By Neil Becker

Being a lifelong hockey fan, I understood that something drastic had to be done in Montreal.

Months after Montreal Canadiens fans and management were celebrating the stunning feat of playing in the Stanley Cup finals, everything changed.

The deep concern started the last off-season as speculation centered around the health of star veteran goalie Carey Price and whether he could in fact come back from injury and be one hundred percent this season.

Meanwhile, management made public that number one defenceman Shea Weber wouldn’t be playing this year due to continued rehab from his injuries. Not long afterward the talk was that the 36- year-old, who still processed physicality and a booming slap-shot, was set to retire. These are obviously two huge losses for a team that last spring surprised the hockey world by going to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Canadiens also made news at the 2021 NHL entry draft when they were heavily criticized for selecting 31^st. overall defenceman Logan Mailloux who had in the past got into trouble for sharing intimate photos without consent.

As the 2021/22 regular season got underway, Montreal couldn’t re-capture last spring’s playoff magic, as they got off to a really bad start and haven’t recovered.

In late November, the Canadiens shook up their front office as they fired long-time general manager Marc Bergevin and his assistant Trevor Timmins and hired Jeff Gorton as the GM replacement.  This season, a couple of young talents who have underachieved include Habs forwards Cole Caufield who has only 10 points and is -17 in 33 games, and Nick Suzuki who is a -24 in 48 games.

In early February Montreal had the hockey world talking when in a curious move they hired a hall of famer with no coaching experience in Martin St. Louis to take over as interim head coach. He took the job from long-time Habs coach Dominique Ducharme.

St. Louis, who is 46 years old had a 16 year-playing career with the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, which saw this first-ballot Hall of Famer play 1,134 NHL games where he scored 391 goals and 1,033 points.

St. Louis, who was never drafted, played a pivotal role in helping Tampa Bay win the 2014 Stanley Cup and also was part of the Team Canada squad which won gold at the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics.

As a hard-core hockey fan, I have to admit feeling puzzled at this particular hiring. The Canadiens were last overall and had dropped 13 of 14 games when the move was made. Realistically, one would think that the organization should have hired an experienced interim bench boss as opposed with all due respect to St. Louis who has no experience.

I vaguely remember as a 10- year-old fan back in the 1979/80 season when the defending Stanley Cup champions Canadiens hired an inexperienced coach but Hall of Fame player in Bernie ‘Boom’ ‘Boom’ Geoffrion, who after coaching 30 games, had to step down as coach due to health problems. At the time Montreal had a 15-9-6 record, but Geoffrion had trouble handling the pressure.  

Two other past examples of hall of fame players who struggled as rookie head coaches were Bryan Trottier who during the 2002/03 campaign as head coach of the New York Rangers, lasted only 54 games. Meanwhile, the NHL’s all-time number one point producer Wayne Gretzky who once coached the Phoenix Coyotes was referred to by a former player as being the ‘worst coach’ he has ever played for.  Trottier, who in his playing days won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders, was referred to by Islanders fans as being a trader for coaching the Rangers. Meanwhile, some Rangers fans didn’t like Trottier’s bench strategy. As a coach Trottier’s Rangers were 21-26-6-1 when he was fired.

A few years later, on October 5, 2008, Gretzky celebrated his first win (came against Minnesota Wild) as coach of the Coyotes. The Great One’s coaching run lasted until officially stepping down on September 24, 2009, with an overall 143- 161-24 record. Years later one of Gretzky’s players, forward George Laraque didn’t pull any punches in calling Gretzky the worst coach ever.

Despite the daunting task, St. Louis isn’t the least bit intimidated. In a whirlwind couple of weeks, this Laval native went from dropping off his kids at hockey practice to coaching the Montreal Canadiens. Something he called a dream come true.

On Thursday night, in his fourth game as interim coach, St. Louis earned his first win as the Canadiens pulled off a dramatic 3-2 overtime win at the Bell Centre against the St. Louis Blues.

