The second-to-last home game of the season was Tuesday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Philadelphia Flyers were in must-win mode as they are tumbling down the standings and now on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
The Flyers were desperate, but they played like they already know their fate. The Canadiens, meanwhile, had their biggest win of the year as they destroyed the Flyers 9-3.
Wilde Horses
Train number 20 has arrived on track number one. Juraj Slafkovsky has shown the hockey world why he deserved to go first in the draft. The top line was unstoppable, and the leader was Slafkovsky who notched his first hat trick in the NHL. Slafkovsky is everything GM Kent Hughes had hoped for, and maybe even more.
Slafkovsky’s first goal was on a play that proves if he wants to, he can dominate in this area for the next dozen years. Caufield and Mike Matheson were weaving magic passes to each other while Slafkovsky parked himself in front of the net.
Sometimes the defender doesn’t even try to move Slafkovsky when he screens the goalie and waits for a chance to deflect a point shot. They try a bit and then realize it is pointless, so they move on to something else. Slafkovsky deflected the shot with his skate for 1-0.
Slafkovsky is going to be an absolute menace in front of the net. It’s just a matter of how much pain he can take and how many crosschecks in the back the officials will allow. If he is brave, and the refs punish stick work, Slafkovsky will be a point-per-game player at the NHL level.
More on Sports
There are a lot of aspects of Slafkovsky’s game improving at an astronomical rate, but it is his ability to be a force in front of the net that stands out. They call them garbage goals, but they all count as one. Whether it’s a screen, a deflection, or a rebound that he chops in, they’ll add up to a lot of points.
Slafkovsky’s second goal was in close also as he received a gorgeous pass from Nick Suzuki to one-time it in easily just off the side of the net. The goalie never had time to set up. It was in while he was still moving left to cover the pass.
A short time later, hats were raining down at the Bell Centre. The standing ovation lasted for three minutes as Slafkovsky notched his third goal. It was David Savard with a seeing-eye pass to a streaking Slafkovsky on the breakaway. He shot from 10 feet into the top corner. He made it look so easy.
Suddenly, it’s 19 goals on the season for the Slovak. He’s a point-per-game player in the last 15 games with 17 points.
Slafkovsky’s much better strength and balance on his skates this season has turned his six-foot-three-inch frame into a massive asset. This is what Mike McCarron could never achieve to be worth his first-round status. He couldn’t win puck battles in line with his size.
Size without the balance to use it is not worth much. Slafkovsky is already immovable. He will tell you where he wants to go, and then he will stay there as long as he wishes. The line is starting to read each other at an even higher level.
Cole Caufield’s offensive acumen has taken a significant leap this season. His ability to read the play and create time and space for himself is now excellent. At times, he used to be a standing target waiting for a pass, but these days he is always moving, always evasive.
Nick Suzuki’s overall game has also taken a big step forward as he flirts with a point-per-game pace with 75 in 78 games. However, it is Slafkovsky who might just be the best player of all three when he matures his game even more.
It’s been a tough season in some respects, but the development of Slafkovsky’s game is, without question, the number one win for the organization. They went off the board, and made the right pick.
Wilde Goats
If the Canadiens didn’t have a serious injury every week, there wouldn’t be a lot of bad news to pass in this season of team improvement. Arber Xhekaj is done for the final two weeks with a shoulder injury. The Canadiens say that Xhekaj will have a surgery immediately, so he can be ready for the start of next season.
Last year, Xhekaj had right shoulder issues. This year, it is his left shoulder. Thankfully, he is out of shoulders to fix after this operation.
While it was a bad day for one Xhekaj, it was a great day for another. Fl0rian Xhekaj improved tremendously in the OHL this season, so the Canadiens rewarded him with a three-year entry-level contract.
That ELC won’t be engaged until next season, but in a strong piece of CBA workaround, GM Kent Hughes offered the younger Xhekaj a professional tryout with the Laval Rocket. Florian can now be a part of a playoff run should the Rocket make the post-season.
