The Canadiens were shorthanded on 257 occasions last season, the 12th most penalized team in the league. On the other side of the coin, the Habs earned 243 powerplays, good for 20th in the league.
Seeing as how most fans think the referees are out to get their favourite team, you’ll hear the classic Peter Laviolette line “Typical Montreal” any time the Habs get a powerplay, but the fact of the matter is that the league doesn’t do the Habs any favours, as evidenced from the penalty totals.
Of course, once you remove emotion from the equation, it’s a little silly to blame the referees for a individual discipline issues among the players.
The Habs, in general, aren’t a very disciplined team, as you can see from the results over the last few years.
Let’s take a look at last season’s individual penalty situation.
| Player | GP | Penalties | Penalties drawn | PenD | PenD60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan Gallagher | 82 | 12 | 18 | 6 | 0.27 |
| Max Pacioretty | 80 | 16 | 14 | -2 | -0.08 |
| David Desharnais | 82 | 12 | 16 | 4 | 0.17 |
| Alex Galchenyuk | 80 | 16 | 21 | 5 | 0.23 |
| Tomas Plekanec | 82 | 15 | 14 | -1 | -0.04 |
| Michael Bournival | 29 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0.53 |
| Devante Smith-Pelly | 20 | 6 | 1 | -5 | -1.14 |
| Jacob de la Rose | 33 | 6 | 1 | -5 | -0.66 |
| Lars Eller | 77 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Dale Weise | 79 | 11 | 18 | 7 | 0.43 |
| Brandon Prust | 82 | 14 | 10 | -4 | -0.23 |
| Torrey Mitchell | 14 | 4 | 1 | -3 | -1.28 |
(The statistics are all-situation, sourced from War on Ice, PenD = penalty difference, PenD60= penalty difference per 60 minutes. Players excluded: Jiri Sekac, P.A. Parenteau)
- Alex Galchenyuk drew the most penalties, earning the third best penalty difference among forwards.
- Dale Weise led the charge in the penalty difference category.
- Devante Smith-Pelly and Jacob de la Rose both finished on the negative side of the penalty column, however their limited ice time should be kept in mind.
- Surprisingly, Max Pacioretty drew fewer penalties than he took. My first instinct was that he might have taken a few penalties during his penalty kill ice time, however he actually drew more penalties during the penalty kill (3) than he took (1).
- Despite the ongoing joke that Gallagher doesn’t receive any calls in his favour, he finished with a positive penalty difference./
| Player | GP | Penalties | Penalties drawn | PenD | PenD60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.K. Subban | 82 | 34 | 21 | -13 | -0.37 |
| Andrei Markov | 81 | 14 | 7 | -7 | -0.21 |
| Greg Pateryn | 17 | 3 | 0 | -3 | -0.81 |
| Nathan Beaulieu | 64 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0.06 |
| Jarred Tinordi | 13 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -0.38 |
| Jeff Petry | 19 | 4 | 3 | -1 | -0.14 |
| Tom Gilbert | 72 | 13 | 7 | -6 | -0.26 |
| Alexei Emelin | 68 | 21 | 12 | -9 | -0.40 |
(Players excluded: Sergei Gonchar, Mike Weaver)
- Predictably, the defencemen took the most penalties, which is likely due to the higher level of difficulty involved in playing the position.
- Nathan Beaulieu did a great job avoiding calls, finishing as the only defender with a positive penalty difference.
- P.K. Subban gets labelled as undisciplined, yet the quantity of penalties drawn evens out his numbers, resulting in a reasonable penalty difference per 60 minutes of ice time, especially considering he’s constantly playing against the best players from the opposing team. However, he definitely has plenty of room to improve his discipline going forward.
- Unsurprisingly, Alexei Emelin finished with the worst PenD60 among all defenders./
For more on the value of penalty difference, make sure to check out this fantastic article on the subject.
