Canadiens: Marty's Ready
Montreal Canadiens' Rob Ramage and Martin St-Louis spoke to the media this morning as training camp gets started in Brossard.
© Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports - Canadiens: Marty's ReadyBoth men covered a variety of topics and some stood-out for me. Director of player development Rob Ramage spoke about David Reinbacher being more mature off the ice this season, compared to last training camp. He believes that overcoming adversity last year in Kloten was good for him.
Ramage had a lot of praises for Logan Mailloux, he said the youngster fully deserved to wear the "C" for the two prospects games and that he's very proud of him, but not surprised. The 31st overall pick at the 2021 draft has embraced everything he has had to do, on and off the ice and can now only be praised for his character. He got better all through the season last year, he calls him a good teammate, leader and player.
As for physical tests, he confirmed what Pascal Vincent said about the rookies, some prospects had off the chart results, being almost too fit. Gone are the days where you would work your way to being fit in December, players come in shape now.
Speaking about Lane Hutson, he called him a dog with a bone adding he's relentless, saying he left it all out there in every single shift and that dedication would help him of the defensive side of the game. He added that even if he did get beaten on a play, there would be a second effort trying to kill the play.
About Ivan Demidov, Ramage mentioned that he's been in contact with the training staff, the strength and conditioning coaches regularly. He was visibly impressed by how keen the youngster is so early in his relationship with the Canadiens. About his coach, he said that Nick Bobrov has a lot of communication with him about what's going on in Russia.
Meanwhile, coach Martin St-Louis looked raging to go with that intense look in his eyes that lets his excitation shine through, he fielded questions for about 20 minutes. He confirmed they would only have three teams for scrimmages compared to three last season.
The coach once again he wanted hockey players on his team, not just people who play hockey. As for how one becomes a hockey player, he explained it's by playing the game and not just his game. A player that recognizes what's going on on the ice and what he needs to use at any given point, like physicality or skills. As an example, he mentioned Cole Caufield's evolution last season, he started to play a full game, he was involved, fighting for the puck and not staying on the outside to get his touches.
St-Louis isn't worried about Kirby Dach feeling thrown into the deep end when he starts playing since he'll have ample time to get back into the swing of things with scrimmages and exhibition games. He says they would take things day-to-day with him and see how things go.
He's confident the players know how the organization wants them to play, they know what the team game is and how they should go about playing it. The fact there are a lot of returning players of course helps in that department, as they are already aware of what's needed from them.
Now that the players have aged a bit, he feels he can ask for more accountability from his young players who have now aged a but. While he holds all of his players to the same standard non negotiables are for everyone. He doesn't coach everyone in the same way. Younger players won't be asked the same type of performance as a veteran, the expectations aren't the same, and he tries to be fair as a coach.
He explained each player had to focus on themselves, where they are and where they want to be. Even though there are roster battles, he believes each player has got to focus on themselves, rather than looking over their shoulder wondering if someone is catching up to him.
As for decisions sometimes having to be made because of waiver rules, he's not frustrated with that. He explains he has no control over that so there's absolutely no need for him to let that bother his, he focuses on what he can control and change.
Finally, even though he didn't play defense like Hutson, he's confident he can be a good guide for him like he was for Caufield. He explains that taking the next step, Hutson should expect to have the puck a little bit less and position you play, the game remains the same without the puck and that's something he focuses on when coaching.
The table is set and tomorrow at 10.00 AM, the players will finally hit the ice of the CN Sports Complex in Brossard for the official start of training camp.
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