What’s Going On With Alexandre Carrier Defensively This Season

Despite the Montreal Canadiens playing a great team game that led to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, there is one defenseman who continues to disappoint on the blueline. Alexandre Carrier has had a very tough time for the Habs this season while playing 3rd-pairing minutes for the team this season. Oddly enough, he was doing a lot better as a 2nd pairing guy alongside Mike Matheson or Kaiden Guhle last year; with the acquisition of Noah Dobson, he slid down the lineup. While most players would thrive with easier minutes, that hasn’t been the case for Carrier. What is the issue with his defensive play exactly?

#Habs Alexandre Carrier gets four minutes for accidental high stick only 25 seconds into first period.

— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) March 17, 2026

On Tuesday night his biggest problem was being able to control his stick. Carrier was part of the starting lineup and took a double-minor for high-sticking just 25 seconds into the game, essentially handing early momentum to the Bruins right off the opening faceoff. Considering the Canadiens have the league’s 27th-best penalty kill in the league, it definitely wasn’t ideal for them to start the game, and as a result, the Bruins got on the board just a few seconds before the first half of the double-minor. While he wasn’t on the ice for the game’s opening goal, he deserves a lot of the blame for it, as without his carelessness in controlling his stick so quickly into the game, it never would have happened in the first place. It also affected his team’s game plan to start.

missed high stick on khusnutdinov pic.twitter.com/lu3Gh7TUJv

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) March 18, 2026

The Habs were able to rebound from his major error, but that wasn’t the only time in the game that he high-sticked an opponent. With the game tied in the 3rd period, Carrier would once again lose control of his stick; however, this time the Habs got lucky that it wasn’t called, but his inability to control his stick is a serious problem. On the Sick Podcast post-game show, Pierre McGuire said that the way Carrier played on Tuesday night in what was one of the team’s most important games of the year deserved a serious discussion from the coaching staff, as the management of his stick is completely unacceptable. The Habs were able to get the win despite Carrier’s serious struggles with staying disciplined regarding his stick.

While last night it was his stick that caused issues for the Habs, the majority of the time it is his inability to box out forwards in front of the net and struggles with his slot defence. The truth is it makes sense that Carrier struggles to box out the opposing forwards in front of the net, as the majority of the time it’s a player who is bigger and stronger than him that parks themselves in front of the net looking for tips and rebounds. A 5’11” defenseman should be the one who needs to box out the opponents in front of the net; that is a job for someone like Noah Dobson (he doesn’t use his physical tools enough but he could do the job), Guhle, or Matheson, who are all over 6’2″, as they can outmuscle some of those bigger forwards.

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Pierre McGuire, @MurphysLaw74 & @BWildeMTL join @TonyMarinaro to discuss:

🔵#GoHabsGo win 3-2 in OT
🔵Caufield scores 40th goal
🔵Dobes playing like a star
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— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) March 18, 2026

One key departure that has really exposed Carrier’s weaknesses is the fact that David Savard retired and the Canadiens didn’t get a big veteran defenseman to fill the role that he had on the penalty kill and in front of the net late in games. Instead, Carrier was given the task to be the right-handed veteran defensive defenseman who must box guys out and block shots when he’s on the ice. He does a good job blocking shots, but he does not have the same strength that Savard had, so playing that role doesn’t work very well for him.

While it would be easy to sit Carrier out for how much he’s been struggling this season on the defensive side, the truth is the Habs don’t have a right defenseman to replace him in the lineup unless they call up David Reinbacher. Carrier is wrong in the Habs lineup, as he is expected to fill the role of someone that needs to be strong in front of the net. The Habs really missed the chance to acquire a big hulking defenseman that could do the job of clearing the crease. They could have used someone like a Zach Whitecloud to fill that need at the very least.

Last night we learned Guhle-Carrier works as a shut down pair. Probably not gonna happen but if it were me:
48-53
21-45
8-72/47

— bren (@brenmidov) March 18, 2026

To make matters worse, Kaiden Guhle has been struggling to find his footing as a defensive defenseman since returning from injury, although Tuesday went well for him, as it could be a sign that he is turning the corner. It’s possible that if Guhle stays partnered with Carrier, the veteran defenseman will be able to turn his game back to what it was last season. However, Guhle will need to be the one clearing the traffic in front of the net, as he has the body that can accomplish it much better than Carrier. As Carrier, he should stick to trying to block shots while covering his side of the ice. Not to mention he can make a good first pass out of the zone.

In reality, Tuesday was a sign that Carrier is struggling, and it is affecting his confidence, which has led to him making mistakes that he wouldn’t have made in the past, and with no relief coming in to help push him it doesn’t seem like it’ll stop anytime soon. Maybe calling up Reinbacher is the solution to help Carrier take a step back and realize that he needs to keep it simple by allowing his defensive partner to take the lead on the net clearing stuff that isn’t made for a defenseman on the smaller side.