Montreal Canadiens

Habs news: Practice update & Mete signs entry level contract
March 27, 2017, 2:33 PM ET [46 Comments]
Jennifer B Cutler
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With just two weeks and seven games left to play in the regular season, the Montreal Canadiens can breathe just a little easier knowing that they are that much closer to reaching the playoffs as they sit first in the Atlantic division with 93 points, three up on the Ottawa Senators who they defeated 3-1 at the Bell Centre on Saturday night and eight points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is a stark contrast to where the team was a year ago today with 74 points in 76 games played. The Canadiens were all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and the players were faced with the the inevitable disappointment of not being able to overcome adversity when various challenges arose.

General manager Marc Bergevin drastically shook up the Canadiens in the offseason by trading away P.K. Subban and Lars Eller while acquiring Shea Weber, Andrew Shaw and bringing in free agents Alexander Radulov, Al Montoya as well as rookie Artturi Lehkonen over from the SHL. Also of note, Kirk Muller joined the team as an associate coach. However, we are reminded as the Canadiens took their final team picture on Monday morning just how different and far the team has come this past year. Gone are head coach Michel Therrien, David Desharnais, Greg Pateryn, Mark Barberio, Mike Condon and Sven Andrighetto while Daniel Carr and Zach Redmond are with the St. John’s Ice Caps. In are Jordie Benn, Steve Ott, Dwight King, Andreas Martinsen and Nikita Nesterov, not too mention Michael McCarron seemingly staying for good with the big club. To put it into perspective compared to the opening night lineup of the 2015-2016 season to the end of the 2016-2017 season, only five forwards remain in the top twelve while two defensemen are gone and the backup goaltender has also changed. That’s a lot of turnover in not even a two year span.

It has been a case of trial and error nearly all season for the Canadiens as they work towards finalizing their nightly roster and building chemistry between the lines and defense pairings. What worked earlier in the season is not a guarantee to work again come April. Case in point is Alex Galchenyuk who through the first third of the season looked to have finally broken out as a tried and true number one centerman only to injure his knee and have difficulty recapturing his game. His recent move back to the wing seems to have worked at least temporarily as Galchenyuk appears freer on the ice with more room to be creative.

Julien’s biggest concern is to get consistent offensive output from his top nine forwards and he’s hoping to have finally found three lines that are capable of stepping up on any given night. With the next seven games against non playoff teams, the time is now for the players to build chemistry and work out the kinks. The powerplay finally awoke against the Senators on Saturday night scoring two goals. It is no coincidence that their newfound success was a direct result of reuniting Shea Weber with Andrei Markov on the first powerplay unit and finally abandoning the four forward strategy. Somehow though, the Canadiens need to get Galchenyuk more ice time with the man advantage as 0:56 on Saturday night is just not enough…

The Canadiens infirmary is once again empty as Nesterov and Brian Flynn returned to practice this morning. With a full roster available to Julien, the lines were:




The Canadiens will host the red hot Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen was named the second NHL star of the week as he led the Stars to a 3-0-1 record with a 0.98 goals against average and a .959 save percentage. Unfortunately these strong performances are all for naught as it would be nearly a mission impossible for the Stars to still make the playoffs. They have 76 points and are 13 points out of the second wild card position but have just 7 games remaining. Tomorrow night’s match will be Jordie Benn’s first opportunity to play against his former team and brother Jamie. It will also mark Greg Pateryn’s return to the Bell Centre and while he has been in and out of the lineup since being acquired by the Stars, he has played in their past five games and seems to have found a place in the lineup. However, it is likely safe to say the Canadiens strongly feel that they won that trade as Benn’s contributions since he arrived have been numerous, so much so that he has is now become a must protect when it comes to the Las Vegas expansion draft.

In other news, the Canadiens announced that they have signed their 2017 fourth round draft pick Victor Mete to an entry level contract:




Mete has had a sensational year as an 18 year old with the London Knight. His skating is at another level and nearly made Team Canada’s final roster for the World Junior Championships. He led all defensemen on the Knights roster with 44 points in just 50 games. By comparison, 2018 highly touted prospect Evan Bouchard had 44 points in 68 games, 18 more matches than Mete while fifth overall 2016 pick Olli Juolevi had 42 points in 58 games. Despite his small stature at 5’9”, Mete has impressed not just with his speed and offensive skill but also with his underrated defensive awareness. He is a big part of the Knights continued success and Canadiens fans should be excited about the young man’s future.

Victor Mete Defense
Born Jun 7 1998 -- Woodbridge, ONT
Height 5.10 -- Weight 180 -- Shoots Left
Selected by Montreal Canadiens round 4 #100 overall 2016 NHL Entry Draft
Regular Season Playoffs
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2014-15 London Knights OHL 58 7 16 23 14 10 1 7 8 2
2015-16 London Knights OHL 68 8 30 38 18 18 4 7 11 0
2016-17 London Knights OHL 50 15 29 44 14
2016-17 London Knights OHL 2 1 1 2 0
Victor Mete statistics provided by hockeyDB.com


As well, tonight marks former Canadiens captain Brian Gionta’s 1000th NHL game. Congratulations Brian! He is certainly an example to Mete that size does not matter. If you have skill, heart and desire anything is possible…