Nick Carrière’s New Position With The Montreal Canadiens

Nick Carrière’s New Position With The Montreal Canadiens

Written by Fred Arshoff

First of all many thanks to Rick Stephens of ALL HABS for the cover photo

Due to the Montreal Canadiens affiliation now with the Trois-Rivières Lions and assigned, as of October 18, 2021, 9 players to play for them the Habs gave Nick Carrière a different position with the team in the Hockey Operations Department. This move was done before all the players were assigned but the more players assigned the more important this change is so that the Canadiens can fully see the development of all their young prospects no matter if they are playing for the Laval Rocket or the Lions.

Who Is Nick Carrière

For the benefit of those who don’t know who Nick Carrière is, he is the son of Larry Carrière who was appointed Assistant General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens on July 16, 2010. When Larry Carrière left the Habs organization, at the end of the 2019-20 season, he was Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations and at one time General Manager of the Laval Rocket.

Nick Carrières Present Position With The Montreal Canadiens

Nick Carrière was moved, for the 2021-22 season, to the newly created position of Director of Minor League Affiliates. He is also a Professional Scout for the Habs.

In this capacity Carrière will be scouting the players with the Laval Rocket and Trois-Rivières Lions. If and when they have to move players, back and forth between the two teams, he will have input in that. Carrière has already been seen at both team’s practices and games.

Nick Carrières Past Positions With The Montreal Canadiens

Marc Bergevin hired Nick Carrière on July 6, 2015 to be an Assistant Coach of the St. John’s Ice Caps. That, at the time, was the Habs AHL affiliate. At the time SYLVAIN LEFEBVRE was Head Coach of the team.

While Nick was in that position even when he had dinner, on an off hockey date, they never discussed the hockey aspect as Nick didn’t wish to go over Head Coach Sylvain Lefebvres head just because his father was in charge of the AHL team. So we can see Nick is a team player and won’t take swipes at anyone, or take advantage of a situation.

On April 17, 2018 the entire Laval Rocket Coaching staff were fired (see exception below), due to the teams poor performance and lack of player development.

Nick Carrière, so far, from the Coaches fired has been the only one rehired by the Canadiens, in any capacity, for the 2018-19 season. With the exception of Marco Marciano, who was Goalie and Video Coach, and wasn’t fired and still remains with the Laval Rocket as Goalie coach.

During the 2019-20 and 2020-21 season Carrière was a Professional Scout for the Canadiens and his primary duty was to scout the professional NCAA players the Habs have drafted

Time To Call Up Pezzetta

Time To Call Up Pezzetta

Written by Fred Arshoff

This article is written before the Montreal Canadiens VS San Jose Sharks game on Thursday October 28, 2021

As the Habs have really showed no intensity in their games, with the exception of the game on October 23, 2021, and that has been the only game they have won this season. It’s time for changes.

I would call up Michael Pezzetta who is playing with intensity for the Laval Rocket, but also showed lots of intensity when in the Canadiens main training camp and in the preseason games he played in.

So far this season none of the players on the Montreal squad have shown any intensity at all. If that is the players revolting about the coaching staff, or not, I have no clue. All I know is from the games I watched there is no intensity at all.

Although the Laval Rocket have better skilled players than Pezzetta I feel strongly that he has to be the player called up and hopefully his intensity will rub off on all the other players. At this time the Habs don’t need more goal scorers, although not scoring goals is really a problem this year. They have many players who know how to score and I would hope they get back on track soon.

I know of no other player in the Habs organization who shows more intensity, at least so far in the 2021-22 season, than Pezzetta. The only drawback on him is he has a history of taking lots of penalties.

In this, the 2021-22 season, after six games (when this article was written), Pezzetta has two goals and three assists for a total of five points. He is a +7 and has 14 penalty minutes. We can also see progress in Pezzetta’s game as in the 2020-21 season in 20 games he was a +3 so we see improvement there as well as his production has improved in the 20 games he scored two goals and had three assists. These statistics are from https://www.capfriendly.com/players/michael-pezzetta

To make room on the roster I would send Cole Caufield to the Laval Rocket. Not due to bad play but due to being afraid he would lose his confidence with the Canadiens losing all but one game and being out played in most games. Also Cole hasn’t scored a goal yet so perhaps being in Laval he will get goals and it will carry on. Although it’s a complete new coaching staff, from last season in Laval where Caufield played two games, I feel Jean Francois Houle and his assistant coaches will help him. I don’t blame Caufield for lack of production as it’s a very big jump from the NCAA to the NHL and most players do need at least one full season in the AHL before going up to the NHL. We saw when Cole played against bigger and more skilled players, than at the NCAA, he didn’t score at the same rate.

