The Montreal Canadiens' first shortcoming has reportedly been identified
The Montreal Canadiens are having a difficult start to the season, and despite the great promise of the players at training camp, it was to be expected.
Indeed, the Canadiens are the 2nd youngest team in the NHL out of 32 clubs. Whether we like it or not, it would be very surprising if the team had a winning record for this reason alone. There is not much experience and the players are currently learning.
In my opinion, this is a normal process. It is painful, it is long, but it is normal and as long as we do not accept the fact that it is long, it will hurt to watch our team play like this.
Personally, what I do not like is the lack of effort. There is no reason for it and there is more than enough depth to overcome this problem.
The organization wants to play the young guys and they even sent Alex Barré-Boulet to Laval to make room for Oliver Kapanen and Emil Heineman, but why doesn't they do the same with other veterans?
The Talk Canadiens account on X made a very good point recently about the Canadiens' lack of development. I don't always agree with his statements, especially when he gets really down on it, but I have to agree that several veterans are playing quality minutes that the young guys could have to develop.
But over the last three years, the opposite has happened. We talked about development, so why did Martin St. Louis play Josh Anderson on the power play instead of Slafkovsky last year?
Why is Matheson, who is not in the Canadiens' long-term plans, still playing with the team and playing on the left side, denying Guhle the opportunity to develop on his strong side for three years now? Why is Matheson getting power play time over Hutson?
Why are veterans always given priority over young players during this rebuild?
I thought they were trying to develop the young guys? Why is Matheson playing on the penalty kill instead of giving a young player the chance to learn that type of situation?
Why are Armia and Gallagher on the power play when there are young players in the lineup who have offensive talent and don't get any power play time, like Heineman?
Why does Martin St.Louis have the worst defensive system in the NHL, when it's all covered by Montembeault who has been playing over his head for the past two years?!?
Why, with less than 2 minutes left in a game, are the veterans protecting the lead instead of the young players?
In three years, I haven't seen any young defensemen develop. Guhle has never experienced playing on his strong side in the NHL during those crucial development years, and I have a big problem with that."
I couldn't say it better myself. I'm not questioning the hiring of Martin St.Louis, whom I love, but when you look back, you can see that there is something wrong.
The case of Kaiden Guhle is quite clear, while he should play on the left and be the team's number 1 defenseman. I understand that we also need to surround the youngsters with the veterans, but I think we need to give them more quality ice time.
