There is no such thing as a club that keeps its four scoring lines and three defensive pairings intact for 82 games and then the playoffs. Injuries, trades, scoring funks, healthy scratches, you name it, a lot can encourage or force a head coach’s hand. That said, Martin St. Louis’ formations for the Montreal Canadiens lately have people talking. What has worked? What hasn’t? Let’s discuss.
St. Louis’ Top Trio Shuffling
At the season’s outset, some of Montreal’s line combinations felt obvious. The Hockey Writers’ own Trege Wilson justifiably envisioned a top trio of Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield. Frankly, a lot of people who track the team, from fans to analysts, thought so too. Had this author produced that piece, he’d have arrived at the same conclusion.
And yet, things are not gone according to plan. Not that plan, at least.
Here, we’ll be heavily referencing the excellent data resource that is Natural Stat Trick. It won’t win awards for graphics, but by golly, it is useful and in-depth.
Related: Canadiens Can Learn from Senators’ Errors in Their Rebuild
The Canadiens have played 22 matches thus far, including the 4-3 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday (Nov. 27). Acknowledging that the team is experiencing significant growing pains this season and St. Louis surely wanted to shake things up a few times, one would presume the aforementioned star trio has skated together 18 times out of 22. Or 16 times? 15?
No. Eight games.
After verifying every starting lineup shared by the club’s official social media account since Halloween night and through Nov. 27, the Slafkovsky-Suzuki-Caufield connection has not started a single contest.
Now, a top line will get a lot of minutes. As such, the fact that they’ve at least played in eight games together means the trio is fourth on the team in total five-on-five ice time with 73:37. In first place is the surprisingly consistent Brendan Gallagher-Jake Evans-Josh Anderson line. The latter have joined forces for 10 matches and 83:55. In second place isn’t even another version of a top line, but rather another Gallagher combination, that being Gallagher-Christian Dvorak-Josh Anderson, with 79:19 to their credit.
In essence, the makeup of Montreal’s top line, its most important one, has been far from consistent.
Dach, Slafkovsky, Newhook Go Up and Down
Why is the head coach doing this?…
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