By Neil Becker

Forward Mitch Marner has successfully played his way into the record books.

Showing why he was so highly regarded at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Marner had a historical three-point performance at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday night during a 6-2 road win against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

What made this individual performance so special was that Marner’s second-period goal, which extended the lead to 4-1 was his 400^th career point. Marner, who now has 17 goals on the season became only the second player from that talented 2015 NHL entry-level draft class to hit the magical 400- point plateau. No surprise that the first player from that draft to hit 400 career points was Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. Currently, McDavid has totaled 219 goals and 638 career points in 452 games played. Meanwhile, Marner who on Monday night also had two assists has 401 points in 392 games. In his past 11 games, Marner has now scored an unbelievable 22 points.

Meanwhile, continuing to build a case for himself in the Calder Trophy race is forward Michael Bunting who scored his 15^th goal against Seattle in what was a two-point performance.

Also having two-point games were teammates Auston Matthews and William Nylander who both drew two assists.

Toronto, who were looking to snap a two-game losing streak gained some early first-period momentum as forward Alex Kerfoot snapped a 12- game scoring drought. This came at the 3:56 mark when he slapped a high shot past Seattle’s goalie Philipp Grubauer’s blocker for his seventh of the season. Seattle would a little over five minutes later capitalize on a Leafs giveaway as right-winger Calle Jarnkrok scored his ninth which made it a brand- new game at 1-1. Showing strong resiliency, the Leafs took control with two more first-period goals from Bunting with his 15^th which came at the 11:06 mark followed almost three minutes later by forward Ondrej Kase who on the power play scored his 10^th of the season.

The Leafs second power-play goal came in the second period when Marner scored on a juicy rebound which not only gave him 400 points, but extended the lead to 4-1 where it stayed heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Looking to generate some more goals, Toronto got two more in the third from forward David Kampf who scored his 6^th on a shorthanded effort, and defenceman Jake Muzzin who with less than two minutes remaining scored his second to round out the offense in what was a critical win.

The Leafs will face a big challenge on Thursday when at Scotiabank Arena the Leafs face-off at 7 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

                                      SCORING SUMMARY              

            1^ST PERIOD                                                                 TOR VS. SEATTLE

            3:56 Alex Kerfoot (7)                                                       1    –    0

            John Tavares (28), Timothy Liljegren (8)

           9:05 Calle Jarnkrok (9)                                                     1  –      1

           Mason Appleton (8)

          11:06 Michael Bunting (15)                                                2   –      1                                   

           Auston Matthews (24), Mitch Marner (25)

          14:03 PPG- Ondrej Kase (10)                                             3   –     1

          Michael Bunting (17), Jason Spezza (8)

            2^nd. PERIOD                                                                TOR  VS.  SEATTLE

          9:15 PPG-Mitch Marner (17)                                             4   –        1

          William Nylander (27), Auston Matthews (25)

             3^rd PERIOD                                                                TOR  VS  SEATTLE

         3:37 SHG- David Kampf (6)                                               5    –      1  

           Mitch Marner (26)

        6:52 PPG- Jared McCann (20)                                            5    –       2

          Mark Giordano (15), Calle Jarnkrok (9)

        18:19 Jake Muzzin (2)                                                       6    –       2

         Timothy Liljegren (9), William Nylander (28)

    By Neil Becker

                      The birth certificate might say 37 years-old, but there is no question that future first ballot

                      Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury can still play.

                      Fleury, who as hockey fans known proudly goes by the nickname ‘flower’, is currently in the

                      mist of a solid first season with the Chicago Blackhawks, which has seen him win 15 games,

                      while posting 3 shutouts, a 2.88 G.A.A. along with a 0.910 save percentage.   

                      Back in early December Fleury made hockey history when ironically enough at Bell Centre in

                      Montreal, he made 30 saves in shutting out the Montreal Canadiens 2-0, which made him

                      only the third goalie to reach the 500- win plateau. Currently, as we head towards mid-

                       February, Fleury has 507 wins and sits third behind Patrick Roy (551) and Martin Brodeur     (691) as the all-time NHL’s winningest goalie.