It is likely that Florian Xhekaj starts in Laval next season, but if he is anything like his brother, perhaps he shows enough to be on the fourth line in Montreal. The Xhekajs have a habit of over-achieving.
Wilde Cards
The Call of the Wilde predicted 75 points for the Montreal Canadiens before this season began. They will finish at that total or very close. It’s only April 9th but here is the points prediction for next season without even seeing the line-up in October.
Management may dig into the free agent market to acquire some goals, but even if they don’t, there will be huge improvements to the club next season, so the prediction is for a big uptick in results.
The Canadiens lost 22 games by one goal this season. Add another eight games where they were within one until an empty netter or two, and you have a team that was in 30 games, but did not put another point in the standings. All they needed 30 times was one more goal.
This is a statistic that suggests that they are a club on the verge of a breakthrough. If even half of the time someone could have provided that one extra goal, they would be a 90-point team, instead of a 75-point team.
They need more goals. They will get more goals.
The number one line is only getting started. Cole Caufield had an outlier season to the downside with a shooting percentage of eight. Before his surgery, he was a 16-per cent shooter. That, too, was an outlier to the upside. Historically, Caufield is a 12-per cent shooter. He will score more.
Nick Suzuki may have a bit of difficulty attaining the same total as this year. He is having an outlier season in shooting percentage but to flip the coin over, he will get more support from his linemates as they continue to mature their games.
Juraj Slafkovsky is moving upward at a meteoric trajectory, learning a new skill every single game. He has gone from a point every four games to just shy of a point-per-game the second half of the season. Collectively, the top line should score more goals than this year.
The big difference, though, will not be the first line. They will add some, but not a massive amount. The massive difference will come in secondary scoring where the Canadiens’ 63 goals on lines two, three, and four is the worst in the entire league.
The second line led by Kirby Dach, likely to be accompanied by a more comfortable Alex Newhook, and perhaps even a UFA signing will be much better than this year. Statistically, a second line of high quality reaches for 70 goals in a campaign. Third and fourth lines shoot for 45 and 35 goals.
The 63 goals that the entire back nine forwards attained this season could be attained by the second line alone next season. Add some more support from a third and fourth line with easier matchups, and you could have some real recovery there as well.
As an example, Josh Anderson has struggled tremendously this year, but he could easily recover playing on a third line getting weaker match-ups instead of facing a club’s upper-echelon players.
There is no expectation here that the arrival of Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, or the first-round draft pick taken at number six overall moves the needle as soon as next season. All three of those possible additions will need seasoning first before they impact the roster. It’s the same situation for Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher or Logan Mailloux on defence. They will all have growing pains first before finding excellence. This is natural.
All of those arrivals feeling comfortable will impact the 2025-2026 point prediction. For now, the improvement of the forward composition next season pushes my prediction to 88 points for the Canadiens. That’s a better than .500 record. An opportunity to flirt with playoff hopes in March, before ultimately falling short.
The rebuild continues. Bit by bit, the club is making improvements. The days of drafting five overall are over after this June’s pick. They’ll draft in the 10 to 15 range the following season. It’s up and out of this rebuild with a massive amount of assets.
To contest for cups, there is no pie-in-the-sky hope, though. To do that, they need a world-class player. An example is Leon Draisaitl entering free agency after next season. If not him, someone. The cap space is there. Almost all cup contenders have game-breakers and somewhere along the way, the Canadiens have to get a 100-point player.
If they don’t, as it stands now, this rebuild, when complete, will leave the Canadiens falling short of greatness, but teasing it on many good nights.
The bottom line is the worst is over. Enjoy the better days ahead.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.
The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.
Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.
At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.
Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.
Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.
“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.
“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”
Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.
The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.
“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.
“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”
Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.
He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.
Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.
“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.
“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.
Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.
Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.
“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”
Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.
Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.
Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.
Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.
Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.
“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
