Canadiens 1996 1^st Quarter Season in Review Part 1

MONTREAL – Last year at this point of the season, the Canadiens quarter season review was celebrating a 10-7-3 record after going 7-10-3 the prior year. The current season of 1996 seems to be a regression from both those season.  After 20 games, the Montreal Canadiens are sitting with a record of 6-12-2. Matter of fact, it took the Canadiens 16 games last year before hitting 6 wins whereas the Habs did it in 20 games this year.

Despite this, they are in 10^th place in the Wales, 5 points behind the 8th place Rangers (and Panthers).  With them outside of the playoff zone are the Isles, Leafs, Lightning, and Sabres.  In the Campbell, the usual suspects that are out of the playoff picture include the Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Blues and Flames. One team that got out of the hellhole is the Chicago Blackhawks who are sitting in 6^th and look to stay in a playoff position all season.  The Habs current position is clearly a disappointment for the top brass who were expecting to be “in the mix” for a playoff spot.  With 60 games to go, Habs’ fans should not give up yet.    

The Habs are 3-7-1 versus the top half of the league and 3-5-1 versus the bottom half of the league.  Their inconsistency in results and their ability to steal games against top tier teams is directly tied to Vanbiesbrouck’s stellar performances.

The Habs best matchup is against the Ducks going 2-0 and their worst matchup is against the Red Wings going 0-2.

They have the league worst (26^th ) best offense with 2.55 goals per game (vs 3.80 goals last year) and the 10^th worst goals (11^th last year) allowed with 3.90 GA per game (vs 3.90 GA last season).  

That's the 5^th worst goal differential in the league at -27 (-2 last year).  The shots differential is interesting, where the Canadiens are 6^th worst (14^th worst last year) in shots for at 26.4 (28.8 last year) and are 9^th (11^th worst last year) in shots against at 29.5 (29.2 last year), for a net -3.1 shot differential.

The Habs PP is the worst it has ever been sitting dead last for most of the first 20 games until recently.  It now sits 2^nd worst at 10.8% (last year it was 12^th best overall at 17.8%, while its PK is 3^rd worst at 75% (last year 7^th best overall at 85.8).  The special teams have taken a considerable step back this season although many of the players are the same.

Last year, the Habs were 22^nd overall with 16.1 PIM per game.  This year they are 19^th overall with 16.1 PIM per game, so therefore stable.  The Sabres are still the kings of indiscipline with 50.4 PIM per game (less than the Ducks 55 PIM per game last year).

Tomorrow, we will look at individual Habs players including a review of Sergei Fedorov's season so far and other leaders that are now part of the supporting cast.

-The Montreal Gazette