Once Pezzetta is on the Canadiens I would play him on the third or fourth line and sit out Lehkonen. The reason being by sitting out a veteran for a rookie sends a message to all the players. If you wish to play you have to show intensity and do what you’re told to do.

Jonathon Drouin 400 NHL Games

Jonathon Drouin 400 NHL Games

Written by Fred Arshoff

I’d like to thank Martine McGuire very much, not for one thing but two things. She suggested to me to write an article to celebrate Drouin’s 400th NHL game as well as sending me the picture that is the cover photo of this article

CONGRATULATIONS Jonathon Drouin, on becoming the 10th ACTIVE player, from Quebec, to play in 400 NHL games. For those interested Patrice Bergeron leads active NHL players that have played the most games for a Quebec born player playing in 920 NHL games.

Overall the Quebec born player with the most NHL games played is Marcel Dionne with 1,348 games played.

Quebec born players who have played for the Montreal Canadiens includes Henri Richard 1,258 games, Guy Lafleur 1,126 games, Jean Beliveau 1,124 games and Maurice Richard 978 games. In the case of Guy Lafleur it is including the games he played for the New York Rangers while the other players have only played for the Habs. This information from https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/province/nhl-players-born-in-quebec-career-stats.html

A Small Biography Of Jonathon Drouin

Drouin was born March 28, 1995 in Ste-Agathe, Quebec, Canada. He is six feet and weighs 197 pounds.

Jonathon was drafted in the NHL entry draft in 2013 by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, the 3rd overall player drafted. Drafted before Drouin were Nathan MacKinnon 1st overall by the Colorado Avalanche and 2nd overall was Alexander Barkov by the Florida Panthers. The Canadiens first draft choice in 2013 was Micheal McCarron who was the 25th overall player drafted.

Drouin started to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2014-15 season. In 70 games he accumulated 4 goals and 28 assists for a total of 32 points. He was a +3 and had 34 penalty minutes.

In the 2016-17 season, in the World Cup, Drouin played for Team North America. He played in three games and had one goal and no assists. He was a +2 with no penalties.

On June 15, 2017 the Montreal Canadiens made a massive trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadiens sending Tampa Bay Mikhail Sergachev in return the Habs received Jonathon Drouin. After the trade was completed General Manager Marc Bergevin gave Drouin a six year contract extension. The salary cap on this contract is $5,500,000 with no bonus clauses but he does have a modified no trade, no move clause for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 season where Drouin gives the Canadiens a three team list of teams he can’t be traded to. The contract information from https://www.capfriendly.com/players/jonathan-drouin

I felt at the time it was a very good trade for both teams as the Canadiens needed a scoring forward and Tampa needed a young defenceman.

I feel it’s too hard to do an analysis of this trade now as Drouin didn’t play in last season’s playoffs due to mental health issues.

Once again JONATHON DROUIN CONGRATULATIONS ON PLAYING YOUR 40OTH NHL GAME.

Doug Harvey A Hockey Legend

Doug Harvey A Hockey Legend

Written by Fred Arshoff

I will divide this article into several parts, my personal thoughts, Harvey’s hockey career, his personal life and awards and honours he received.

I am a bit biased liking Harvey as a hockey player as my late dad was his defence partner back in Jr. Hockey. If given a choice, of Harvey or another defenceman, I would choose Harvey if almost equal but in this article as it’s only about Harvey it isn’t biased at all.

Personal Thoughts

I recall Doug as one of the best NHL defenceman of his era. I was also disappointed when the HABS didn’t retire his number 2 as soon as he retired. He also gave up being the captain of the HABS so that Jean Beliveau could take the lead of the team. I also recall that Doug owned a sporting goods store on Queen Mary in the Snowdon district of Montreal.

