There is a general idea that is often uttered around playoff time –
“Who’s going to ‘step it up’?” As is always the case, there are some that
do, while others disappear. The Montreal Canadiens are no exception.
Unfortunately for the Habs, there are many more that struggle than improve their
play during the postseason, which explains the current 2-0 deficit they find
themselves in against the Bruins. But what guys take it up that extra
notch? Let’s have a look, I guarantee you will be surprised.
| Player | Reg. season | PPG | Playoffs | PPG | Difference |
| 20-Zednik | 512 GP, 269 pts | 0.53 | 28 GP, 18 pts | 0.64 | +0.11 |
| 28-Dykhuis | 644 GP, 133 pts | 0.21 | 62 GP, 18 pts | 0.29 | +0.08 |
| 90-Juneau | 828 GP, 572 pts | 0.69 | 103 GP, 78 pts | 0.76 | +0.07 |
| 5-Quintal | 1037 GP, 243 pts | 0.23 | 50 GP, 12 pts | 0.24 | +0.01 |
| 27-Kovalev | 849 GP, 680 pts | 0.80 | 85 GP, 68 pts | 0.80 | EVEN |
| 37-Sundstrom | 695 GP, 334 pts | 0.48 | 50 GP, 24 pts | 0.48 | EVEN |
| 94-Perreault | 671 GP, 407 pts | 0.61 | 45 GP, 26 pts | 0.58 | -0.03 |
| 11-Koivu | 497 GP, 398 pts | 0.80 | 31 GP, 24 pts | 0.77 | -0.03 |
| 52-Rivet | 517 GP, 101 pts | 0.20 | 24 GP, 4 pts | 0.17 | -0.03 |
| 15-Langdon | 507 GP, 38 pts | 0.07 | 17 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.07 |
| 44-Souray | 350 GP, 83 pts | 0.24 | 19 GP, 3 pts | 0.16 | -0.08 |
| 43-Brisebois | 791 GP, 342 pts | 0.43 | 69 GP, 23 pts | 0.33 | -0.10 |
| 34-Dowd | 511 GP, 263 pts | 0.40 | 53 GP, 16 pts | 0.30 | -0.10 |
| 79-Markov | 267 GP, 112 pts | 0.42 | 14 GP, 4 pts | 0.29 | -0.13 |
| 24-Dackell | 613 GP, 250 pts | 0.41 | 44 GP, 10 pts | 0.23 | -0.18 |
| 22-Begin | 175 GP, 33 pts | 0.19 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.19 |
| 51-Bouillon | 228 GP, 49 pts | 0.21 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.21 |
| 17-Ward | 105 GP, 26 pts | 0.25 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.25 |
| 26-Dagenais | 110 GP, 46 pts | 0.42 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.42 |
| 38-Bulis | 400 GP, 182 pts | 0.46 | 8 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.46 |
| 71-Ribeiro | 197 GP, 102 pts | 0.52 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.52 |
| 73-Ryder | 81 GP, 63 pts | 0.78 | 2 GP, 0 pts | 0.00 | -0.78 |
| 8-Komisarek | 67 GP, 5 pts | 0.07 | 0 GP, 0 pts | N/A | N/A |
Regular season stats complete through the 2003-04 regular season, playoff
stats as of April 10, 2004.
So, only 4 players have improved their offensive output in the playoffs, and
one of them is a frequent healthy scratch, so he hardly even
counts. Two of the others are not key offensive cogs themselves,
meaning that Zednik is the only important one of those stepping up. It’s
nice to see Kovalev maintain his high PPG average, meaning that he’s a playoff
performer himself – now’s as good a time as any to display that with the
Habs.
A very alarming figure is that 17 players have seen their offensive
production drop when in the postseason. This number is exaggerated
somewhat, as 6 of these players have just 2 games of experience (this season’s
playoffs), which leaves us with 11, which is still too high if your team wants
to go somewhere. Players like Koivu, Perreault, and Souray aren’t too
alarming, but Bulis and his 0 points, along with Markov and Brisebois raise a
bit of curiosity and leave fans like ourselves worried.
It is a little harder to evaluate the goalies, but we’ll try anyways.
| Player | Reg. Record (GAA) | Win % | Play. Record (GAA) | Win % | Diff-GAA | Diff-Win% |
| 60-Theodore | 124-143-30 (2.52) | 0.418 | 7-10 (2.63) | 0.412 | +0.11 | -0.06 |
| 30-Garon | 16-20-3 (2.49) | 0.410 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Regular season stats complete through the 2003-04 regular season, playoff
stats as of April 10, 2004.
There’s not a whole lot to say here, as Garon has yet to appear in a playoff
game, so there’s no comparison to make. As for Theodore, the numbers are
roughly the same, but are indeed worse, which should be alarming to Hab
fans.
In order to succeed in the playoffs, almost, if not, all of a team’s players
need to improve their game. So far in this and other seasons, most of the
current Habs have not yet done this, with the exceptions of Zednik and a few
others. Although it has yet to be done by many, all is not lost, as there
is plenty of time to improve these stats; there’s no time like the present
either.
Questions/comments? E-mail me at b.larose@habsworld.net.