Captainless Habs Have Defensive Leadership

With Saku Koivu, Chris Higgins, and Mathieu Dandenault out of the Habs locker room, it seems there is a lot of leadership lost in this struggle of injuries. 

Koivu, currently second on the Habs points total with 22, is the heart and sole of the team and will be missed most of all.  His leadership in the community, on the ice and off the ice is the best in the NHL.

Higgins had already missed the first six games this season with a pulled groin muscle, and seems to be plagued with injures this year.  His nine points in 21 games won't really be missed as much as Koivu.  His play actually questions why he is wearing the "A" for the historic team.

Mathieu Dandenaultout is probably out for the rest of the season with a broken arm from Tuesday night's contest against Calgary.  He has been bounced from offense to defense throughout the last two seasons, but since the injury to Mike Komisarek he's been strictly defense. 

Josh Georges, Dandenault's locker room neighbor, expressed in an interview the leadership lost with his absence.  Georges' performance since Komisarek's injury has been top notch, and he has definitely deemed himself worthy playing on the first line.

Today, the Habs recalled Marc Denis and Ben Maxwell.  Marc Denis, whose performance in his premiere year with Hamiltion wass stellar, having posted a 12-6-0 record with two shutouts.  Ben Maxwell has also had a great start to the year, with eight goals and 12 assists in 26 games. 

With Koivu and Higgins out of the picture, the Habs "C" should rightfully go to the other existing alternate captain, Alex Kovalev.  In my opinion, his recent play shouldn't give him the right to wear the "C". 

If anything, it should go to Andrei Markov, the team's points leader.  He was an alternate captain until Chris Higgins dawned the alternate in the 2007-08 campaign. 

Markov's leadership is on the ice. In the locker room, he is known to be very quiet and to keep to himself. Guilliaume Latendresse in the media questioning his coaches' decisions sure is not helping the morale of the team.

Their performance in the 2007-08 season was one of the biggest shocks of the season.  The Canadiens were projected to finish in the 13th seed last season, they instead finished atop the Eastern Conference.   

The Canadiens are currently sitting in the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, but still seem to struggle offensively.  Someone is going to have to stand up on the Canadiens bench and show a lot of leadership immediately. 

Newcomer Matt D'Agostini has blown out of the gates and onto the Habs first line with four goals in six games.  Maybe there is a spark there from an unexpected place?