Photo credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Kent Hughes has opened the door to changes on the blue line, and two names are once again on the Canadiens’ radar this summer: Alexandre Carrier and Arber Xhekaj.
It was this morning that management admitted what everyone had been seeing for weeks.
The Habs’ defense needs to be changed.
So we weren’t surprised to hear Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton admit this morning that there is work to be done on the defensive side if the Canadiens hope to win the Stanley Cup.
“We need to make adjustments. We’re not the best defensive team if you look at the statistics we simply need to be better, period.”
– Kent Hughes
“We saw in the third round (that the defense needs to be improved). We’re going to get better. We’ve already spoken with Martin St-Louis about it.
Tampa Bay didn’t change its identity. It was a good offensive team, but it learned how to defend better before winning the Stanley Cup.ยป
– Jeff Gorton
The Canadiens allowed 256 goals this season, an average of 3.1 per game. That’s not exactly the profile of a team looking to win the Stanley Cup.
And in the playoffs, it wasn’t necessarily any better, especially against the Carolina Hurricanes, obviously.
Why does Arber Xhekaj keep coming up in discussions despite playing 13 playoff games? Because his role remains unclear in Martin St-Louis’ mind.
Arber Xhekaj and Alexandre Carrier emerge as top Canadiens trade candidates
Xhekaj watched six playoff games from the press box.
It’s hard to build trust when you’re left out during the moments when your game is supposed to shine, especially once again against Carolina, when the Canadiens truly needed his physical style of play.
Anyway, let’s get back to this statement from Kent Hughes, who openly mentioned that there will be changes on defense.
So you can probably guess the rest, especially with Maxime Truman backing it up.
“Although from what I’m hearing, Alexandre Carrier and Arber Xhekaj could be traded during the summer.”
– Maxime Truman, DLC
If Hughes wants to shake up the defensive group, it’s going to have to involve the fifth and sixth pieces.
And that’s where Carrier and Xhekaj become the first candidates to be shown the door.
It remains to be seen whether Montreal can actually become better defensively by trading two players who were already playing in the lower half of the top six.
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