Canadiens Notebook: Chris Wideman says coaches weren’t the problem

Article content

When Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman spoke with the media after practice Wednesday morning in Brossard he didn’t know that only a few hours later Dominique Ducharme would be fired as head coach.

Article content

Wideman wasn’t putting the blame on Ducharme and his coaching staff for the Canadiens having the worst record in the NHL (8-30-7) after an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at the Bell Center extended their winless streak to seven games (0-5-2).

“It’s not their fault,” Wideman said about the coaching staff. “Look at those guys… I’ve worked for (assistant coach Luke Richardson) previously before this (with the Binghamton Senators in the AHL). He’d be the first guy to throw his gear on and get out there if he could. It falls on the players. It falls on us, not any system or not anything else. It’s about personal pride and that’s something that I think we can focus on moving forward here.”

The Canadiens can now focus on that with Martin St. Louis as the new interim head coach.

Article content

Wideman said the Canadiens need to spend less time in their defensive zone. That makes sense since they rank last in the NHL in defense, allowing an average of 3.98 goals per game.

“That’s a 200-foot commitment from all five players on the ice and everybody in the lineup,” Wideman said. “It’s something that we’re working on, it’s definitely a focus of ours. It really just comes down to a man. Just a personal commitment to not only the team as a whole but each other as individuals.”

When Richardson was asked about the team’s defensive problems, he said: “The system has been the same since Dom took over last year with a few little tweaks here and there, adjustments for each team that you play. But this year we got off to a poor start. People talked about the short summer (after advancing to the Stanley Cup final), whatever. I just think for whatever reason we got off to a slow start and I think maybe we expected things to fall into place like we finished and they didn’t. We had to start working for it and then you add injuries, the COVID mess that we were down so many players. I don’t know how long we’ve had the same roster together to work. So you’re constantly changing lines, there’s no continuity between lines, communication. That happens on every team and that’s not an excuse, that’s just something that’s happened to us this year.”

Article content

Happy to be in NHL

As bad as things have gone for the Canadiens this season, Wideman is happy just to be back in the NHL after playing last season in Russia with the KHL’s Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The season before that, he was with the San Diego Gulls in the AHL.

This season, Wideman leads Canadiens defensemen in scoring with 2-8-10 totals in 32 games and is minus-16 while averaging 14:54 of ice time per game.

“As difficult as things may have been over the course of this season, for me personally this is where I want to be, in the NHL,” Wideman said. “To have an opportunity to play in the best league in the world and compete every night was a personal goal of mine. So for me just trying not to lose perspective. Yeah, things can be tough at times, but this is a lot better than some of the other stuff I’ve experienced. Just being able to kind of brush aside some of the things that happen and just get back to work the next day and try to improve is kind of my personal outlook.

Article content

“I think there’s individuals on our team — you can use me as an example — I’m fighting for my life,” the 32-year-old added. “If I don’t show well down the stretch I could be paying to play hockey next year in beer leagues. So that’s kind of the way that I’m looking at it. Guys each have different things to play for. But, again, it’s a personal pride thing. Whether that’s turning the season around for yourself individually, however guys are contributing to the team. I would suspect that you’re going to see effort right to the end because we don’t really have a choice. This is our job, it’s all we have.”

What about Petry?

This has been a terrible season for defenseman Jeff Petry, who has 1-5-6 totals in 38 games and is minus-11, including a minus-4 Tuesday night against the Devils.

Article content

Last season, Petry had 12-30-42 totals in 55 games to rank seventh among NHL defensemen in scoring.

The 34-year-old is looking to be traded with his wife, Julie, remaining back home in Michigan with their three young sons because of Quebec’s COVID-19 restrictions. Julie announced on Instagram this week that she is pregnant with a fourth son.

GM Kent Hughes has said he’s willing to trade Petry if there’s a deal that works for both sides. Petry is in the first season of a four-year, US$25-million contract with a $6.25 million salary-cap hit.

“You know what, it hasn’t been anybody’s season this year for our team,” Richardson said when asked about Petry. “Jeff’s a big part of our defense and I’m sure he’s not happy with his game and sometimes when you’re not happy with your game you start chasing things. The best way as a defenseman to fix your game is to play simple. Not running around putting out fires all over the place and do your job and expect the other players to do their job.

Article content

“What’s going to help Jeff and all of our defensemen and all of our team is a little bit more vocal play on the ice using our voices as tools to help out,” Richardson added. “Especially when things are not smooth and we’re struggling, we need to sort things out quicker and that’s going to be one tool. We’ve talked about that with not just Jeff, but all the defensemen and trying to boost their confidence to take charge. Even when you’re not playing at your best you still have to be confident in your abilities to know that you’re in the NHL, you’ve done well here before.”

Richardson noted that Petry is missing Joel Edmundson, his regular defense partner last season who has been sidelined all season with a back injury. There’s also the loss of Captain Shea Weber on the blue line with his career likely over because of injuries.

Article content

“I’d like to see Jeff just take charge and shoot that puck a bit more,” Richardson said. “I think last game he got a couple of shots through. He was the first one on the ice this morning working on that, working on walking the line, shooting pucks hard to the net. Simple things like that.”

Praise for Romanov

Alexander Romanov has been one of the very few bright spots for the Canadiens this season.

The 22-year-old defenseman has been playing with more confidence and has been a physical presence, leading the team with 152 hits. David Savard ranks second on the team with 95.

Romanov ranked sixth in the NHL in hits after Tuesday’s game.

“Alex is great,” Richardson said. “He’s got a smile on his face from him. He’s the first one on the ice every day. He’s willing to work. We’ve shown lots of video with him one-on-one and in team video situations and he’s very responsive and tries to take what your teaching him and implements it into his game from him. I think he’s made big strides this year and every once in a while he’s a young defenseman, there’s a mistake.

Article content

“He always asks questions when he’s on the ice for a goal,” Richardson added. “What could he do better, or was it his fault? I like to let a player get to the bench and sit on what they just went through for a second. I don’t like to be on them when they come through that door. It’s not going to help because they already know something went wrong. I let them digest. Sometimes they look at the iPad, sometimes they don’t. And then let them take a couple of breaths and then have a conversation with them either with the iPad or on a white board just to show them my observation of what I saw just to help out their game and their positioning. But Alex has been very good this year and I think he gives us a very physical presence out there and that’s something our team needs.”

Article content

What’s next?

There will be a news conference at 11:30 am Thursday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard to introduce St. Louis as the new head coach. He will be joined by GM Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations.

The Canadiens will play the Washington Capitals Thursday night at the Bell Center (7 pm, TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM), followed by back-to-back Super Bowl weekend matinee games against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (12 :30 pm, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) and the Buffalo Sabers on Sunday (12:30 pm, SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

[email protected]

twitter.com/StuCowan1