Montreal Canadiens fans hoping to complain accurately about special teams will need to make note of Wednesday’s changes.
In an interesting swap, Habs assistant coaches switched duties; J.J. Daigneault (pictured to the left of Michel Therrien) goes from running the penalty kill to the power play while Dan Lacroix changes from PP to PK duties.
The reasoning is clear enough.
Montreal sported the eighth-worst PP unit, at least when it came to power-play efficiency, as they connected on 16.5 percent of their opportunities.
(One wonders how much luck is involved, as the Habs’ power-play shooting percentage was mediocre, according to War on Ice. Maybe they were a little closer to middle-of-the-pack than they seemed?)
“I have never been afraid to make that kind of change in my coaching career. We were not satisfied with the results we had last season on our power play. New voices, new ideas,” Therrien said. “Jean-Jacques is a guy who is creative offensively. I am convinced that he will bring good ideas to the team.”
Scheme only matters so much, as it often comes down to mixing the X’s and O’s with the right personnel. Montreal’s not that different in that area heading into 2015-16, although if there’s a most likely area where Alexander Semin could make a difference, it’s on the man advantage.
Are the Canadiens just “rearranging the deck chairs” or making a solid change? We’ll find out soon enough, but they’re at least shaking things up.