The Habs lack of offense is no big mystery!

Ando · Guru

The Habs lack of offense is no big mystery!

Figaro · Guru

Broke....broke....broken-record....If you can get us a Staal, go ahead. Otherwise, we know what's wrong with the scoring. A donut, no centre....that and no heart and the media breathing down your neck and etc etc....

wright · Veteran Member

Ando wrote:

Guys, this is just such a no-brainer…and the problem hasn’t changed in 10 years…the Habs are brutally thin at the centre position. And-o is truly amazed at how most Hab fans apparently don’t see this fact!!! Consider the top two teams in the NHL standings right now – Carolina & Detroit! Carolina’s middle consists of Staal (36 Goals), Brind’Amour (23 Goals), Cullen (20 Goals), Adams (10 Goals)…and some guy named Weight (11 Goals). The team has scored a total of 219 goals so far…meaning that 40.6% of Carolina’s offensive comes from the centre slot (45.7% if you could include Weight’s goals). Next, Detroit’s middle consists of Datsyuk (21), Zetterburg (27), Lang (16), Yzerman (6), Draper (4)…with Franzen (8) and Williams (13) filling in for some injury woes. The team has scored a total of 211 goals so far…or 45% of Detroit’s entire offense! On the other hand, the Habs middle of Koivu (14), Ribs (10), Pleks (7), Begin (11) and Bonk (2). The Habs have bagged 166 goals…with 26.5% coming from the middle! …there you have it folks!!! I think it is pretty obvious where the number one problem area is. As a result, the Habs are forced to play a much more defensive style…as in, 1 or 2 guys fore-checking and the rest dropping back to defend…which, in turn, magnifies the problem!

Offense is not solely dependent on being generated from the center ice position. There are numerous examples of high scoring teams this season, Ottawa,Colorado, and Philly all in the top percentile in terms of scoring that get a more varied offensive distribution in terms of scoring. Ottawa for example has gotten 22 percent of its goals from the center position. Colorado one of the highest scoring teams in the league has received 22 percent of its goals from center. Philly has received only 18 percent of its goals from center.

Additionally what you omitted in your analysis is the fact that all those teams you mentioned have some quality wingers for the centers to work with. Where is the Habs equivalent to a Brendan Shanahan who is having a great year. He is a banger with a goal scores touch, which in turn opens up the middle of the ice for Detroit's centers. I think it is too much of an over statement to state that all of the Canadiens poor offense stems from lack of produstion in the middle. It is part of the problem but not exclusively the problem.

Figaro · Guru

Only centres can score, right? Actually, I think the great Jacob Dillan put it best when he said:

"Come on try a little, nothing lasts forever, there's gotta be something better than in the middle."

Pep talk? Hockey genius? Yes. You can't do it whti just good "middlemen"...you need something more.

Ando · Guru

And-o thinks that some valid points have been made about having depth on the wings…but the stats indicate that the Habs top wingers account for a higher percentage of team offense than both Detroit and Carolina (just for example).

So…Carolina’s top 3 wingers have scored 60 goals so far (27.4%)…Detroit’s top 3 have 66 goals (31.3%)…and Montreal’s top 3 have scored 54 goals (32.5%).

Guys…the problem is in the middle…it just is!

Try thinking about it this way…both Detroit and Carolina (the top two teams in the NHL) presently have THREE centremen with more goals than our top line guy!

…and, if this seems like a broken record – why are people still confused about the Habs lack of offensive production???

mdmrules · Member

I don't know if you can really blame just the centermen for the lack in scoring goals. If you look at the league stats by position we have no league leaders in any category for offence. Centermen are traditionally the guys that feed the puck anyways. One could just as easily say that it is our right wingers that are causing so little offence.

Kovalev has 15 goals 60 games into the season? That is nowhere near where I thought he would be at this point. The best teams have scoring across the board so I don't know why you think you solved the "mystery" by blaming the centers. Unless you were say... trying to point out that Koivu deserves even less credit for getting the team where they are. Which with you is probably the case.

And I think it might be time to stop comparing this Habs team to the best teams in the league. Clearly we are lucky to have this 8th spot and actually closing in hard on 7th and 6th. Are the Canadiens as good as Car. or Det.? No. But why would you bother making that comparisson anyways?

-- Edited by mdmrules at 14:12, 2006-03-03

Ando · Guru

Cripes...this is waaayyyyyy beyond a Koivu issue!

...just look at the facts!

mdmrules · Member

Okay man I am looking at the facts and you are right there is clearly a problem with scoring, but you can do all the number crunching you want... the fact is that every position is underproducing. 35% of crap is still crap.

Ando · Guru

AGREED!

…and I must admit that perhaps the quickest/cheapest/easiest way to fix the offense might be to improve the defense, which reduces the need to score!

Next week should be fun though!