Jay Leach may play and thoughts on D
The newest member of the Montreal Canadiens might see the light of day in the next game on Tuesday against the Calgary Flames.
At first when I saw that the Habs had claimed Jay Leach off waivers I figured he would probably be in Hamilton. But it’s quite possible or maybe probable that he’ll play on Tuesday night.
Leach is a big stay at home defenseman at 6′4 220 lbs and he does play a physical game.
With injuries to half of the defensive core Bob Gainey has been trying to bolster the D with a variety of moves to date.
In last night’s game Ryan Malone scored a goal by being able to stand around in front of the crease and not just get one whack at the puck but got his own rebound off of Carey Price’s stop to put his second shot in the net. This has been a big problem for the Canadiens and not just this season.
If Leach gets some ice time this is one of the tasks he’ll likely be given. Clear the front of the net or at least make it much harder for the opposing teams to park their players there.
With Leach’s signing however I ask myself who will sit out?
My gut tells me it’s Mathieu Carle but the guy I would prefer to have sit out the next game would be Marc-Andre Bergeron.
What I like about M.A. Bergeron is his shot but I’d like to see more of Mathieu Carle. Carle has been trying to crack this lineup for a few years and since he’s gotten his chance this season he hasn’t looked to bad in the 3 games.
I listen to Montreal’s The Team 990 a faire bit and I always enjoy it when Tony Marinaro has Norman Flynn of RDS on the show to talk about the Habs.
One thing that Flynn has talked about alot lately is playing the young guys…. like a Mathieu Carle. Flynn has talked about putting them out there and giving them a shot. I agree.
I don’t think he’s saying to put them out there and leave them out there for the season… but I think what he was saying is to really give them a shot. I don’t think it’s of great benefit to play a guy like Carle for 2,3,4 games and send him packing while 3 of our defensemen are out with injuries.
I think Mathieu Carle should get some games… let’s say, 9 games (insert your number here)… the point is, as Flynn pointed out, “let’s see what are young guys can do!” Put them in a situation where they’ll get a real taste of winning and loosing.
A young guy like Carle who’s got talent and desire to play in the NHL might just be able to step up. At some point if these guys really are our future players (some may want to debate) and we did draft them so they would be then they’ve got to be given the chance.
We saw a guy last night in the Tampa Bay game that was not projected to make their roster but after a good camp he got a shot and has been playing well. His name is James Wright and he scored one of Tampa’s goals last night.
I know there’s lot’s of talk about not throwing are young guys into the fire, but while we’re not in the running for 1st place in the east I’d rather see a guy like Carle get his shot.
Carle is 22 years old, he’s played 2 full years (minus missing a bit with injuries) of pro hockey in Hamilton making progress last season.
Salut Yves,
I agree however we should be careful with MAB. Let’s not forget that he did not have a camp thus he is really quite behind everyone else as far as game situations go. His timing is not quite there yet. This was evident the other night when he missed a one timer and got caught. A few more games is probably needed for him to get in game shape so to speak. Mathieu Carle has been better than Webber in my opinion. He reminds me somewhat of Breezer and would probably look good with Markov. Carle is more sound on D than Bergeron so I would probably sit MAB but with the salary issue and the fact that Gainey picked up MAB as a free agent, Jacques Martin’s hand might be tied. Frankly, I am all for the habs to expiriment this year anyway. It’s not like they have a shot at the cup. So might as well try to figure out who they will want to have on the team next year and who they will want to get rid of.
Hi Andre,
I agree that MAB probably isn’t quite in sync yet and hopefully he’ll improve on D.
There’s no doubt (I believe) that he can be an asset on the team with his big shot.. however he’s gotta get better on D.
I think this year is a great year to run a few experiements.
This is a pretty good time for Mathieu Carle getting a chance to show what he can do and I agree with you that Carle has been better then Weber.
It’ll be an interesting season.