Hockey Career

Doug Harvey was born December 19th, 1924. He played minor hockey in Oxford Park in the NDG part of Montreal. He started his hockey career in the 1945 season with the Montreal Royals of the Quebec Senior League. In the 1947-48 season he started to play for the HABS. He was signed by Frank Selke Sr. and his first coach was Dick Irvin Sr. He retired from Hockey at the end of the 1968-69 season. He also played two seasons for the Rangers and two seasons for St. Louis. Also when Doug played when they went to road games, unlike today when they jump on a plane, they went on a train and some trips were over eight hours.
Doug played in 1113 NHL games, he had 88 goals and 452 assists. He had 1216 penalty minutes. He played 137 playoff games scored 8 goals and 64 assists. He had 152 penalty minutes.
In 1964 Harvey, Gump Worsley and Red Berenson played for the Montreal Jr. Canadiens in a game against the Soviet National team. Harvey played almost 50 minutes in the 3-2 loss.

Personal Life

Doug was known to be an alcoholic partly caused by being bi-polar. Also as he worked to start the NHLPA he wasn’t liked by most GM’s and team owners. Due to his work to start the NHLPA the HABS took longer to retire his number 2. Back when Doug played the players didn’t make the big dollars like today’s players. He was paid roughly in 2008 dollars $274,634.

Harvey’s number 2 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens on October 26, 1985.

Awards and Honours

Award Year
James Norris Memorial Trophy 7 times
NHL All Star team 13 times
NHL 1st All Star team 10 times
NHL 2nd All Star team 1959
Stanley Cup 6 times
NHL top 100 players In 1998
Photo on Canada Post stamp In 2000

A video of Harvey

Mathieu Perreault Sets Montreal Canadiens History

Mathieu Perreault Sets Montreal Canadiens History

Written by Fred Arshoff

Not only did the Habs get their first win October 23, 2021, against the Detroit Red Wings, winning 6-1 after first falling behind 1-0. It was Sami Niku’s first game as a Canadien, not including preseason.

We also had Mike Hoffman and Christian Dvorak score their first goals as Canadiens while Mathieu Perreault put on a show. Not only did he score his first as a Hab he got a natural hat trick. With that he became the leading scorer on the team with 3 in 5 games as he was a healthy scratch for one game.

His wife Jennilie was at the game, cheering on her husband, while their 3 young children were at home.

With Mathieu scoring the hat trick he became the first Quebec born player to score a hat trick, for the Habs on Home ice, since Vincent Damphousse on March 28, 1998 as a Francophone player from Quebec scoring for the Canadiens in Montreal. That night he became the 365th player overall to score a hat trick for the Habs.

The last hat trick by a Francophone player was Phillip Danault on December 22, 2018 visiting the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The last overall hat trick was Tyler Toffoli on January 20, 2021 while visiting his former team the Vancouver Canucks.

Perreault’s hat trick was the 413th overall scored by a Montreal Canadien. He presently is only one of eight players in the entire NHL to score a ‘trick’, this season, at the time of writing this article.

Very few Francophone players have scored more than one hat trick while with the Habs. Here is a small list of those that have: Howie Morenz, Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, Jean “Le Gros Bill” Beliveau, Henri “The Pocket Rocket” Richard, Phil Goyette and Bobby Rousseau.

Some Quotes By Perreault Taken From Stu Cowan Of The Montreal Gazzette

“You just dream about being in the NHL and maybe having a chance to play for the Canadiens”, he said after Saturday’s game. “Not to actually score a hat-trick in your own building”.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and I’m just trying to take it in as much as I can.”

For those who don’t recall Perreault was signed as a free agent by Marc Bergevin, this off season, to a one year $950,000 contract.

You can relive the historic moment here and enjoy the ovation that followed:

Eric Raymond Doing His Job

Eric Raymond Doing His Job

Written by Fred Arshoff

I’d like to thank Marlene Wall very much for merging the two photos into one to make the cover photo for this article.

This article was written October 23, 2021 before the Montreal Canadiens VS Detroit Red Wings game, thus we don’t know if the extra work helped.

