While the Canadiens boasted the best record in the NHL through their first 23 games, the team has hit a rough patch lately.
Heading into Friday night’s game in San Jose, the Canadiens had won only three of their previous eight games (3-4-1) and the team’s strength up the middle is again being questioned.
There was supposed to be a partial solution to the problem with the long-awaited emergence of Alex Galchenyuk as a full-time, No. 1 centre. The best that can be said of his performance to date is that Galchenyuk the centre is a work in progress.
Offensively, he has produced nearly a point a game with a helping hand from the dynamic Alexander Radulov. But offence is the easy part of the position. Centres are also responsible for winning faceoffs — Galchenyuk has been doing this at a dismal 39-per-cent success rate — and playing defence.
Coach Michel Therrien says Galchenyuk has been improving in both these areas, but he tries to put the youngster in positions where he has the best chance to create offence.
The Canadiens’ No. 2 centre is veteran Tomas Plekanec and he seems to have the qualities that Galchenyuk lacks — and vice versa. Plekanec wins more than 50 per cent of his draws and he’s counted on to neutralize the opposition’s top line. The problem is that he has become a non-factor on offence. During his career, he has averaged 20 goals and 50 points a season but, with one goal and six assists, he’s on pace for four goals and fewer than 30 points.
The same fans who were clamouring to see Galchenyuk at centre are questioning why Plekanec gets more ice time than Galchenyuk. While Plekanec is playing less than in previous seasons, he averages 71 seconds a game more than Galchenyuk because of his defensive assignments and his presence on the penalty-kill unit.
There would be less grumbling about Plekanec if he weren’t the team’s highest paid forward ($6 million annually). His situation reminds me of former defenceman Patrice Brisebois, who was once the Canadiens’ highest-paid player. The fans got on him every time he made a mistake and colleague Jack Todd nicknamed him “Breeze-by”.
Brisebois returned to the Canadiens at the end of his career and played for a bargain-basement $750,000. He was a step slower, but his shortcomings were easier to accept because he wasn’t making the big bucks.
The contract is a like a millstone around Plekanec’s neck, but he’s working hard and there will be an improvement in his numbers if linemates Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher start producing more.
But the bottom line is that the centre position is an ongoing problem and should be the focus of Marc Bergevin’s effort when he goes shopping in the new year.
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phickey@postmedia.com
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