There was some effervescence at the CN Sports Complex on Thursday morning in Brossard. While most of the Montreal Canadiens’ players had been in town practicing for a while, it was the first official practice of training camp, and coach Martin St-Louis was clear in his media availability on Wednesday that he wanted to see some edge. The bench boss took the blame for his side’s slow start last season, saying fear of seeing other players fall victim to injuries had made him reluctant to give his troops the reps they needed to be ready when the puck dropped on the regular season.
To make sure that’s not the case this time around, he’s told his players that he wants to see the same intensity they’ll show in game situations, and the message seems to have been heard loud and clear. The 60 players invited to camp have been divided into three groups, A, B, and C, to allow for three days of scrimmages. See the picture in the post below for the list of players in each group.
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On Thursday, Group A was the first to take to the ice for practice at 9:15 AM, while Groups B and C engaged in a scrimmage at 10:30. This article will focus on the practice, while another one will cover the scrimmage.
St-Louis is not playing games this season. Just by looking at the group A roster, it was evident that his second-line center, which he identified as Kirby Dach on Wednesday, would be flanked by Patrik Laine on one side and Ivan Demidov on the other. Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson were the only two regular defensemen in this group, while starter Samuel Montembeault was also on the ice, with goaltenders Benjamin Gaudreau and Kevin Mandolese.
Joe Veleno centered a line completed by Luke Tuch and Tyler Thorpe, while Samuel Blais played alongside Florian Xhekaj and Charles Martin (who acted as a forward). For now, at least, it doesn’t look like the two newcomers are pencilled in as NHLers, although group A is the largest of the three, and it would probably be wise not to read too much into it.
The practice lasted a good 45 minutes and was as intense as could have been expected given the coach’s message yesterday. There were various two-on-one drills and plenty of one-on-one battles against the boards; effort seemed to be the word of the day.
Dach looked solid on his feet throughout the session, doing plenty of twists and turns without looking tentative on the knee he has now injured twice, and showed no sign of fearing contact, which is always good news.
The coaching staff wrapped up the session with a good old high-intensity skate around the ice before sending their charges off to the gym for their off-ice training session. After which, a few players were made available to the media, including Dach and Laine.
The anointed second-line center said the plan was for him to be available for the Canadiens’ first game of the season, and when he was asked how much of a challenge it was to deal with another rehab, he replied:
I don’t really look at it as a challenge, more as an opportunity to right some wrongs and to do things. I mean, you learn a lot of lessons in life, and you can either choose to go through those and accept them, learn from your mistakes, and do things right, or you can kind of go through life and make mistakes. I looked at it as an opportunity to do things the right way and really bear down and get ready for the season.- Dach on having to rehab his knee a second time
As for what he learned the first time around that could help him go through this second injury, he replied:
Just think about doing everything away from the rink and on the ice as hard as I can and with purpose. Understanding that you’ve got to be ready and do everything correctly.- Dach on what he learned
While Dach didn’t exactly say that his dedication to the rehab ahead of the 2024-25 season was lacking, those who follow the team will remember that management mentioned it when they did the post-mortem of the last season. Then Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes said that his skating wasn’t where it should have been when he arrived at camp and that he had been spoken to about it.
Clearly, Dach has taken these comments to heart and came to camp much better prepared this time around. He added that St-Louis regularly reached out this summer to make sure he was alright and that he stayed in touch with the trainers to ensure he did things the right way. In other words, Dach did his mea culpa and is excited about the new season and the opportunity to play alongside Demidov.
As for Patrik Laine, he was told that St-Louis had mentioned yesterday that we might not have seen the best of Laine last season, but that we might this year, and wasted no time in saying:
No, we might not, we will see the best version, no question about that. I think the best version is a guy who skates, gets his feet moving, makes good plays, and’s responsible out there, hopefully scoring now and then —that wouldn’t hurt. I think it starts with, you know, when you have your legs, it's always easier to make plays rather than stopping and looking to make a pass.- Laine on the best version of himself
The big Finn is adamant that we will see the best version of him this season and he was in a very good mood, even joking with journalists. When asked about playing with Demidov, he replied:
Yeah, he’ll get a chance to play with me.- Laine joking about Demidov
He quickly added that he was joking and sang the kid’s praises, adding that the fact he can do that at such a young age means that he will be scary in a couple of years. As for his goal this season, he didn’t mince his words and stated he wants to win the Stanley Cup.
If one thing came across well today, it was that this team is ready to get down to business and truly believes in itself. Dach and Laine indeed said all the right things today, but the real test will be their ability not only to say those things, but to do them consistently.
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