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Dans les coulisses

Boot camp: if you haven’t taken off your rose-colored glasses, it’s time to do so!

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 01: Kirby Dach (77) of the Montreal Canadiens fights Ridly Greig (71) of the Ottawa Senators during the third period of the NHL pre-season game between the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens on Oct 1, 2024, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC(Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

You know as well as I do that things are hopping – in every sense of the word – at the Habs’ training camp. There’s a lot of action, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Not at all, in fact.

The club has had a catastrophic camp in recent days. Obviously, we’re referring to the numerous injuries, but in my eyes, there’s more to it than that.

I think the players who are playing are completely lost.

If we were talking about Lane Hutson’s games or Oliver Kapanen’s responsible play at the start of camp, all that has given way to guys playing like headless chickens.

The club spends all its time defending itself outnumbered. Many of the guys who don’t have to fight (Josh Anderson, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach) are throwing down the gloves.

Quessé ça?

Of course, it’s easy to blame the referees (which I don ‘t think is entirely untrue) and say that the Canadiens’ players must correct any injustices that occur on the ice.

But there’s more to it than that.

When I say that the guys don’t really know how to act, I think it stems from the fact that when a dangerous hit (Cedric Paré on Saturday, Ridly Greg last night) occurs, the guys don’t react immediately. Why don’t they?

It’s not just up to Arber Xhekaj or Michael Pezzetta to do the dirty work.

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It looks like the guys are dragging this out for the whole game because the problems aren’t solved on the spot. Kirby Dach, at the end of the game yesterday, it looked like he was looking for Greg, who refused to dance all night. And at the end of the game, he found him.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he had a bad game, but am I the only one who would have liked to see Dach play his game and not be distracted by a guy we couldn’t care less about?

Take Brady Tkachuk, for example. When Arber Xhekaj took a swing at Tim Stützle, the Senators’ captain didn’t hesitate for a second: he jumped on the Sheriff. That takes guts, even if it may have put his club in trouble if he gets injured.

The result? The Sens took out their frustration and planted the Habs on a long powerplay afterwards. And that was it for the Habs.

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With the Habs, that’s not how it works. Whether it’s Laine, whether it’s Dach or whether it was Samuel Montembeault a few years ago, guys don’t go to war right away when a guy eats a shot.

Martin St-Louis, however, wants to establish a group mentality. Shouldn’t that be part of it?

Frustration builds up and pushes Arber Xhekaj out of his game for the second duel in a row. And even if it was justified on Saturday (I’m not changing my mind: he did what he had to do last Saturday), it was a different story yesterday.

Yesterday, his move on Stützle was indefensible. He let the worst out of him, he made a dangerous gesture and he deserves to be suspended for the start of the club’s regular season.

Incidentally, while Martin St-Louis threw Xhekaj under the bus on Saturday night, I expected him to be even more incisive towards WiFi last night, after the game.

But no. I just don’t get it anymore.

As much as Jayden Struble liked what Xhekaj did (he’s certainly not the only one), it’s clear that the way the Habs are playing right now isn’t sustainable. I’m not just talking about the results, but more importantly the way the club seems out of control.

Martin St-Louis will have to work on that. Is a little spa session for your boys at Tremblant on the menu, Martin?

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But don’t think I’m done. There are still several aspects of the last few days that I want to discuss with you because everything going on with the Habs is pretty… intense.

What do I want to talk about?

1. The Habs’ powerplay was 0-in-5. The Senators’, thanks in part to Arber Xhekaj, were 4-in-9. I don’t need to draw you a picture to tell you that in a 4-3 game, it made all the difference.

Martin St-Louis may say that the club played well at five-on-five (26 shots to Ottawa’s 6) and that he’ll “talk to the powerplay coach” about his unit’s problems, but…

I don’t know how he kept his cool yesterday. It was pathetic on the ice in my eyes… unless you want to see the Flanelle recreate the magic of Slapshot this season.

Let’s remember, for those who may have forgotten, that it’s St-Louis who’s leading the power play this season. And even if you tell me the regulars weren’t there yesterday, the fact remains that it was static on the ice on the powerplay. Too static.

2. David Savard is fed up with seeing good players injured during the preparatory camp. Seeing him say that after Xhekaj injured a star player on the other side certainly sends a message.

We suspect he was referring mainly to Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher, but still: what’s good for pitou is good for minou, right?

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3. Jayden Struble is winning points. He’s playing well… and he’s seeing the Sheriff shoot himself in the foot. So is Logan Mailloux, even though he was +3 yesterday.

Whether Xhekaj is suspended or not, and whether Kaiden Guhle is healthy or not, the Greek God clearly deserves to play the first game of the season against the Maple Leafs next week.

4. From the NHL’s point of view, is it better for the Habs to play games like last Thursday’s, Saturday’s and yesterday’s… or the first two games of the preparatory schedule?

Is it a coincidence that the first two were against the Flyers and Devils, two clubs that have no rivalry with the Habs… and that the last three were against natural rivals? It’s no coincidence.

The next warm-up game is against Ottawa (and the guys are already looking forward to it) and then it’s Toronto, Boston and Ottawa to start the season. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Prediction: there’ll be more interest and emotion in the next four games than against Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and New York. Why is that? Because, for better or worse, natural rivals generate interest.

5. If the Habs were really #InTheMix, they wouldn’t be behaving like this. Laine injury or not, the Habs have looked really bad on the ice for several days now.

If you found your rose-colored glasses after Laine’s better-than-expected diagnosis, I invite you to take them off: the Habs aren’t a good team yet. They will be one day, but not now.

Overtime

– Can’t wait for the season to start.

– Nice.

– Of note.

– To watch.