After three scrimmages this past week, it’s safe to say that Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis seems to have a pretty clear idea of what his defensive pairings will look like. When the Habs acquired Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders at the draft, fans and media alike applauded the move, and they all started working on proposed pairings for the upcoming season.
However, nobody, as far as I can recall, was advocating for a first pairing made up of Mike Matheson on the left and Dobson on the right. Why? Because neither blueliner is particularly known for the defensive side of his game. They are, however, known to be minute munchers. Last season, Matheson averaged over 25 minutes of ice time, and Dobson had 23:16, down from 24:31 the season before. Whichever way you look at it, those are indeed first pairing numbers.
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You won’t see the pair obliterate opponents with bone-crushing hits very often, either. Last year, Dobson had just 56 hits while Matheson had 59. They are not very physical players. What they are, however, is a pair of very mobile defensemen who can cover a lot of ground, not only because of their smooth skating but also because of their long reach.
When the bench boss was questioned about how he thought his new first pairing would do on the defensive side of the game, St-Louis explained:
What can help you defensively is what you can do with the puck, because if you’re able to transition, make little plays to beat the pressure, you don’t have to defend. So, for one, that will help them defensively because they won’t have to defend as much. But together, Noah has a long reach, like a long stick, and Mike covers a lot of ice. Learning to play together will help them defensively.- St-Louis on his first pairing
What was obvious this week in Brossard, though, is that the pilot wants his entire team to defend, not just the defense corps. Each of the three groups of players had to navigate their way through the same practice, which was very much oriented toward defense, regardless of the position they played. St-Louis is clearly betting on the fact that the best defense is a good offense.
And the message appears to be getting through as well, in each of the two scrimmages he took part in, Patrik Laine created a turnover on the forecheck. That’s something we didn’t see very often last season, and it wasn’t just the big Finn, either; the forwards were making a concerted effort to defend from the moment they lost the puck, wherever that loss occurred.
If you have three forwards to beat before you get a run at the defense pairing, chances are that you won’t get to said pairing as often; it’s simple logic. Fear not, St-Louis is not taking the Canadiens back to a defense-first style of hockey; the players’ offensive talent will still be on display because the plan also is to transition quickly. Once the puck is recovered, the Habs will soon flip the switch to attacking mode, and the pairing’s ability to move the puck quickly will certainly come in handy, which is why it makes sense to have them on the ice more often than not.
Many wondered how Matheson would cope with a reduced role this season after losing his spot on the first power play last year. After all, Dobson’s $9.5 M AAV probably means that he’ll see some man-advantage action. That doesn’t necessarily mean Matheson will be ejected from the power play altogether. However, if he is, the defensive system the coach is implementing will still provide him with plenty of offensive opportunities.
St-Louis has not yet ruled out the possibility of using two defensemen on one of his power play units, however. He was pretty clear from the start that he was open to all options when it came to the man-advantage. With the arrival of both Dobson and Zack Bolduc, who did play on the power play with the St. Louis Blues, the Habs got some grade A reinforcements and have enough talent to ice two very competitive power play units.
Not everyone will get to play with Nick Suzuki this year, and that’s actually a good thing; it means that the Canadiens have taken an enormous step forward. Suppose the first line stays intact on the special teams and is joined by Lane Hutson, like they were last year, and supplemented by Ivan Demidov. In that case, it means that Laine, Dobson, Matheson, Bolduc, Kirby Dach, and Alex Newhook are still available for the second unit.
St-Louis has already mentioned that he would like to give Newhook an opportunity on the penalty kill, which doesn’t necessarily rule him out for the power play, especially since he believes he has another level to his offensive game. Still, there has to be enough ice time to go around, and if he’s not on the PP, that would allow both Dobson and Matheson to be.
It’s very early; the Canadiens have not even played their first preseason game, which means that nothing is set in stone. However, it seems clear that St-Louis will give this pairing a real opportunity to click before considering other combinations.
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