The Montreal Canadiens took a drastic late season step,
removing their special teams’ coach after their 3-0 loss to Minnesota on the
weekend. It may be seen as an unexpected move from a team flirting with top
spot in the eastern conference, but stats tell the story.
At the 30 game mark of the season, Montreal sat with both a top-5 power play
and a top-5 penalty kill, 16.6 and 90.7 percent respectively. In the nearly 30
games since, they have slipped well down in statistical tracking, all the way
to 12.4 and 85.9%. One could easily infer that with those previous percentages
holding, the Habs would likely make up the 2 points they’re behind of first
place in the FNHL.
“We need to give serious time to new strategies when it comes to the special
teams’ units,” GM Walsh said.
Their first match with the full sail changes saw a 1-1 and 4-4 effort capitalizing
and killing penalties. However, a moderate injury to winger Filip Chlapik will
cause further changes first in the coming weeks, so it’ll be a while before the
club will be able to gauge success. It’s not a good time for an injury to a core
player when three of the team’s next four games are against divisional rivals
nipping at their heels.
The Eastern conference remains rather tight with just 8 points separating first
and tenth. With the league’s rental trading period opening up in about a week, one
has to wonder if the Habs have a splash in them. They made an unexpected move in the summer to
grab Zach Werenski in free agency, but trade assets outside of the pro core are
rather slim.
Montreal has stood pat in this situation before, will they again?
***note for newer guys: there are no coach settings in the FNHL, just writing an article along with PP/PK line changes.
9/1/2026 - 307 words