As some of you may recall on Thursday October 21, 2021 Jake Allen let in two very similar goals so what did Eric Raymond, the Canadiens goalie coach who was hired this off season do? On Friday October 22, 2021 instead of having Allen practice with the team they went to the second sheet of ice, at the Brossard practice facility, to work with him one on one to correct that flaw. The Habs did arrange to have Karel St-Laurent be the second goalie on the main ice sheet in Brossard so there were two goalies for the teams practice.

For those, who are like me, and don’t know who Karel St-Laurent is he is 30 years old from St. Catherine, Quebec. In the 2021-22 season, that we are presently in, he is playing for the Jonquière Marquis of the LNAH. St. Laurent has played in three games, his GAA (Goals Against Average) is 3.49 and his save percentage is .899. These stats are from https://www.nhl.com/player/karel-st-laurent-8476615

I like very much that Raymond saw the flaw in Allen and went to work with him right away to rectify it. By starting right away it will hopefully ensure that other team’s, who saw that flaw, don’t light up the net by doing the same play.

Perhaps, as being his first job as an NHL Assistant Coach and working in the NHL, he may wish to show he is willing to do the work to rectify problems before they become even bigger.

I will admit after the game October 23, 2021 when the Canadiens go on a Western road trip it may be harder to get a second sheet of ice to work with Allen and to continue to work with him one on one. Hopefully by working with Allen on October 22, 2021 the flaw has been removed and those types of goals won’t be scored on an ongoing basis.

If you would like to see information on the entire Montreal Canadiens 2021-22 coaching staff please see https://montrealsportsblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/26/your-2021-22-coaching-staff/

Alex Belzile Placed On Waivers

Alex Belzile Placed On Waivers

Written by Fred Arshoff

I’m sure most of you know that Belzile was placed on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens on October 18, 2021. You also know, by now, this was the first time he was on an NHL team’s 23 man roster to start an NHL season. For more information on this please see https://montrealsportsblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/congratulations-alex-belzile/

Belzile wasn’t placed on waivers due to his play and he wasn’t on the 20 man roster on the three game days he was with the Habs. He was placed on waivers as Mike Hoffman was ready to come back from his lower body injury he suffered just before training camp.

Alex cleared waivers on October 19, 2021 and has reported to the Laval Rocket. He played in the game October 20, 2021 and scored a goal to help them defeat the Manitoba Moose 4-3.

There really isn’t a need to carry three extra forwards and by having Alex with the Rocket will save the Habs $750,000 on the salary cap. This will impact Belzile’s pay a lot as playing with the Rocket he will get $250,000. He does have a guarantee of $300,000 and will get the difference, if any, at the end of the season when they tabulate how much he was paid. This salary information from https://www.capfriendly.com/players/alex-belzile

His leadership will really help the Rocket as they have many new players, and many are in their first year of playing hockey professionally, and are living on their own for the very first time.

Unlike Kinkaid, who when demoted in the 2019-20 season to the Laval Rocket for bad play, I don‘t think at the time could have stopped a beach ball and he showed attitude to then Rocket Head Coach Joel Bouchard and had a few face to face encounters with him on the ice during team practices. Due to that behaviour Marc Bergevin didn’t trade Kinkaid but just loaned him outright to the Charlotte Checkers who also are in the AHL, just to not have any attitude in the dressing room. Alex has gone down with no attitude and I admit he knew he would end up there, at some point, but still goes all out to help the team to the best of his ability.

I would think that Scott Mellanby, Assistant General Manager spoke to new Head Coach Jean Francois Houle and told him what his strengths and weaknesses were. I’m sure as well Rob Ramage, who is Director of Player Development, did the same and may have shown some video as well, as he showed Houle video of other players who the coach had never seen play.

With Belzile going to Laval it’s a WIN WIN FOR THE MONTREAL CANADIENS ORGANIZATION. Let’s all be honest Mike Hoffman is much better then Alex so that helps the Habs, but with him going to Laval will really help the new, younger players to have a veteran to turn to.

Montreal Canadiens Missing Leadership

Montreal Canadiens Missing Leadership

Written by Fred Arshoff

I’m writing this article as Rikki Lei asked me this question after the Canadiens lost Tuesday October 19, 2021 against the San Jose Sharks 5-0. As I always do when asked a question I prefer to answer with an article so everyone knows my thoughts on that subject.

