A Case for the Defense

Bob takes a look at the the defense core the Habs could potentially put on the ice this season and why it could be a strong one

By – Bob Trask On opening night last year, the Montreal Canadiens fielded a defense corps that had a grand total of 932 regular season games under their belt. Those games were concentrated between two players – David Savard and Chris Wideman. The remaining four players had a grand total of 14 games of NHL experience.

Later in the year, Mike Matheson and Joel Edmundson would rejoin the lineup with mixed results. Matheson’s addition helped; Edmundon’s didn’t.

If we fast forward to today, the young defensemen on the squad have gained valuable experience, Matheson should start the season with the Canadiens and Jeff Petry could start the season with the team as well.

There are still a lot of if’s associated with the team. Petry could be traded, Wideman seems like a longshot to make the team and at least one of the young d-men is likely to begin the season as the 7th d-man. But for arguments sake, let’s assume Petry is still in Montreal when the puck drops for the first game.

The starting six could look like this on opening night.

PlayerExperience
Jeff Petry864
David Savard735
Mike Matheson465
Jonathan Kovacevic77
Jordan Harris75
Kaiden Guhle44
Total2260

Waiting in the wings would be Arber Xhekaj with 51 NHL games played and Justin Barron ready for recall from Laval with 46 NHL games played.

If you subtract Petry and add Barron, the defense still has 1442 games of NHL experience to start the season. significantly more than what the opening night roster had last year.

But simply focusing on games played overlooks the fact that the two most experienced defensemen on the team would not be considered 1st pairing players on a competitive squad. Savard is better suited to a #5 or #6 role with penalty killing responsibilities while Wideman would be a #6 or #7 role with occasional power play time. It was hardly a veteran corps around which to build a defense.

As a result, inexperienced players were heavily relied upon to shoulder much of the load. This year they will have their experience to draw on and there’s a chance that the veteran presence surrounding them is an improvement over last year.

As an interesting side note, Jeff Petry was probably the best skater among Canadiens’ defensemen when he left the team. Even if he hasn’t slowed down, there are a trio of defensemen on the team who may be even better. They are Matheson, Guhle and Harris. Digging deeper, I would argue that Xhekaj is also a better skater than Edmundson. It would all add up to very mobile defense corps with the exception of Savard who brings other attributes to the table.

The caveat is that Hughes seems likely to make a trade involving a defenseman either before the season or at that trade deadline and that defenseman seems likely to be Petry.

Regardless of what moves GM Kent Hughes might make, this year’s edition of the Canadiens promises to have a very interesting group of defensemen with the potential to excel.

Savard Happy To Have Petry Back

By JD Lagrange – That Canadiens’ General Manager Kent Hughes managed to trade Mike Hoffman and his $4.5 million contract without having to keep salary is rather shocking. But what shocked the team’s fan base most, from reading on social media, is the fact that he re-acquired once disgruntled veteran defenseman Jeff Petry in that trade.

We have gone over the ramifications of the trade and showed why it’s a good trade by Hughes and the Canadiens, so we won’t rehash here. Whether or not Petry stays, we shall see. But the news didn’t only surprise the fans. The media covering Montreal were just as surprised, and even players were caught by surprise.

David Savard

In an interview with TVA Sport on Monday, David Savard admitted being surprised by Kent Hughes’ most recent trade. 

“We didn’t necessarily expect that”, he acknowledged. “I knew that there were talks about the potential of Mike [Hoffman] leaving this summer, but we didn’t anticipate that Jeff could return.”

Savard, who took a leadership role with some younger Canadiens’ defensemen including Kaiden Guhle, embraces the return of his former teammate with enthusiasm. 

“We are extremely happy to get him back”, said Savard. “He’s a guy who had a more difficult season last year. His family wasn’t always with him. This might or might not change, I don’t know exactly what will happen, or if it’s the end of the trades. We have lost a veteran in Joel Edmundson, so it’s fun to see another older guy who could help the young guys.”

Many fans are making a big deal with the fact that Kent Hughes hasn’t spoken to the media but these folks forget that traditionally, NHL GMs are on vacation in August. Of course, they are always close to their phones and some deals do happen. But I’m not so sure that doing press conferences is at the top of their list when sitting at the summer cottage, enjoying time with family and resting after and for a long, long upcoming season.

Petry may or may not be traded, as is Casey DeSmith, also acquired in this trade. What we do know is that Hughes is on record saying that he is hoping his team will be in the playoffs’ picture.

“We want to push to try to make the playoffs, and if we don’t make the playoffs, that’s fine, as long as along the way we’ve seen a great effort and we’ve seen things progress and we’ve seen our team moving in that direction.” ~ Kent Hughes, June 29, 2023