The Montreal Canadiens’ decision to acquire Sergei Gonchar is an indictment of the team’s power play and an indication the club’s management and coaches aren’t yet fully prepared to run with a pair of young defencemen already in their midst.
The price of acquiring Gonchar from the Dallas Stars was predictably low, as the Habs moved out veteran left winger Travis Moen. Though always known for giving an honest effort, Moen had been a frequent healthy scratch this year and it was no secret the Canadiens were sniffing around to find him a new home.
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From a financial standpoint, Montreal takes the bigger blow right now as Gonchar—even with Dallas eating a small portion of his salary—will account for a $4.6 million cap hit. However, the Habs will benefit from the fact Gonchar’s deal is over at season’s end, while Moen will count $1.85 million to the Stars’ cap annually through this year and next.
The on-ice equation is all about how much a 40-year-old Gonchar can help a non-existent power play relative to the damage he could do at five-on-five. Through 15 games the Canadiens were cashing on just 7.7 percent of their man advantages and had yet to register a power-play goal on the road. The struggles are an extension of what happened last year, when the club’s power play ranked 19th in the NHL. Combining last season and the start of this year, only eight teams (per hockey-reference.com) have registered fewer total power-play goals than Montreal.
With P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov presumably locked in as the defence pair on the first unit, the hope will be that Gonchar can provide a spark on the second wave with his superb point shot. The Russian may not have the fastest feet, but that won’t matter when he’s teed up at the top of the circle waiting for a feathery pass.
The problem, of course, is that a team that’s already had its share of issues on the blueline will now have to carve out at least some time for an old man who missed the start of this season with a foot injury and whose most mobile days are long behind him. Montreal has allowed 31.6 shots against per game—worse than all but eight teams—and there’s not much reason to believe Gonchar will help with that.
The double-whammy is that Gonchar’s spot figures to come at the expense of playing time for both Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi, two young blueliners who’ve both shown growth while appearing in nine games apiece this season. Perhaps a rotation of some kind will continue, as it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Gonchar—who played for Habs coach Michel Therrien in Pittsburgh—rest his weary bones in the press box here and there. Beaulieu’s speedy game has the potential to create some offence, but Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin obviously put stock in Gonchar’s proven ability to contribute man-advantage markers.
Not to be lost in this age-versus-youth talk is the fact Montreal has cleared out an older body up front. At the beginning of the season, both Moen and the recently demoted Rene Bourque were seen as impediments to the development of 22-year-olds Jiri Sekac and Michael Bournival. With Moen gone and Bourque banished to the AHL (which also created some cap room for Montreal), the path is now cleared. Sekac had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win over the Minnesota Wild, while Bournival—currently shelved with shoulder injury—is too fast and too hard working not to contribute something positive most nights.
But whatever the trickle-down effects of this trade are, the real story for Montreal will be whether or not Gonchar can be part of the power play solution without exacerbating the existing five-on-five problems.
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