Leadership Lessons from the Habs Amazing Victory over the Maple Leafs

I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. From a very young age, I remember how hockey was such a big part of the life of people in Quebec. Saturday night was Hockey Night in Canada and I would be glued to our grainy black and white TV to watch the hometown Montreal Canadiens play one of the original six NHL teams.

Even though I lost my dad at a young age (car accident), my mom made sure that I had a pair of skates, a hockey stick and shin pads. I would go to the local rink to play hockey after school with boys in the neighbourhood. I remember my mom taking me to the Montreal Forum to see “Rocket” Richard and some of the other stars of that era. The love of hockey and the Habs never left me, even though I have lived in Toronto since 1976.

The game and the team have changed significantly over the years. Back in the 60s and 70s, the team was known for its home grown, French Canadian stars - - - Jean Beliveau, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, Patrick Roy, Jacques Lemaire and of course, the Flower, Guy Lafleur. The team was admired for its high-speed offense and for its scoring stars. Even in the late 60s, the Montreal Canadiens had a junior team in Montreal, the Montreal Junior Canadiens. The Habs could select the top 2 players from this team every year. This changed in the early 70s and it allowed the Buffalo Sabres to draft the great Gilbert Perrault, who would have been another Habs star of that era.

When you fast forward to today, the nature of the team has changed drastically. While the Habs have a French-Canadian general manager and coach, the team had only French-Canadian player on their roster for the series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philip Danault. Their other French Canadian player, Jonathan Drouin, was on a leave of absence.

The current Leafs team looked like to Habs of the 60s and 70s and the Habs looked like the Leafs of that era. The Canadiens have four big, rugged defensemen who play most of the time. Jeff Petry is the most mobile of the group. The Habs defense reminds me of Bobby Baun while the Leafs three creative, highly skilled players, Mathews, Nylander and Marner, play like Guy Lafleur from the 70s. The Leafs had a much better regular season record and they jumped to a 3 to 1 lead in the series. The Habs fans and media were calling for the removal of their GM and coach.

Then something happened. Two overtime losses led to a decisive game 7. The heavily favoured Leafs lost. Why? Here is my take.

The Habs leadership realized that they needed to revise their plan after game 4 and they did. These were the changes that I, as an untrained hockey observer, could see.

1. The Habs made some lineup changes

Since Thomas Tatar wasn’t playing at a satisfactory level, they replaced him on the top line with Jake Evans, a fast skating, hard checking young forward. They removed Jon Merrill and replaced him with Erik Gustafsson, a mobile puck carrying defensemen who could provide a boost to their non-performing power play.

2. They played the two top defensive pairs the majority of the time

They gave their two other defensemen spot duty. They did not play their prized rookie, Alexander Romanov, at all.

3. They focused on skating and forechecking

This made it difficult for the Leafs to move into the Canadiens end of the rink. Rather than trying to match the Leafs skill level, they concentrated on clogging the neutral zone and on forcing turnovers.

4. They kept the Leafs shooters to the outside

Their burly defensemen tried to keep the Leafs’ shooters to the outside shooting lanes and they tried to keep the area in front of the net clear. This allowed Carey Price to have an unobstructed view of shots that came at him from the middle of the ice.

These strategies worked well. The Mathews line was limited to one goal in 7 games. The Leafs lesser skilled players produced limited goals. The Habs power play produced 3 goals in the last two games. While the Leafs had a number of good scoring chances, Carey Price had a clear view of most shots. He was able to keep the puck out of the net until the last two minutes of game 7. The Habs created the key turnovers in the last three games (the two on none breakaway in OT in game 5, the Kotkaniemi OT goal in game 6 and the Gallagher goal in game 7). Carey Price, who is capable of elevating his play in big games, was superior to the Leafs goalie who gave up a soft opening goal.

I was also struck by the calm, businesslike demeanor of the Montreal Canadiens last night. The media and fans put a lot of pressure on the Leafs and it showed. They looked stressed and lacking in confidence.

The leadership lessons from this playoff series are clear.  If you have a business plan that is not producing the desired results, don't wait for the plan to fail.  Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your competition.  Make the mid-course corrections in a timely manner and execute the revised plan.  If some members of the team are not performing at the desired level, make the necessary changes.  Make sure your defensive effort is strong before going on offense.  One of the keys to strong sales results is having a very sound operations, supply chain, and distribution system.  A business is a team effort.  It is critical to have "buy-in" from the entire team so there is alignment around the company's goals. 

Professional sports is a business, a very cruel business at times. The fans and media are “beating up” on the Leafs and saying that they “choked.” One should keep in mind that without the “soft” opening goal last night and the deflection off a knee for a second goal, the game would have been tied, and if the Leafs had a break, they could have won the series. It was an amazing series and a memorable chapter in a rivalry that will continue as long as hockey is played in Canada.

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