BROSSARD, Que. — If it feels like the Montreal Canadiens are entering a different phase of their rebuild as of Day 1 of this year’s training camp, it’s because they are.
On Wednesday morning, while his players were in the process of running through the gamut of physical and medical tests, coach Martin St. Louis made that clear.
“We have a deeper group, a more mature group,” he said.
St. Louis then added: “This year, we have a more talented group than last year,” and was critical that he didn’t downplay his need to be more demanding to push the Canadiens to the next level.
As St. Louis said, the players who have been growing under his watch over the last two to three seasons all know what’s expected of them in terms of the brand of hockey the Canadiens want to play, the identity they’ve established, and the non-negotiables he’s instituted. He acknowledged the tolerance level for players not respecting those things in a given moment will be lower than it’s been since he first took the helm of their bench in 2022.
It must be.
Just as decisions on which players occupy which chairs in the organization must fundamentally be governed by one thing — what gives the Canadiens the best chance to win hockey games.
Over the last two-and-a-half years, it’s been more about development than results. A young player’s path to a roster spot or a specific chair to occupy has been dictated by what would ultimately best serve that player’s individual progress, by space on the roster, and by waiver eligibility.
But those will be secondary and tertiary factors this time around because the Canadiens have a goal of “being in the mix for a playoff spot,” and that goal must be respected.
“We may still be in a development phase, but we all want to win games,” St. Louis said, and he knows being able to accomplish that will require a different approach.
That starts with how he’ll have to run training camp.
A year ago, St. Louis was managing a 70-player roster through the first week of camp, he was teaching his concepts, and he was running experiments with his lines right up until the day prior to the season. But he has 59 players this time around, he has some minor details to go through to reinforce the concepts everyone is already familiar with, and he should have a lot more urgency to trim things down and set his lines to allow them to form chemistry that can immediately translate in games that matter.
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The competition will dictate who lands where, and it’s shaping up to be fiercer than it’s been at any other point over St. Louis’s tenure.
It isn’t just on the blue line, where Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, Adam Engstrom and David Reinbacher are trying to push Justin Barron and Jayden Struble out of spots.
“I think there’s competition everywhere,” said St. Louis.
Alex Newhook will have to fend off Joshua Roy, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Joel Armia in the race to a spot next to Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine, and that won’t be easy.
All of them — along with Christian Dvorak, Michael Pezzetta and Alex Barre-Boulet — will be trying keep Owen Beck and Luke Tuch at bay.
They’re also going to have their hands full with Oliver Kapanen, who’s more interested in starting his career with the Canadiens than he is in starting it with Timra of the Swedish Hockey League.
“He didn’t come here just to get a T-shirt at camp, he came here to make the team,” said director of player development Rob Ramage of the 21-year-old who scored six goals in eight games for Finland at the most recent world championship to follow up a seven-goal, 14-point performance in 13 playoff games with KalPa in the Liiga playoffs.
Kapanen, Tuch and Beck, who was named the Memorial Cup MVP last spring after helping the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit to a CHL championship, are bound to make this difficult on the Canadiens’ brass. As will the young defencemen pushing for spots.
That’s how it’s supposed to be at this point of this team’s journey.
“Usually things sort themselves out organically,” said St. Louis. “I’m a big believer that people end up where they’re supposed to be. We’re just going to let it play out. And I know, at some point in time, there’s probably going to be some hard decisions, and that’s a good thing. If it’s just easy decisions, you’re probably not in a good place.”
He said he’s excited about where the Canadiens are right now, that he feels the excitement coming from his group and that he’s eager for practices, scrimmages and games to begin.
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The team may only be hitting the ice for the first time on Thursday, but the evaluation process is already underway.
It will be rigorous, and the players will be held to higher standards right out of the gate.
“People are all (asking), am I going to be tougher this year? For me, I feel my players know that I always tell them my truth, and my truth this year compared to last year might be slightly different because we’re further along,” said St. Louis. “So, to me, I try to be fair in what I expect of them.
“Do I expect more of them this year than last year? Absolutely. That’s for the team, but there’s also the individual. The expectation on everybody’s a little bit different (because) they’re at different stages of their career. But (as for) the non-negotiables, that’s across the line.”
