Todd: Canadiens gain timely lift from Jakub Dobes and sad-sack Leafs
We won’t be celebrating American Thanksgiving chez moi this year — unless you count munching our way through a couple of yards of pizza while watching American football.
One shudders to think of the potential for mayhem south of the border when Uncle Mo from Missoula starts waving his MAGA hat over the mashed potatoes with carving knives in plain sight. That does not, however, preclude us from checking the NHL standings on this date, the quarter-pole of the season.
(I won’t be so rude as to mention that the mighty Toronto Maple Leafs, the Greatest Team Ever in the History of the Planet, are dead last in the Eastern Conference as we speak. Only four teams in the entire league — St. Louis, Calgary, Vancouver and Nashville — are worse.)
As crystal balls go, the Thanksgiving point check has not been a faultless prognosticator. Everyone remembers the last-to-first 2019-20 Stanley Cup champion Blues, but as recently as 2023, the Edmonton Oilers were 5-12-1 going into the Thanksgiving holiday and made the Stanley Cup final.
In the Eastern Conference, the standings are especially insignificant this year, when only nine points separate the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes from the Leafs, while the Atlantic-leading Detroit Red Wings are all of six points up on Toronto.
A five-game streak, winning or losing, and you can go from plenty to penury in a hurry or vice versa. Your Montreal Canadiens managed to reverse the tone, if nothing else, with a single 5-2 win over the Leafs Saturday night as Jakub Dobes put a tourniquet on the bleeding in front of the net.
It couldn’t have come at a better time, with a brutal three-game swing to Salt Lake, Las Vegas and Denver coming up — and the mighty Colorado Avalanche lurking on the second half of a back-to-back Saturday.
These young Canadiens, as we keep saying, are alright. Give thanks that they’re very much in it at Thanksgiving — and try not to have a general nervous breakdown next time they hit a rough patch.
One Kent Hughes special, comin’ right up: By now, we should know that there are certain characteristics to any transaction executed by Canadiens GM Kent Hughes.
You won’t see it coming. He won’t overpay. Generally, the target will be a young, highly regarded player struggling where he is, but with some upside. And the risk will be minimal.
If Hughes has half as much Alexandrian success with Alexandre Texier as he had bringing in Alexandre Carrier, then this will be yet another coup right out of the Hughes Handbook for Better Management.
It couldn’t come at a better time, with the Canadiens down three regulars up front, one-time flavour-of-the-month Joshua Roy stuck on the REM line somewhere between Montreal and Laval and Max Pacioretty’s younger brother, Joe Veleno, less than overwhelming in what amounts to an extended audition.
Canadiens winger Florian Xhekaj fights Maple Leafs’ Dakota Mermis during the third period in Montreal on Saturday.
With Florian Xhekaj providing a shot of vitamin B-12 in his Canadiens debut and defenceman Adam Engstrom earning a promotion with a one-goal, four-assist game on Saturday for Laval, Martin St. Louis’s club should get a boost when it’s needed most.
PWHL worries: We have every reason to be optimistic about the future of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The timing is right, the business plan is right, the public is welcoming and the star players are aligned.
Beginning the league’s third season with a couple of loaded expansion teams out west, however, there are a couple of related concerns.
First, scoring remains a problem. Boston’s Aerin Frankel can still shut down Montreal with relative ease, despite the Victoire’s load of offensive talent. Second, officiating crews seem to target any sort of physical play — especially if it involves Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin.
Poulin may be the face of the league, but she’s treated like the face of the penalty box. If the league needs goals (and it does) then it needs players like Poulin on the ice. But late in the second period against Frankel and the Fleet, Poulin was handed hooking and tripping minors on the same play, unnecessary overkill on a routine trip.
Early in the third period, Poulin was called again for an illegal bodycheck (penalized for being too strong) and linemate Laura Stacey and Boston’s Jill Saulnier both drew roughing minors in the aftermath. Boston’s Megan Keller scored with the advantage.
Good for Boston, bad for the league. If you’re going to allow hitting, then allow it. The players can handle it and the PWHL needs it, along with a healthy dollop of scoring.
Max, meet Tom: We can’t quite figure out whether Tom Wilson is the Max Verstappen of the NHL or Max Verstappen is the Tom Wilson of F1. Either way, they both get away with a whole lot of crap that ought to get them banned.
Heroes: Noah Dobson, Florian Xhekaj, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Josh Anderson, Ivanie Blondin, the Vanier Cup champion Montréal Carabins &&&& last but least, Jakub Dobes.
Zeros: Tom Wilson, the NHL’s department of player safety, Mikko Rantanen, Max Verstappen, FIA, Deion Sanders, Bill Belichick, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.
