The third installment of our 25 Montreal Canadiens in 25 days series focuses on defenceman Alexei Emelin.
In this age of analytics, the benefits of Emelin’s physicality and defensive-mindedness don’t mitigate against his perceived lack of mobility and propensity to commit unforced errors with the puck.
Winning over fans is that much more challenging for Emelin because Montreal’s coaches have mostly used him as a top-three defenceman, despite an obvious decline in his ability to help drive possession over the last two seasons.
What’s frustrating about Emelin is that he’s shown the ability to be better, and the thought that his talent has completely eroded at age 29 seems misconstrued.
He was an elite defenceman in the KHL and Canadiens fans were begging for his presence in Montreal over the final two years of his seven-year stint between Lada Togliatti and AK Bars Kazan.
Emelin hit his stride in the lockout-abridged 2012-13 season (his second in the NHL). He had three goals, nine assists and a career-best 51.5 corsi for percentage in 38 games before attempting to do what Canadiens fans adored him most for: hitting then-Boston Bruin Milan Lucic.
It was a decision that changed the arc of his career, as Emelin suffered ACL and MCL tears in his left knee. He hasn’t been the same since, but that doesn’t mean he can’t rebound.
Who: Alexei Emelin l No. 74 l Bottom-pair defenceman (left) l 6’2” l 217 lbs l Age: 29
Acquired: 2004 Entry Draft (Round 3, 84th overall)
Contract status: four years, $4.1M AAV (expires 2018)
2014-15 Stats: 68 GP l 3 G l 11 A l 14 P l 19:49 TOI l 45.7 CF%
Career stats: 232 GP l 12 G l 38 A l 50 P l 19:20 TOI l 47.5 CF%
The book on 2014-15:
To say Emelin’s 2014-15 season was a rough one would be putting it politely. Yet, up until the Canadiens acquired Jeff Petry at the trade deadline, Emelin clocked in with the third-highest average time on ice/game of any of the team’s blueliners.
Part of that has to be attributed to his unique status among Montreal’s defence corps as a physical presence (he’s registered 739 hits in 232 NHL games). Another reason they rely on him this much is because he typically starts his shifts in the defensive zone, and as a team that ranked in the bottom third of the NHL in possession last season, the Canadiens spent a lot of time there.
The real question is: did the coaching staff use him this much because they felt it would revive his confidence and help him regain the form that made him so effective in 2013?
We can’t know for sure, but we do know his confidence was affected by the inconsistency in his game over the past two seasons. He admitted as much to Montreal’s French language newspaper La Presse.
“Sometimes I have the choice and the time to make a hit, but I prefer to back up because I’m lacking the necessary confidence to hit,” Emelin told the paper in January.
The lull saw Emelin’s average ice time reduced from 21:48 in October to December to as low as 17:39 for a six-game stint in January.
Then, on February 18, Emelin suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out until mid-March. He recorded one goal and a minus-5 rating over the final 13 games of the regular season.
With young blueliners Nathan Beaulieu and Greg Pateryn behind him on the depth chart and veterans Tom Gilbert and Sergei Gonchar dropping below their respective capabilities, Emelin was turned to again in the post-season, playing an average of 21:29.
Emelin ranked fifth in corsi for percentage among the seven defencemen Montreal used in the playoffs.
Off-season updates:
No sign of Emelin on social media this summer, but the Canadiens confirmed he’s back in Montreal, training hard at their practice facility in Brossard.
2015-16 outlook:
Going through the Canadiens’ depth chart, it’s hard to envision Emelin holding down anything more than a role in the bottom pair. You may even consider him their sixth defenceman.
P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov and Petry are locked into the top three positions, and Nathan Beaulieu’s primed for a promotion to the fourth spot.
Gilbert and Emelin will battle to keep Beaulieu at bay. They’ll likely take turns bumping him out of position should he struggle with consistency, as 22-year old defencemen tend to do at the NHL level.
Emelin would be just as wise to keep his eyes on his back, since Pateryn has emerged as a reliable, physical defenceman who’s far less expensive on the cap.
Jarred Tinordi, who’s waiting in the wings, represents a similar case to Pateryn’s.
In light of these facts, the possibility that Emelin will finish the season with another team is a very real one.
But if he can find what made him so effective in 2013 and if he can regain the confidence that allows him to be an intimidating presence on the ice, Emelin would be worth keeping.
Unlikely as that may be, it’s not impossible.
