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There is a general idea that is often uttered around playoff time –
“Who’s going to ‘step it up’?”  As is always the case, there are some that
do, while others disappear.  The Montreal Canadiens are no exception. 
Unfortunately for the Habs, there are many more that struggle than improve their
play during the postseason, which explains the current 2-0 deficit they find
themselves in against the Bruins.  But what guys take it up that extra
notch?  Let’s have a look, I guarantee you will be surprised.

 

Player	Reg. season	PPG	Playoffs	PPG	Difference
20-Zednik	512 GP, 269 pts	0.53	28 GP, 18 pts	0.64	+0.11
28-Dykhuis	644 GP, 133 pts	0.21	62 GP, 18 pts	0.29	+0.08
90-Juneau	828 GP, 572 pts	0.69	103 GP, 78 pts	0.76	+0.07
5-Quintal	1037 GP, 243 pts	0.23	50 GP, 12 pts	0.24	+0.01
27-Kovalev	849 GP, 680 pts	0.80	85 GP, 68 pts	0.80	EVEN
37-Sundstrom	695 GP, 334 pts	0.48	50 GP, 24 pts	0.48	EVEN
94-Perreault	671 GP, 407 pts	0.61	45 GP, 26 pts	0.58	-0.03
11-Koivu	497 GP, 398 pts	0.80	31 GP, 24 pts	0.77	-0.03
52-Rivet	517 GP, 101 pts	0.20	24 GP, 4 pts	0.17	-0.03
15-Langdon	507 GP, 38 pts	0.07	17 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.07
44-Souray	350 GP, 83 pts	0.24	19 GP, 3 pts	0.16	-0.08
43-Brisebois	791 GP, 342 pts	0.43	69 GP, 23 pts	0.33	-0.10
34-Dowd	511 GP, 263 pts	0.40	53 GP, 16 pts	0.30	-0.10
79-Markov	267 GP, 112 pts	0.42	14 GP, 4 pts	0.29	-0.13
24-Dackell	613 GP, 250 pts	0.41	44 GP, 10 pts	0.23	-0.18
22-Begin	175 GP, 33 pts	0.19	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.19
51-Bouillon	228 GP, 49 pts	0.21	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.21
17-Ward	105 GP, 26 pts	0.25	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.25
26-Dagenais	110 GP, 46 pts	0.42	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.42
38-Bulis	400 GP, 182 pts	0.46	8 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.46
71-Ribeiro	197 GP, 102 pts	0.52	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.52
73-Ryder	81 GP, 63 pts	0.78	2 GP, 0 pts	0.00	-0.78
8-Komisarek	67 GP, 5 pts	0.07	0 GP, 0 pts	N/A	N/A

Regular season stats complete through the 2003-04 regular season, playoff
stats as of April 10, 2004.

 

So, only 4 players have improved their offensive output in the playoffs, and
one of them is a frequent healthy scratch, so he hardly even
counts.  Two of the others are not key offensive cogs themselves,
meaning that Zednik is the only important one of those stepping up.  It’s
nice to see Kovalev maintain his high PPG average, meaning that he’s a playoff
performer himself – now’s as good a time as any to display that with the
Habs.

 

A very alarming figure is that 17 players have seen their offensive
production drop when in the postseason.  This number is exaggerated
somewhat, as 6 of these players have just 2 games of experience (this season’s
playoffs), which leaves us with 11, which is still too high if your team wants
to go somewhere.  Players like Koivu, Perreault, and Souray aren’t too
alarming, but Bulis and his 0 points, along with Markov and Brisebois raise a
bit of curiosity and leave fans like ourselves worried. 

 

It is a little harder to evaluate the goalies, but we’ll try anyways.

Player	Reg. Record (GAA)	Win %	Play. Record (GAA)	Win %	Diff-GAA	Diff-Win%
60-Theodore	124-143-30 (2.52)	0.418	7-10 (2.63)	0.412	+0.11	-0.06
30-Garon	16-20-3 (2.49)	0.410	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Regular season stats complete through the 2003-04 regular season, playoff
stats as of April 10, 2004.

 

There’s not a whole lot to say here, as Garon has yet to appear in a playoff
game, so there’s no comparison to make.  As for Theodore, the numbers are
roughly the same, but are indeed worse, which should be alarming to Hab
fans.

 

In order to succeed in the playoffs, almost, if not, all of a team’s players
need to improve their game.  So far in this and other seasons, most of the
current Habs have not yet done this, with the exceptions of Zednik and a few
others.  Although it has yet to be done by many, all is not lost, as there
is plenty of time to improve these stats; there’s no time like the present
either.

Questions/comments?  E-mail me at [email protected].