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“Man to man”: It’s time St-Louis realized its system isn’t working

 Jennifer Davis
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“Man to man”: It’s time St-Louis realized its system isn’t working
Credit: Getty Images

When he arrived in Montreal, Martin St-Louis changed the face of the Canadiens’ defensive game.

He introduced “man-to-man”, a strategy that can be effective when a coach uses it the right way and when the players are able to apply it.

But now it’s time for the Canadiens’ head coach to realize that it’s not working.

We saw it last night at the Bell Centre, especially when the Kings’ big line was on the ice: the Habs players just can’t keep up.

The defensive coverage isn’t up to scratch, and that creates scoring chances for the opposition.

It may be a question of communication, positioning, maturity or talent, but some things need to change.

It’s not hard to understand, after all: at 5-on-5, the Habs are the worst defensive club in the NHL.

32nd in shot attempts allowed, 32nd in shots on goal, 32nd in expected goals, 32nd in scoring chances in the slot… It’s worse than worse right now:

After yesterday’s game, Martin St-Louis spoke about his system in a press conference, saying that it wasn’t effective.

That makes sense, because the Kings really had fun when they were in the Canadiens’ zone.

The Habs players seemed mixed up, they lost their cover quite easily and this meant that there was always (at least) one Kings player open on the ice.

But then again, this problem isn’t new: we saw it a lot last season, and it played a role in the club’s failures.

At this level, it’s easy to criticize the goalkeepers’ work, and they have their part to play if they want more frequent victories. But they can’t do everything on their own, and that too is a recurring problem…

You won’t be able to win consistently if you can’t defend, after all. Especially not in a fast-paced league like the NHL.

That said, Martin St-Louis is very, very confident in his “process” because he has a plan in his head to improve the Canadiens.

But the results aren’t there, and right now, it looks more like the “man-to-man” system is hurting the Habs instead of helping the club.

Because, in the end, the Canadiens will never progress defensively if the players are constantly mixed up in the defensive zone.


Overtime

– At least that’s positive…

– Couldn’t have said it better myself.

– Magnifique.

– Also seen.

– Coming up.

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