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Montréal Canadiens

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Results and schedule

Recent results

    Coming up

      Style fingerprint

      How Montréal plays, trait by trait, against the rest of the league.

      Montréal CanadiensLeague averageLikely range

      Real numbers through Oct 10: 4 games this season, blended with last season. Traits that take longer to settle lean more on last season.

      Real numbers through Oct 10, from this season’s 4 games only. Expect these to swing a lot this early, which is why the likely ranges are so wide.

      Offense

      Defense

      Tempo and edge

      Special teams

      Forecheck pressure and physicality are shown as arena-adjusted scores; switch “Hits and takeaways” to Raw in the settings to see the numbers as recorded. How the arena adjustment works.

      Key players

      Who Montréal leans on, and what they do best.

      The 4 forwards and 2 defensemen with the most ice time a game (at least half the games played). Tags show how each is used; rows show his clearest strengths, and a weak spot in grey, as a percentile against his position. Point at anything for details. All Canadiens players.

      OutOliver Kapanen day to day

      Show the full roster · 24 playersHide the full roster

      Forwards

      Defense

      Goalies

      As of Oct. 10. Injury details come from the NHL.com Status Report when it names a player; otherwise we only say what the rosters show.

      Lines

      Who plays together at 5-on-5, and how each group is doing.

      How good, against the same line or pair on other teamsHow much, low to high (not good or bad)

      Lines and pairs are numbered by 5-on-5 ice time together over the team’s last 10 games (4 so far this season), with each older game counting half as much as the one after it, so the latest combinations come first. With so few games, each group’s results are pulled toward the average for its line number.

      Worth knowing

      • O. Kapanen is day to day (lower body injury) and has not played this season. J. Slafkovský has taken his spot beside A. Newhook and I. Demidov.
      • K. Guhle is expected back after missing 4 games. Their recent numbers were built mostly without him.
      • A. Xhekaj has started killing penalties: on the ice for 27% of the team’s shorthanded time in 4 games, up from 6% last season.

      Last game

      Against Nashville Predators, the team used the same lines and pairs as above.

      Who plays against whom

      Which opposing lines each Montréal group has actually been out against at 5-on-5.

      Show Montréalwith boxes

      Standing out in all games

      • Xhekaj, Engstrom (P3) have spent 48% of their time against opponents’ third lines. With no line matching it would be about 23%.
      • Evans, Dach, Xhekaj (L4) have spent 46% of their time against opponents’ third lines. With no line matching it would be about 26%.

      Forward lines against opposing forward lines

      • L1Suzuki · Caufield · SlafkovskýOpp. L131%Opp. L237%Opp. L323%Opp. L49%
      • L2Danault · Texier · BolducOpp. L131%Opp. L221%Opp. L322%Opp. L426%
      • L3Kreider · Anderson · NewhookOpp. L121%Opp. L234%Opp. L324%Opp. L421%
      • L4Evans · Dach · XhekajOpp. L125%Opp. L216%Opp. L346%Opp. L414%

      Defense pairs against opposing forward lines

      • P1Dobson · HutsonOpp. L132%Opp. L232%Opp. L317%Opp. L420%
      • P2Matheson · CarrierOpp. L137%Opp. L222%Opp. L328%Opp. L414%
      • P3Xhekaj · EngstromOpp. L114%Opp. L216%Opp. L348%Opp. L422%

      Each strip adds to 100%: it shows how one Montréal group’s 5-on-5 time is split across the opponent’s four forward lines, numbered the same way as above. Sized by ice time, a wider box means more time against that line; even columns line the boxes up so you can compare groups straight down. At home the coach changes last and picks these matchups; on the road the other coach does. Faded rows have under ten minutes.

      What “with no line matching” means: if a coach just rolled his lines and took whoever was out there, each of his groups would face the opponent’s first line about as often as that line is on the ice. If opposing first lines play a third of the time against Montréal, every Montréal group would see them for about a third of its shifts. A number well above that means the coach is sending that group out against them on purpose; well below means he is keeping it away.

      Special teams

      Who Montréal sends out with a man up and a man down.

      Each power-play unit is built around its quarterback, the defenseman running it, plus the four players most often out with him over the last 10 games (4 so far). Power-play units’ expected goals per 60 are pulled toward league average while samples are small. Penalty kills are too loose for fixed units (the most common foursome covers only about a tenth of a typical team’s shorthanded time), so penalty killers are grouped by when they go on: the ones who start kills, the second wave who come on after the first change, and spot duty. Point at a power-play name to see his shots on the map.

      Power play

      PP170% of the time

      Creates 5.7 expected goals per 60

      • L. HutsonQuarterback
      • C. CaufieldTrigger
      • N. SuzukiDistributor
      • J. SlafkovskýNet-front
      • C. Kreiderboth units

      PP230% of the time

      Creates 6.7 expected goals per 60

      • N. DobsonQuarterback
      • C. Kreiderboth units
      • A. Texier
      • Z. BolducTrigger
      • A. Newhook

       

      Where Montréal’s last 140 power-play shots came from. Bigger dots are more dangerous.

