One on One with Habs GM!

I sit down with GM Todd Snider of the Montreal Canadiens and ask him some questions regarding the start of the season so far.


Todd, your team started 2-7-1 , but have seem to turn it around now going 5-0-1 in last 6 games . What do think has led to this turn around?

I believe players are now comfortable with new coach Dave Lowry system, they seemed to embrace it now and he has made some line changes that seem to be clicking right now. Our goaltending has improved over last 6 games as well.


Speaking of goaltending, some would suggest it’s a mistake to go with two young goalies in Dan Vladar and Nico Daws. What is your reasoning for not bringing a veteran netminder?

In an ideal world we love to maybe have a veteran to compliment Dan (Vladar ) and have Nico (Daws) playing the majority of games in the farm but Nico’s contract (OV) does not allow him to be on the farm. So he and Vladar will split games here hopefully getting enough time for both of them to develop more. We also have two really good goalies in Hugo Alnefelt and Eric Portillo on the farm so I am really excited about our future goaltending depth. We are in the top 10 in Goals Against Average right now.


How do you feel about your scoring right now?

Our scoring has been well balanced across all our lines, as well as our defence too. Our top two lines obviously contribute the most, but I was recently checking the player stats and 19 out of 20 of the skaters we employed at the pro level this season have scored a goal. (Of note only defenceman Brandon Montour who has been a healthy scratch for 6 games is the only player who has not scored).


I think our biggest concern is our lack of Powerplay goals right now. We sit 30th in the league in percentage. Our penalty killing sits over 80 % so we are happy with that! We are getting an average of more then 4 shots a game more then we are giving up, so that is a positive too.


You have a number of potential free agents this year, notably Mark Stone and Dmitri Orlov as well as role players Jake Evans, Brett Kulak and Brandon Montour. Have you had any talks with them yet?

I can say we have had preliminary discussions with their representatives. They have been very positive so far. We need to be mindful that Suzuki, Tkachuk, Raymond, Dunn, Harris, Hanafin, Vladar and Daws all will be looking for a raise not this summer, but the following summer and the team needs to plan for that.
  
So, we have a long term plan in mind while still trying to be very competitive in short term. We also have young players that our going to make the jump to the pros shortly so resigning all potential free agents maybe doesn’t make sense for us.


Speaking of your young players can we expect any to make the jump later this year? Any young players stand out so far?

Well Morgan Frost has already made the jump and is our second line center right now and frankly should be in early talks for rookie of the year. Down on the farm we have Jesse Ylonen and Sean Farrell who should make jump later this year or early next year. Lets not forget Luke Hughes on defence who might benefit from the full year on the farm and then a promotion next October.


I really think with the young pro team we have now and the players that we have on the horizon are team will be very competitive for many years.


Lastly Todd, can you make the playoffs this year after missing the first two years and if you are close at the deadline will you make a trade to help this team achieve that goal?

I believe Dave and the coaching staff can get this team into the playoffs this year. We just need to be consistent going forward, start winning the one goal games instead of losing them.


Will I make I trade at deadline? Lets say I might tinker but realistically I can’t see us moving prominent young players or one of our four 1st round picks to bring an expiring contract. Now if there is a player that we believe can improve our club and is going to stick around a few years then I could see maybe making something happen.


Thanks Todd for speaking with us today, we wish you and your team luck going forward for the rest of the season.



THE HABS INSIDER!!