What the Puck: What I got right, what I got wrong about Habs this season

I sometimes get it wrong, as many readers of this column are happy to remind me. But I also sometimes get it right, to the dismay of those same armchair critics.

On the heels of Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes’s rather uninteresting mid-season press conference Tuesday afternoon, I thought it would be good time to look back on what I got right and what I got wrong in my Habs predictions in recent months.

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE THINGS I GOT SPOT ON

1) I never doubted Slaf

Juraj Slafkovsky is on an absolute heater right now. Ever since he was “demoted” to the second line alongside Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov, he’s been on a tear. He has six goals and six assists in his last eight games and 22 points in his last 20 games. So far this season, he has 15 goals and 17 assists and looks finally to be playing like a first-overall pick.

There have been many who have criticized Slafkovsky from the moment he donned a Canadiens uniform and it’s true that until now, he hasn’t played a consistent, full season. But I’ve always believed in the big Slovakian winger.

In a What the Puck column this August, I wrote: “Don’t worry about Juraj Slafkovsky. He’ll do just fine.”

2) I was an early Montembeault doubter/Fowler booster

Hughes shed little light on the murky goaltending situation for the Canadiens at his presser Tuesday. He said it wasn’t ideal to be running with three goalies — Ya think?!? — and that they’ll go with the hottest goalie of the three. But from early on this season, with Samuel Montembeault looking mighty shaky every night, I was critical of coach Martin St. Louis’s stubborn insistence that Monty was his No. 1. He clung to the notion too long and it cost the team.

When they finally realized the carnage couldn’t go on any longer and called up Jacob Fowler from Laval, I felt they’d done the right thing.

On Dec. 11, I wrote: “It’s not surprising that Canadiens management has called up Jacob Fowler from Laval. The surprise is it’s taken them this long.”

3) I called it as another bust year for Kirby Dach

On Tuesday, Hughes said the team would be prudent with regards to Dach’s return from a fractured foot and there is still no date on when he’ll be back in the lineup. The Canadiens forward has been on the sidelines since mid-November.

In a column in late July, I was speculating about the wild cards in the Habs roster going into the season and like most said the biggest wild card of them all was Dach. First-off, he is constantly injured. Prior to this season, he had two straight knee surgeries. But even when he’s been healthy, he’s rarely been the player we were promised when management traded for this former No. 3 overall pick from the Chicago Blackhawks.

In July I wrote: “I firmly believe the jury is in on this former No. 3 overall pick. He wasn’t good with the Blackhawks and he hasn’t been good with the bleu-blanc-rouge.”

4) I suggested the Habs could do better than the Leafs

For Habs fans, one of the sweetest things about this season is the fact the Canadiens are moving up the standings as the Leafs fall down toward the bottom of the East. Is it mean to feel joy in this? Maybe, but then again given how fans here are tortured year in and year out by the constant navel-gazing of the Leafs-obsessed Toronto media, it’s hard not to take a little pleasure in this state of affairs. As of Tuesday afternoon, Montreal had 52 points and was two points out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto? Forty-five points, two ahead of last place.

At the start of the season I wrote: “What I love is 10 years into the Auston Matthews experiment, the win-big window is closing for Toronto and, slowly but surely, opening for this young Canadiens team. How that must burn the Toronto sports media to realize it.”

HERE ARE A FEW THINGS I GOT WRONG

1) I didn’t foresee the rise of Alex Newhook

In his first two seasons with the Canadiens, the Newfoundlander was a major disappointment. He showed tremendous speed but little else. But prior to going down with a broken ankle in mid-November, Newhook looked like a new man, finally gelling with his teammates.

In the summer, I was feeling pretty pessimistic about the former Avalanche forward.

I wrote: “If he could suddenly ingest some hockey sense and add that to his tremendous skating, that would also change the dynamic of this forward group. Sadly it’s not that likely.”

I was way off base.

2) I was expecting big things from Zachary Bolduc

Like most, I was impressed by Bolduc’s play last season with the St. Louis Blues and figured that scoring touch mixed with toughness would be a nice fit for the Habs. So far, he hasn’t done much on either of those fronts.

3) I didn’t see Oliver Kapanen coming

This one I don’t feel bad about. Like everyone else, I thought the Canadiens’ biggest need was finding a second-line centre and figured it was going to be tough to find one on the open market. I didn’t realize how good Kapanen was. Well it turns out the team had a second-line centre hiding in their dressing room. The Finn has been just perfect on the Kid Line between Slafkovsky and Demidov, complementing the two other young players.

4) I didn’t think the Habs would be this good

Hughes said on Tuesday that he believes The Rebuild is ahead of schedule as of right now and I, like most, didn’t think the team would make this big of a step forward. After 42 games, they have 52 points and are near the top of both the conference and their division. A big part of that success is Lane Hutson and even Hughes admitted he wasn’t sure the young American defenceman was going to be this great, this early. But there’s just a magic chemistry with this squad that’s allowed them to thrive in spite of some terrible goaltending and questionable defence.

In July, I was calling for a much smaller move forward: “I would say the team will take a modest step forward and will likely be back in the playoffs. But there are no guarantees.”

That’s one prediction I’m happy to have gotten wrong.

bkelly@postmedia.com

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