One assist in 17 games: Joe Veleno must sit out

The Canadiens' players pulled off a real heist in Kanata on Saturday night; winning a game when you're down by about half your opponent's shots and trailing by two goals late in the third is nothing short of a miracle.

Yes, the Habs are champions in the art of orchestrating spectacular comebacks since the start of the season, but the day they really want to aspire to top honors, they'll have to be able to protect their (two-goal) leads and avoid being so dominated by a division rival. On Saturday night, they should have won in regulation time and avoided such a situation.

I don't want to piss on the parade, quite the contrary. Kent Hughes, Martin St-Louis, and Jeff Gorton must be proud to see their young players never give up. It shows character and heralds something great for the future of the organization.

But to get to the next level, this young Montreal team will have to mature enough not to get into these situations too often. It'll happen! #TrustTheProcess

Martin St-Louis and Kent Hughes don't target the right players
On Saturday night, Martin St-Louis made the decision to remove Samuel Blais from his lineup to allow Jake Evans to resume his place at center on the fourth line.

Yet Blais wasn't the one who should have skipped his turn. He has five points in 13 games this season with the Habs, as well as a +4 rating, all while hitting and disrupting opponents, something that is a little (too) rare among other Montreal forwards.

Joe Veleno should have been the forward left out last Saturday night.

Why should he have been? Because he has just one assist in his last 17 games, has a -7 rating so far this season, and with Phillip Danault and Jake Evans in the lineup, his presence at center is no longer necessary. The Habs are counting on a good defenseman to take defensive face-offs, both on the left and on the right.

In short, as long as we're keeping someone in the lineup to play only ten minutes or so on the wing , I'd have preferred Samuel Blais.

For now, Blais and Veleno are the 12th and 13th forwards, but things could change this week, when Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine could return to action. Both forwards were practicing in regular jerseys a few days ago. Dach is already several weeks past his return date.

As for Patrik Laine, the mystery continues to linger. When will he be ready? Does he really belong in the lineup? Did his wife go too far on social media on Saturday?

When Dach returns to action, Blais AND Veleno will probably be left out (and kept in Montreal so as not to lose them to waivers).

And when Laine returns—if he returns—Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton will have to be able to free up a spot on the 23-man maximum roster.

Except that, once again, we can already bet that Blais will be sacrificed, one way or another, even though he's not the one who deserves it most.

Zachary Bolduc has just one assist in his last 12 games… and he hasn't finished a game at +1 or better since December 23. Against the Capitals, he was seen cheating on the ice, without the puck.

I like Zach Bolduc and I still believe that in a few years, he'll have his regular place on Montreal's bottom six, but if everyone's healthy in a few days, I think he'd benefit from a trip to Laval. What's wrong with getting your confidence back and playing all over the AHL? Other than maybe getting paid 10 times less…

If Kent Hughes refuses to consider this possibility—or that of cutting Brendan Gallagher—and loses Blais or Veleno to waivers, he'll have made a mistake. A mistake he already made last October…

In the playoffs, you need a guy like Samuel Blais to win. As much for his toughness as for his experience.

Extension

With Alexandre Texier not practicing this morning, also skipping a few practices recently and being the least-used player against the Senators on Saturday (despite starting the game on the first line), we could see the Habs buying some time by placing Texier on the injured list.

But that would only solve the situation in the short term…