Francois Gagnon: Shea Weber and Victor Mete need help (Canadiens / NHL)

Wednesday, 16th of Oct. 2019. 00:14

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            <p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt">Claude Julien defended Shea Weber and Victor Mete after the match.

Although his two defensemen were victims of the first and third goals of the Lightning, one scored with seven seconds to go at the end of the first period and the other 121 seconds after the start of the middle period – yes! Tampa had already scored its second 64 seconds after the start of the second period – the Canadiens coach blamed a missed release and a bad change for the big parts of the game that completely changed the course of the game.

Claude Julien is not wrong. At least not completely:

Yes it is true that a missed release – and maybe even two, even three – has helped to dangerously extend a presence of the Drouin-KK-Armia trio. An endless presence that allowed the Lightning to take possession of the territory of the Habs for a good 90 seconds before scoring. It is also true that the defenders were not helped by the change made by the attackers before Tyler Johnson beat Carey Price with a powerful and precise shot in the skylight over his right shoulder while he was leaning close to the rink to try and see clearly as his teammates, scattered all over the place, partially blocked his view.

But these explanations can not hide the harsh reality that is obvious to everyone: Shea Weber and Victor Mete have not been playing good hockey since the beginning of the season. They are more often on the heels than on tiptoe. In fact, they are too often taken at odds.

Rather than assuming the role of defensive pillars for the backs of the first pair of defenders, they are too often vulnerable. Too much.

So much so that one could claim that Jeff Petry, who is having a very good start to the season, and whoever is playing on his left regardless of his name, makes up the Canadian's first rear duo.

Blame to share

If everyone agrees that this duo is torn off and that he badly needs help to get out of business, opinions are much more divided on the level of responsibility of one and the other. 'other.

Is it the obvious speed loss of Shea Weber that mines Victor Mete?

Or is it rather the lack of experience, the lack of stature and ability to cope with the physical pressure imposed by the opponents who come fully down the box on the side of Mete to take advantage of its shortfall in terms of robustness that prevents Weber from playing at the height of his talent.

We could draw lists of examples that would give reason to those who believe the oldest and those who believe the least responsible for the troubles of this duo.

The truth lies somewhere in between. In fact, not only Weber and Mete have blame shares to assume, but it is increasingly obvious that this duo can hardly be done justice both the two players are unable to complement each other or simply to put in value.

Offensive talent on the night

Victor Mete is not a defender able to support Weber to help him carry out the missions to counter the best offensive elements in the enemy. And the worst part of all this is that besides struggling to complete the defensive missions, it is now more difficult for him to put his qualities in value.

It was the skate, speed and efficiency of his offensive transitions that opened the doors of the Canadiens' locker room and the NHL to Victor Mete two years ago.

Not his shoulders, not his ability to win one-on-one fights along the boards and in front of the net and even less the quality of his shot that is far, far away, to be formidable.

Since the beginning of the year, the qualities of Mete are veiled by his defensive deficiencies and the bad presence that he and his gaming partner multiply.

"I think my offensive abilities are as good as they were when I broke through the line-up when he was two years old. But two years ago, I was playing against third and fourth lines. The defensive challenges were less elevated than they are now as Shea and I cross the best elements on the other side. My abilities are the same, but first I have to think about the defensive aspect of my game. Maybe that's what gives you the impression that I display less cohesion in attack and that I'm less supportive. effectively the offensive. But I do not feel less good, "Victor told me when I asked him what was wrong between him and his partner this season.

Is it frustrating to see its shortcomings be exposed as they have been since the beginning of the season when its qualities are more erased?

"The worst thing to do would be to let all of this distract us and frustrate us. We have to work together to find solutions, "Mete added.

The real solution must come from Bergevin

I want it. But to me, it's neither Mete nor Weber who really have the solution or solutions in their hands.

Oh! Weber could improve the situation by playing stronger hockey. Playing the hockey that he always played and that he should always be able to offer despite the passing years.

Mete could also help by resisting the enemy assaults a little better and by displaying a bit of serious threat to the attack. By the way, you've bet on which Canadiens game this season to highlight the first career goal of the young defenseman in the NHL. What? Do you think that will wait until next year?

Claude Julien could even separate them. He could mutate Victor Mete and Brett Kulak, say to give Weber a more "solid" partner.

But again, it would put a diachylon on an open wound. It would not really solve the problem.

The solution, the real one, goes through Marc Bergevin who needed to take advantage of the off-season to find a defender capable of completing Weber. Jake Gardiner could have fulfilled this role. But he turned his back on the Canadian because he preferred the calm – and maybe the defensive brigade too – of Carolina.

There are other backs around the league that would do the trick. As much, of course, that the general manager is ready to take the chance to lose one of his young hopes to improve his team right now.

But as I wrote at the opening of boot camp, this solution also passes through the owner. If Geoff Molson wants results right now and he wants his team to go to the playoffs, he will give the green light to this kind of bet.

If he is ready to wait for the next two or three years to allow young people to really develop, this transaction necessary to help the cause of Shea Weber and Victor Mete will wait. And it will deal with performances like those of yesterday. With comments from one end of the spectrum to the other, while some argue that Shea Weber is clearly a finished defender and others wonder if Victor Mete is really an NHL defenseman and not just one. defender capable of evolving on a first duet.

The kind of speech that no one goes out, or will go out, winning.

In short

• Bleached on four occasions by the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, the Canadiens' massive attack hit home on Tuesday. The Habs scored once on the power play in five of the six games they played this year. That's the good news. The worst: after taking advantage of his first superiority of the game to take the lead 10, the Canadian was stopped the next four times. Even worse, we have seen at times the anemic massive attack of last winter …
• While the Canadian was content with a goal in five massive attacks, the Lightning hit in his only attempt. Steven Stamkos' goal – what a shot on the receiving end – was the seventh Canadian award in 18 inferiors over six games. Having scored at least one shorthanded goal in all games played so far, the Canadiens posted a 61.1% "efficiency" short of one man.
• If Claude Julien wants to find a way to boost the efficiency of his team against four, he has only to present his "specialists" sequences of the work of Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn in Tuesday's game. They are nothing short of fantastic in the defensive phases of the game. In the company of Mathieu Joseph, they make up a trio capable of braking the best attacking opponents of all the formations of the NHL …
• Jesperi Kotkaniemi found himself in the fourth line in the third period against the Bolts. This demotion made many supporters protest that denounced the treatment in addition to beating the decision of the statemajor to keep it out of the massive attack. It is important to remember that KK is still very young. More importantly, he played an ugly game on Tuesday and invited the fans to follow him closely when he was on the ice so he noticed how he found the four irons in the rink. air at the slightest physical contact. Details that explain why he was transferred in the fourth trio yesterday …
• The demotion of KK within the 4^e trio has pushed many fans to resume their speech on the impatience of Claude Julien to young people. Maybe these detractors did not notice that Nick Suzuki was all of the massive attacks. He spent 5:17 on the ice at five to four. Only Jeff Petry beat him by … a second. And as far as I know, Suzuki is still in the youth category! That said, in the way it's easily held back by five-on-five opponents, I'm wondering if Suzuki will not be taking charge of the Laval school club before the end of October …
• Although the trio changes imposed by Claude Julien in the third did not allow his team to orchestrate a recovery, the surge pushed the Canadian to a domination of 146 in the shootout. A rare positive point to note in this second defeat in regulation time (2-2-2) of the Habs in six games this season …
• Thursday is the Minnesota Wild that will stop at the Bell Center. The Wild has only posted one win in six games (15-0) so far this year. It would be stupid for the Canadian to squander a duel that seems more than at their fingertips. But OK…

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