I’d like to thank Marlene Wall for merging the photos of Shea Weber, Carey Price and Corey Perry to make the cover photo for this article.

Even in the preseason games I saw some leadership missing but thought, as it was split squads, that was the problem until the full team was fully assembled and playing as one full team. I do admit I was wrong about that.

With the Habs losing their first four games, to start the 2021-22 season, I feel a good part of it is they are missing the core leadership group from last season in Shea Weber, Carey Price, and Corey Perry and Paul Bryon.

Players Who People Say Should Be This Seasons Leadership Group

Some will say Brendan Gallagher has been an alternate captain for several years. I do agree to that but there were others in the room to help like Weber and Price for several seasons.

Some will say Jeff Petry. Yes he is a veteran and has played for the Habs since roughly the 3/4 mark of the 2014-15 season. Again, this year is the first year he has been given a letter to start the season. He also is going through a lot now with Weber and Edmundson out due to injury so he is playing more minutes and it also has been a revolving door of partners on defence. As a side note, Edmundson is taking extra time off as his father is very sick with cancer. His father was diagnosed in 2020 but has taken a turn for the worst, and I can’t blame Joel for wanting to be with his father.

Then others say Nick Suzuki, as he is an alternate captain, in my way of thinking he is a young player still learning the ropes and the key leadership has to come from the veteran players.

I wouldn’t put Jonathon Drouin to be an alternate captain, at this time, after missing the end of last season and the entire playoffs with mental health issues would be putting way too much pressure on him. If anything with the terrible start they are having now most likely would bring on the anxiety again.

The Core Leadership Players Missing

All the players respected Shea Weber and Carey Price and if they said anything in the dressing room, to their teammates, they would take it seriously. Also Weber, when he first arrived in Montreal, wasn’t captain as Max Pacioretty was and the team was on a very bad losing streak. Who called an all player meeting but Shea Weber although at the time he was just an alternate captain but took it upon himself to try and fix things up. With Weber, as announced before the NHL expansion draft, would be out the entire season or may have career ending injuries from all his hockey battles.

We all know as well when Carey Price is right he is as cool as a cucumber and that rubs off on the players. No one could have foreseen Price of all people to have mental health issues, but the pressure kept building up in him. We all knew he had off season knee surgery, so they knew there was a good chance he wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season. We can all hope that Price gets well quickly and able to provide the leadership needed very badly.

In the case of Paul Byron, early on in the off season he had hip surgery and would miss at least six months. Don’t forget he was an alternate captain of the team. He also lead the team in short-handed goals scored and that will demoralize the opposition.

Although Corey Perry was with the Canadiens for just the 2020-21 season he won the NHL award for leadership in the past and used it in the HABS dressing room last season. Perry did lead not only by being vocal but with his attitude and play. Remember when he signed it was just to be on the taxi squad but yet he pushed himself to stay in game shape and when he got his chance to play, due to injury, we all saw what he did. He signed early on as a UFA with Tampa Bay, so again they knew they would be missing his leadership.

Why So Many Contracted Players In Trois-Rivières By The Montreal Canadiens

Why So Many Contracted Players In Trois-Rivières By The Montreal Canadiens

Written by Fred Arshoff

I’m writing this article as Linda Lavoie, who lives in Trois-Rivières, asked me why there are so many contracted players on the Lions. As I normally do I prefer to answer in an article so all get to know my feelings on the subject.

Before going into details I will say this is a true WIN WIN WIN SITUATION FOR THE MONTREAL CANADIENS and the Lions and the city of Trois-Rivières.

How Many Contracted Players Are With Trois-Rivières Lions

There are currently 9. It’s by far the most players assigned to the ECHL by the #Habs organization since I started following these details. Maybe the Citadelles, of the late 90’s, had similar numbers.

The Implications Of This

The City Of Trois-Rivières

By having nine players, not to mention how many times people from the Habs operations will be going to Trois-Rivières, it will help their local economy. Also people who know the players, as more are from the province of Quebec, may come to see games and spend money as well.

Trois-Rivières Lions

Like most teams in the ECHL they get very little media coverage, and no revenue from TV or Radio. Their revenue comes from the fans that go to the games. Having local players will usually bring out fans. Beside the gate income the team makes money from concession stand sales. Depending on their affiliate contract with the Canadiens, may also pay the coaches salaries, the Habs of course do have to pay all the contracted players.

