Sobering Stats

[HCH]

The new trend in hockey is player by player analytics which break down the performance of individual players. It's probably helpful but it is difficult for these analytics to consider the playing environment. A player's performance can be significantly impacted by the play of his teammates. Baseball is at the other end of the spectrum. They play of your teammates can have some effect but not nearly as much. For that reason subjective evaluation will continue to be an important part of hockey.

The team stats for the Canadiens are more sobering. They provide us with a picture of how those individual pieces work together and from my point of view the picture isn't pretty. We can hide behind the place the team holds in the standings but it is a shaky position. How would you rank this team

Percentage of points - 7th overall
Penalty kill - 10th overall
Goal differential - 15th overall
Shots against per game - 18th overall
Power play - 24th overall
Shots for per game - 27th overall

At one third of the way through the season, the sample size is decent. This doesn't look like a Stanley Cup contender. It looks more like a team that will be on the bubble.

Click to read more...

 

[Rapala]

Not surprising...
I can still count the number of games we've payed well as a team on one hand.

 

[Takeru]

These numbers wouldn't be as nearly concerning if they were the result of playing our young guys in key roster spots instead of a bunch of worn out vets.

 

[Tyson]

It's obvious MB believes this roster can compete for the cup especially as we witness young players being jettisoned to Hamilton in favor of slow, old slugs on back end. It's amazing that this team has better tools at their disposal but ignore them. Come April Habs will be fighting for a playoff spot. As is this team is not very good, regardless of their record.

 

[Habs Icing]

Not surprising...
I can still count the number of games we've payed well as a team on one hand.

Yeah but you're a freak of nature and have 20 fingers on that hand.

 

[Rapala]

Yeah but you're a freak of nature and have 20 fingers on that hand.

Thumbs don't count right?

 

[HCH]

If you dig a little deeper the picture isn't much better

Hits - 22nd overall
Takeaways - 20th overall
Giveaways - 24th overall (7th worst)

Blocked shots - 2nd overall and not surprising considering how lousy the rest of the stats are.

These are not the marks of a well-coached team no matter what the talent level may be.

 

[Rapala]

It's obvious MB believes this roster can compete for the cup especially as we witness young players being jettisoned to Hamilton in favor of slow, old slugs on back end. It's amazing that this team has better tools at their disposal but ignore them. Come April Habs will be fighting for a playoff spot. As is this team is not very good, regardless of their record.

MB was doing a fine job until...

 

[optimus2861]

These numbers wouldn't be as nearly concerning if they were the result of playing our young guys in key roster spots instead of a bunch of worn out vets.

This. Any game played with the roster that dressed last night is a complete waste of everyone's time. The defence was simply deplorable, and the offense as constructed seems pathologically incapable of generating sustained pressure. We'd be ripped apart playing this way in the playoffs.

And we did all this against the worst team in the NHL last night.

Therrien simply needs to go, and the sooner the better. A head coach that leaves three top-6 defencemen either in the press box or on the farm in favour of old dinosaurs has no business coaching in this league.

 

[JayKing]

If you dig a little deeper the picture isn't much better

Hits - 22nd overall
Takeaways - 20th overall
Giveaways - 24th overall (7th worst)

Blocked shots - 2nd overall and not surprising considering how lousy the rest of the stats are.

These are not the marks of a well-coached team no matter what the talent level may be.

shows the talent and character that the team has. At some point it can only take you so far.

 

[JLP]

It's pretty clear that our record is better than our performance so far. Agree we should be allowing the younger defencemen to gain valuable NHL experience right now. That would be leveraging our improbable place in the standings to invest in the team's future.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

There's not a big gap from 1st to 17th in the standings, all it takes is for a poor 2 week stretch to be sitting on the outside of the playoffs. I think we've improved slightly since the season started in some areas but I still feel like last year's Leafs that defied the laws of hockey to win games for 3/4s of a season and then hit terminal velocity as they crashed back into reality

Shuffling vets and rookies isn't the problem or the answer, need to get some real outside help on the ice and behind the bench