Monday Morning Warmup - Can we overreact now?
Repeat after me; It's just one game. It's just one game. It's just one game.... Or, we could overreact. Let's do that instead because it's more fun.
There was plenty to be annoyed about in game one of the 2013 NHL season if you're a Montreal Canadiens fan. P.K. Subban is still on the sidelines, the team lost, the game was boring, and it some questionable coaching decisions occurred.
We don't have automated scripts giving us advanced stats yet, but it seems like Tomas Plekanec's like was used in the offensive zone instead of David Desharnais'. When you compound that by taking Subban away from them, it's no wonder Desharnais, along with Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole, looked sluggish and out of sorts. They weren't being played to their strengths as a line.
Then you have Francis Bouillon getting over 22 minutes of ice time, which is bad enough, but giving him more ice than Josh Gorges is ridiculous. To make matters worse, moving Gorges onto his offside in favour of Bouillon is as confusing as it gets. It made much more sense when Therrien had Kaberle there, at least you've got a guy who can manage a breakout pass.
And what about the powerplay? Sure they got lucky and potted one by Brian Gionta being awesome at stirring up trouble on the goal mouth, but it looked out of sorts. Is maybe a good idea to put Yannick Weber into the lineup? A good point shot was sorely missing, and he's the next best after Subban on this team.
All of these things will likely change by the next game, and there's really no point getting upset over one game, but what adjustments would you make? Would you make any at all?