From the nine players, under Laval Rocket Contracts, until they play games we won’t know if we’ve found a diamond in the rough. As an example, of finding a diamond in the rough, is DAVID DESHARNAIS who was undrafted and in the 2007-08 season signed a contract with the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens AHL affiliate at the time. He was sent to the Cincinnati Cyclones, of the ECHL, as well. Let’s hope one of these eight players is a second coming of DAVID DESHARNAIS. Also the travel distance between Laval and Trois-Rivières is roughly three hours so if players have to be shuffled back and forth it’s not like it’s a day away. Let’s remember if the Habs get an injury they will call up a player from Laval, and the Rocket will, in some cases, call up a player now from the Trois-Rivières Lions. As we saw recently, when the Habs sent Belzile back to the Rocket they had to send a man down to the Lions.

Most of the contracted players sent to the Trois-Rivières Lions are Francophones so it’s also giving Quebec born players a chance to play professional hockey, like they dreamed of, right in their backyard.

The salary of the players, playing for the Lions, does not count against the Canadiens salary cap so there is no worry there and most are under Laval Rocket contracts anyway.

Also, all three teams will play basically the same systems so when a player is promoted up to the next level they don’t need to learn a complete new system thus making the transaction so much easier for them.

Due to so many players being with the Trois-Rivières Lions the Canadiens did make a small change in their hockey operations department. I will have more to say on that in an upcoming article.

Lack Of Goals

Lack Of Goals

Written by Fred Arshoff

This article was written on October 17, 2021

As most of you, by being Montreal Canadiens fans like myself, probably know that in the first three games of the Habs regular season they have scored a total of three goals. That’s an average of one goal a game. Also worse yet 66% of those goals have come from Jonathon Drouin. Let’s all be honest one player isn’t supposed to score 66% of the teams goals, it’s supposed to be spread out.

Also the power play hasn’t scored a goal nor really been putting pressure on the opposition thus giving them a boost. Twice this season, with a 5 VS 3 powerplay, they have failed to score. I stated in a previous article the Canadiens had to work on their power play, at training camp, they didn’t and its showing. For more information on that please see https://montrealsportsblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/things-i-would-do-in-the-montreal-canadiens-main-training-camp/

The assistant coach in charge of the forwards, and the power play, is Alex Burrows who this past summer was given a three year contract extension. For more information on the Canadiens coaching staff please see https://montrealsportsblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/26/your-2021-22-coaching-staff/

What we don’t know is if the players have just quit on Burrows, or not, and if they can find out if the players have quit on him then he would have to be relieved of his duties and a new offensive coach be hired. I don’t feel the players have quit on Ducharme or Richardson as defensively they are playing very well. In the two games Jake Allen has started they have only given up goals while he was in the net. I’m not going to count the goal the Rangers scored on October 16, 2021 into the empty net.

What I would do to attempt to get more goals is as soon as Mike Hoffman is cleared to play, by the team’s medical staff, play him, and also put him on the power play. To make room for Hoffman I would make Lehkonen a healthy scratch. I admit defensively he is very good but offensively is where the problem lies. Also I’m inclined to play newly acquired Adam Brooks and sit out Paquette as well to try and inject more goals.

Also as the power play has been so bad, to put it mildly, I would work the powerplay at least 30 minutes before or after the teams normal practice to get it all sorted out. I’m not sure if the problem is the powerplay system or if the players aren’t executing the system, but that has to be ironed out ASAP. Beside on ice sessions show the players video’s of what is working and what isn’t and explain the differences to them. I’m very certain video coach Mario Leblanc can easily put together a video showing those things.

To fix the offensive problems internally would be very hard, the most offensive player Ryan Poehling got injured in the Laval Rocket game on Saturday October 16, 2021 although the nature of the injury has not been disclosed I feel it’s a concussion and this isn’t the first one Poehling has had. In the AHL there is no roster limit, per se, so AHL teams normally don’t provide details of players injuries.

To make a trade just after three games I also feel is a bit too quick. Perhaps they can rectify the problem without making trades. Also once Hoffman gets into the lineup I do see more goals coming.