised at the time based on the prospects the organization wanted to take a closer look at based on its unexpected place so low in the standings.

It remains to be seen how exactly Bobrov’s influence and methods will be a departure from how Timmins operated, but obviously there will still be a deep dive on different prospects from different leagues and where they might fit on an eventual master draft list.

The other portion of the exercise this week will be to consider the Canadiens’ draft capital and to try and determine for the first time where prospects that interest them might be drafted. The Canadiens currently have 11 picks in the 2023 draft, including two in the first round and three in the fourth round.

One big difference from last year will be the contribution of Christopher Boucher and the Canadiens’ analytics department. Boucher arrived pretty late in the process of formulating the final draft list last summer, while his data could have an impact much earlier in the process this time.

The scouts gathering in Montreal must be in a good state of mind, because the crop from the first draft of the Bobrov-Lapointe era looks quite promising. The world juniors provided some validation with the presence of Filip Mešár, Owen Beck, Lane Hutson and Adam Engström. The organization would have liked to see these prospects play more than they did, but the first three could have an opportunity to return next year.

(Top photo of Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)