                     Known for his trademark smile and habit of rubbing his goal posts, Fleury was a 2003 first

                      overall pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins. During his 12-year stint in Steel City, this Sorel

                      Quebec resident’s stock soared as he emerged into a star and helped the Penguins capture

                      the 2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup. While a Penguin, Fleury was also chosen to compete

                      in the 2011 and 2015 All-Star Game. With Pittsburgh, ‘flower’ recorded 380 wins before

                      getting chosen by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 Expansion Draft.

                      Fleury’s popularity continued in Vegas where during that expansion season, he helped lead

                      The Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup finals where they eventually fell short against the

                      Washington Capitals.

                      He would go on to play four seasons in the dessert where he was named to the 2018, 2019

                     and 2020 All-Star team. ‘Flower’, who totaled 117 wins as a Golden Knight, is the reigning

                     Vezina Trophy winner. Last year, in what was his final season in the dessert, he posted a

                     26-10-0 record with 6 shutouts and a 1.98 G.A.A.

                    In the off-season, Fleury was unexpectantly traded to the Blackhawks. Even though they

                    obtained this blue- chip goalie along with number-one defenceman Seth Jones, the Hawks

                    still find themselves trailing the Anaheim Ducks by 14 points for that final playoff seed.

                    Looking towards the March 21^st trade deadline, Fleury, who is on a one-year contract with a 7 

                    million- dollar cap hit could obviously help a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Last month,

                     there were rumors about the Washington Capitals inquiring about his services. Perhaps the

                    Edmonton Oilers, who are in a real playoff push, will reach out to solve their goaltending

                    woes by acquiring this future all-star. Fans can speculate, but the hockey world won’t know

                     until sometime on March 21^st. NHL trade deadline day.

                 By Neil Becker

The story begins and ends with Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko’s performance.

Demko wrote another chapter to what has been a career year when on Saturday night at Rogers Arena, he made 51 saves in leading his team to a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs, who had forward Wayne Simmonds back in the lineup, went with second-stringer Petr Mrazek in goal who was a little less busy in facing only 24 shots. After kicking off this current three-game road swing with a Thursday night loss against the Calgary Flames, Toronto was hoping to make an early Saturday night statement against the Canucks.

Leading the Canucks offensive charge was forward J.T. Miller who scored his 29^th goal at the 1:29 mark before just under five minutes later earning an assist in helping the Canucks get off to a 2-0 first period lead. Toronto, who haven’t since October lost consecutive games, struck for two-second period goals from Austin Matthews with his 32^nd followed with under five minutes left in the first by veteran Ondrej Kase who tallied his ninth which made it a brand new- game.

Showing strong resiliency, Vancouver scored the eventual game winner which came 18:30 into the second when forward Juho Lammikko scored his fourth in giving the Canucks a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of regulation. Realistically, the Leafs did everything but score in the third as they generated 17 shots but couldn’t get the equalizer as they went on to suffer a hard luck Saturday night loss out in Vancouver. The Leafs will finish up their three- game road trip with a visit to Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena for a Monday night 9 p.m. puck drop against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

                      SCORING SUMMARY

                      1^st. Period                                                      TOR- VAN

                      1:29 J.T. Miller (17)                                           0 –   1

                             Bo Horvat (12), Brock Boeser (13)

                     6:00 PPG- Brock Boeser (14)

                            Oliver Ekman-Larsson (10), J.T. Miller (31)     0 –   2

                       2^nd Period                                                       TOR – VAN

                      12:46 PPG- Auston Matthews (32)                       1-    2

                  John Tavares (27), William Nylander (26)       

                   15:41 PPG Ondrej Kase (9)                                        2 – 2

                   Jason Spezza (7), Rasmus Sandin (10)

                   18:30 Juho Lammikko (4)                                          2 – 3                                       

                    Alex Chiasson (5), Tyler Motte (5)