Before hitting the links today, the Montreal Canadiens’ players held their traditional media availability.
Every year when rookie camp ends, the Montreal Canadiens hold their annual goal tournament, the event that officially kicks off hockey season in town. Yesterday morning, after the Habs’ brass was done explaining what they meant by « being in the mix », the players took turn stepping on the podium and fielding questions from the press. Here are my takeaways from the interviews...
Kirby Dach
For Kirby Dach, it has been an extremely long off-season after falling to injury in just the second game last year. The forward is eager to go and prove that he can be an impact player on the team and be consistent. Thankfully, he now feels 100% healthy and confident on the eve of training camp. Even though he didn't see much action last season, he mentions that watching the games from the press box gives you a different perspective from high up and above which allowed him to learn a lot.
Quite philosophical, he adds that everything happens for a reason and injuries are part of the game. He felt the injury right away but it wasn't unbearable pain, it just felt weird when he walked on it so being written off for the season was a surprise for him. He credits David Savard with helping him through this tough time as they spent a lot of time watching the games in the press box when the veteran was also injured.
The blueliner wasn't his only helper though, his mother came to live with him for three or four weeks in the early goings. Seems like Canadiens players are still being well taken care of by their mothers, after Hutson confirmed his mother would be living with him for a while this season. As for the pressure to perform, Dach feels it will mainly come from himself rather than anyone else.
Patrik Laine
The big Finn once again reiterated he loves the fact hockey means so much and is so well-covered in the city, adding he's happy to be here. Much like bench boss Martin St.Louis had said just before him, he mentioned staying healthy and having a good time while playing would be important for him this season. He explained what he's been through last season has helped him gain a new perspective, he still wants to be demanding with himself and do as well as possible, but at the end of the day, hockey is just a game, there's no need to sweat it about one bad game.
He does however have big expectations for himself and knows the fans probably do as well. On the fans, he stated it would be good to finally have that crowd on his side as it was never easy coming to play here as part of the visiting team. On the pressure that may come with this kind of market, he said he doesn't like to do ifs and buts, but if it does become a problem, he'll deal with that there and then.
We also found out he had arrived with Joel Armia because he doesn't have a car yet and his countryman is his unofficial chauffeur for now. He's known the Pori native for a while as they played together in Winnipeg and he took him under his wing there. Obviously, Laine is no longer an 18-year-old kid and he won't have to give him as much advice.
He did however say that Armia only had good things to say about Montreal and that he wants to finish his career here. A far cry away from the advice Jesperi Kotkamiemi said the winger gave him a few years ago, warning him about the media and basically telling him to say nothing.
Cole Caufield
The sniper said how huge it would be for them to have a healthy Dach for a whole season and how adding Laine was a big infusion of skills and depth in scoring. A full Summer of training was beneficial for him and he was looking forward for the season to start.
As for why he believed the team would be able to be in the mix this season, he mentioned how everyone would be a year older and have gotten better. As always, the players will all be in this together and making the playoffs remains the goal.
However, it's too early to focus on the ultimate goal right now as it's important to take the season game by game. Caufield adds the fact the team is relentless and is never truly out of a game is something he likes about the group and they should aim to start the season the way they finished the last one. In short, he loves where the team is heading.
On Lane Hutson, he says he's impressive to watch and his ability to create chances out of nothing is pretty special. Of course, someone was going to ask him about Johnny Gaudreau and he mentioned his decision to change his number was to carry on his legacy, to honour him and he confirmed to RDS' Marc Denis he had spoken to his former international teammate's widow to tell her how he planned to honour her husband.
It's visibly still hard for Caufield to talk about Gaudreau, but he did say how much he enjoyed playing with him and how great a person he was to be around. It's going to take quite some time before the hockey world heals from this loss, it truly feels like the Gaudreau brothers were universally loved.
Nick Suzuki
The captain was quite up front about it, the players want to make the playoffs this year but it's on them to get out there and get the points necessary to do so. Suzuki believes the Canadiens forward group his pretty deep from top to bottom and they'll surprise a lot of people this season. He adds the young blueliners are going to take some strides and that veterans Matheson and Savard would keep doing their thing which give reasons for the team to be optimist and excited.
The fact the players already know the expectations and the system will make it easier for them this season. Just like being a leader vocally got easier for him, as he was appointed captain as quite a young age.
On Laine, Suzuki says getting that kind of player is always exciting, his pedigree and the way he can score goals is really exciting for the group and makes them all excited to start the camp.
The captain also mentions how tough it has been to be sellers at the deadline for the last couple of years, since as a player he always wants to win as many games as possible, but sometimes, management goes another way, trying to make moves for the future. The players' mindset has got to be on the present though, and not worry about the future.
He's comfortable with being the underdog and hearing people saying they'll finish last in the division, it's a great way to motivate a team. He likes what he has seen from both Hutson and Logan Mailloux over the last two days and adds he's excited to see them at camp.
Suzuki adds he feels good, had a great Summer training and believes he can provide more offensively since the team getting better will be making it easier for him.
Juraj Slafkovsky
There's something special about Slafkovsky and how comfortable he looks in front of the camera. He seems to relish the attention but doesn't come across as cocky at all, he always finds a way to get laughs out of his audience. He sure got some when he said he went shopping with his sister for clothes back home and he ended up having to do a full photoshoot as people kept recognizing him.
Elliotte Friedman mentioned a couple of weeks ago how Slafkovsky looks like a monster and considering he told the media he now weights 101 kilos, it easy to see what the Sportsnet insider meant.
Just like last year, the youngster confirmed he had set goals for himself, but wasn't going to reveal them. Although he added he would make sure to let the press know at the end of the season if he had met them. He spent the Summer trying to get faster and stronger, to get better overall.
Those were the highlights of the players availability for me, the main message being everyone is optimistic and raging to go. The players now have one final day of freedom before reporting to Brossard for physical testing on Wednesday and the first on-ice session will take place at the Complex CN in Brossard on Thursday.
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