Stu Cowan: Canadiens reduced to the shell of the team that reached the Cup final

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With each loss, the reality sinks further that the Canadiens are not a very good hockey team.

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This looks like a shell of the team that went to the Stanley Cup final less than four months ago.

The loss of No. 1 goalkeeper Carey Price, Captain Shea Weber, No. 1 center Phillip Danault, veteran leader Corey Perry and, yes, Jesperi Kotkaniemi really does feel like it. Throw in Joel Edmundson, who missed all of training camp with an undisclosed injury and is with his family as his father battles cancer, Paul Byron and Tomas Tatar, and it’s not a total surprise that the Canadiens are 0-5. , his worst start since 1995. 96.

Things aren’t going to get any easier with the Detroit Red Wings, who are off to a 2-1-1 start, at the Bell Center on Saturday. (7 pm, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). After that, the Canadiens go on a road trip down the West Coast, which is never easy, with games in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

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The Canadiens have been outscored 19-4 and are two losses away from matching their worst start in history, when they went 0-7 in 1938-39.

Nothing is working right now for the Canadiens, who are 1 of 19 in the power game and have given up eight goals in 18 power play opportunities by the opposition.

The late Montreal Gazette’s great red fisherman covered the Canadiens for 57 years and watched them win 17 of their 24 Stanley Cups. He knew what a winning team was like and he also knew what a losing team was like, especially at the end of his Hall of Fame career.

When the Canadiens were in trouble, Fisher used to say, “Show me the players.”

The Canadiens players are not very good and the question is how much can they improve?

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Fans who might be looking for the team to fire head coach Dominique Ducharme need to realize that no matter how much you stir the sauce, or mix up your lines and defense combinations, you still have the same ingredients. Ducharme is also in the first season of a three-year deal worth a total of $ 5.1 million, while team owner and president Geoff Molson still pays Claude Julien $ 5 million to have it. don’t train this season.

Ducharme appears to have no spice, but general manager Marc Bergevin said Wednesday that he does not plan to make any changes and that he also faces the NHL salary cap.

“It has nothing to do with cap space,” Bergevin said. “It has to do with the group we have and just making a change just to make a change… I like our team. There are some pretty good hockey players downstairs (in the locker room) who aren’t playing their best. And until they do, I’m not going to do anything to make a change just to make a change. “

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It seems the Canadiens really miss Weber’s leadership, but Bergevin said the captain will not play this season and that it is a “long shot” that he will play again. Weber is still captain (Ducharme confirmed again on Friday that no one else will be wearing the “C” this season) and it is somewhat surprising that he was not at the Bell Center for the first home game last Saturday, staying at his home in Kelowna, BC. , while recovering from his injuries. There was a huge ovation when Weber’s name was announced and his photo was hung on the giant screen, but you have to think that Canadiens fans would like to see the captain again and maybe hear what he has to say about their situation. and that of the team.

With Weber gone, who is the real leader?

“It’s difficult when you’re not here,” Bergevin said of Weber. “I think Shea’s presence means a lot, it says a lot. Often times just his appearance, the way he looked at the team or the players sent a message and that’s hard to do from Kelowna.

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“I have a plan in mind that I’m trying to develop for Shea,” added the general manager. “Until I do that, I’ll keep it.”

What that plan could be remains a mystery, as does whether Bergevin will return as general manager next season.

When Ben Chiarot was asked about Weber on Wednesday, he said: “He has a great relationship with everyone on the team. Many guys are in contact with him. I would not say that he is aware of what is happening on a day-to-day basis, but he has a general idea of ​​what is happening. “

But it is not in the room.

“The challenge is different for everyone to take on a little more of that role and everyone evaluates and adjusts to that,” Ducharme said of the team that does not have a captain present. That’s one thing. There are many things, but that is one thing. But there is nothing we can change about that. So we have to grow and we have to keep going. We have a good group of guys and I’ve said it before. They care. We’ll get through it “.

We’ll see.

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