“On will not hold Joshua Roy’s hand” : the time for development is over at the CH

Dose
Crédit:

Unlike in recent years, the Montreal Canadiens are still in the running for the playoffs in mid-March. After a few seasons of enduring meaningless games in a lost season at this time of year, the team is now playing significant games.

The team wanted to be #IntheMix at the beginning of the year, and that mission has been accomplished. Everything else now is a bonus.

That being said, playing significant games at this stage of the year also means that priorities change. As close as the team is to the playoffs, they want to try to make it, and that means the priority is to win.

And that’s also a change: for a few years, the priority has been development, but today, Martin St-Louis was clear: the young players will have to be autonomous in their development, because the team has its mind elsewhere.

Hearing the coach say he won’t hold Joshua Roy’s hand is a good example of this.

With the recent injuries in the group of forwards and the thin depth in town, guys like Owen Beck (who has since returned to Laval) and Roy find themselves playing important roles in Montreal. In the past, the team would have focused its energy on helping them develop, but now they have to make decisions to win rather than develop.

This doesn’t mean the Canadiens don’t care about the development of their young players, far from it. It just means the young players will have to be autonomous in all this, because the team’s priority is elsewhere right now.

So, a guy like Roy wasn’t necessarily recalled to put him in optimal conditions for his development. He was recalled to help the Canadiens win games, no matter what role he’s given.

In the past, we’ve seen St-Louis be tolerant when his young players made mistakes on the ice, for example. Now, in a context where every point is important, we can think he’ll be much less permissive, for example, and that could be reflected in the young player’s ice time.

But clearly, it sends a message to the guys that they’d better arrive ready: the team is not there to develop right now. It’s there to win.

And it’s up to them to make themselves useful in these new circumstances.

In a hurry

– Note.

– 13 points in seven games: the Senators are on fire.

– Notice to interested parties.

– Incredible.

– Kirk Cousins won’t be leaving Atlanta today.