      Penalty kill

      Kills allow 8.1 expected goals per 60, 26th of 32 (this season and last).

      Kills allow 7.3 expected goals per 60, 17th of 32 this season.

      Starts the kill

      Second wave

      Spot duty

      What the tags mean
      Quarterbackthe defenseman who runs the unit from the blue line.
      Triggerthe unit’s main shooter, with the most dangerous power-play shots on the team over this season and last.
      Distributorthe main passer, with the most first assists on the team’s power-play goals over this season and last.
      Net-frontparks in front of the net. At least 40% of his power-play shots come from within 15 feet.
      Pointa second defenseman on the unit, alongside the quarterback.

      Goalies

      Is he stopping more than he should, and what is his team asking him to face?

      Show

      J. Dobes45 starts · 1277 shots faced, this season and last

      +11.5 goals saved above expected

      Low-danger save %
      .980 649 shots
      Medium-danger save %
      .861 411 shots
      High-danger save %
      .724 217 shots
      Shots faced per 60
      28.4
      Defensive breakdowns per 60
      0.36
      Quality starts
      62%

      Night to night: goals saved above expected in each start

      −3 (bad night)0+3 (stole it)

      Helping, or hung out to dry?

      System and goalie both goodGoalie bailing them outGoalie giving back what the system earnsTrouble everywhereTeam allows fewer chances ← → more chancesJ. DobesJ. Fowler
      Show the full picture for J. DobesHide the full picture
      • Stopping more than expected
        SieveWall

        +11.5 goals saved above expected in 45 starts

      • How busy he is
        QuietUnder siege

        28.4 shots faced per 60

      • How dangerous the shots are
        ShelteredExposed

        the average shot he faces has a 7.3% chance of going in

      • Breakdowns in front of him
        RareConstant

        0.36 defensive breakdowns in front of him per 60

      • Waiting between shots
        Steady workLong waits

        a typical wait of 67 seconds between shots; 21% come after three quiet minutes

      • Night-to-night steadiness
        StreakySteady

        a quality start 62% of the time

      Really bad starts
      24%
      Overall save %
      .898

      J. Dobes3 starts · 90 shots faced, this season

      −4.0 goals saved above expected

      Low-danger save %
      .978 45 shots
      Medium-danger save %
      .774 31 shots
      High-danger save %
      .643 14 shots
      Shots faced per 60
      30.7
      Defensive breakdowns per 60
      0
      Quality starts
      33%

      Night to night: goals saved above expected in each start

      −3 (bad night)0+3 (stole it)

      Helping, or hung out to dry?

      System and goalie both goodGoalie bailing them outGoalie giving back what the system earnsTrouble everywhereTeam allows fewer chances ← → more chancesJ. DobesJ. Fowler
      Show the full picture for J. DobesHide the full picture
      • Stopping more than expected
        SieveWall

        −4.0 goals saved above expected in 3 starts

      • How busy he is
        QuietUnder siege

        30.7 shots faced per 60

      • How dangerous the shots are
        ShelteredExposed

        the average shot he faces has a 7.3% chance of going in

      • Breakdowns in front of him
        RareConstant

        0 defensive breakdowns in front of him per 60

      • Waiting between shots
        Steady workLong waits

        a typical wait of 60 seconds between shots; 17% come after three quiet minutes

      • Night-to-night steadiness
        StreakySteady

        a quality start 33% of the time

      Really bad starts
      67%
      Overall save %
      .856

      Expected-goal models can’t see passes before a shot, so a goalie whose team gives up a lot of cross-ice passes will look worse here than he really is. Ratings compare him with goalies who have at least 10 starts over two seasons, or 2 this season.

      Where the goals come from

      How Montréal’s goals are scored and allowed, against the league average, and how much of any difference luck alone could explain.

      Show
      MontréalLeague averageWhere luck alone could put an average team

      Every row of Montréal’s goals is within luck’s reach of the league average.

      • Everyday even-strength play56.5%196 of 347
      • Power play21%73 of 347
      • Rebound5.5%19 of 347
      • Empty net5.2%18 of 347
      • Off a turnover4.9%17 of 347
      • Goalie pulled3.5%12 of 347
      • Shorthanded1.7%6 of 347
      • Off a faceoff win1.7%6 of 347

      347 goals this season and last. Each row has its own scale, so a small source is not squeezed against the left edge.

      More than luck would explain: more of Montréal’s goals come from play with the goalie pulled.

      • Everyday even-strength play42.9%6 of 14
      • Power play7.1%1 of 14
      • Rebound14.3%2 of 14
      • Empty net0%0 of 14
      • Off a turnover14.3%2 of 14
      • Goalie pulled21.4%3 of 14
      • Shorthanded0%0 of 14
      • Off a faceoff win0%0 of 14

      14 goals this season, too few to say much: most of any gap from the league is luck. Each row has its own scale, so a small source is not squeezed against the left edge.

      Every goal counts once, in the first of these that applies: empty net, power play, shorthanded, goalie pulled, then rebound, turnover, faceoff win, and everyday play. These mixes are mostly luck: over three seasons, teams’ goals came from much the same places, and most of the differences here didn’t last.