The sixth episode of The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens focuses on trades and trade deadline day.
How do you live with yourself? That's the question Montreal Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton's wife asks when he trades a player. It's easy to understand where she's coming from since a trade often uproots a player and his whole family.
In this latest episode of The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens, we see the Canadiens trade both Sean Monahan and Jake Allen. We even see Kent Hughes calling Martin St-Louis and letting him know that the veteran netminder could be traded if he agrees to be sent to a team on his no-trade list. We also hear how the players felt about Monahan’s departure and the kind of teammate he was.
Post-trade, we even see Juraj Slafkovsky shaking hands with nobody in his pregame ritual since he used to do it with Monahan. It's interesting to get a glimpse of how players deal with one of their own departing.
Part of the episode also discussed Brendan Gallagher’s five-game suspension for his hit on Adam Pelech. Hughes, speaking to the camera, said they could appeal it, but as it was in the expected range, they didn’t. Speaking of the alternate captain, we also see Nick Suzuki take a trip to the barber, and when asked if he's going to go for the Hughes' cut, he replies, "I'm not ready for that, but Gally may be. His dad is bald, his brother is bald...".
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also appears on this episode and gives his take on the Canadiens' rebuild. He welcomes the crew in his office and I couldn't help but notice he has a Stanley Cup made of Lego in there, who do I need to contact to get one of those? The big boss also looks back to the first time he presented a team with the Stanley Cup, the Canadiens, in 1993. He looked much younger back then (didn't we all); there was no shaking or booing.
We also take a closer look at the January game against the Rangers in New York, one Gorton and Martin St-Louis were eager to win, being former members of their organization. It wasn't to be, though. It was a 7-4 loss thanks to a Chris Kreider (of all people) hat trick. On the bright side of things, though, Slafkovsky is a power forward, just like Kreider. Imagine if he turns into a 50-goal-per-season scorer like him. That's a comforting thought.
On trade deadline day, David Savard is a big topic of discussion, and unsurprisingly, the shot-blocking machine defenseman explains he wants to stay; he wants to be part of the solution. As we all know, he wasn't traded, and watching him take Lane Hutson under his wing this training camp, it's easy to see he still has value for the team.
Kirby Dach also gets back on the ice in that episode, just in training, but still, the narrator says, "Kirby Dach is back on the ice, five months after his injury." it's hard not to think about David Reinbacher today watching this. Hopefully, Dach reaches out to the youngster and guides him through it all.
There are now only two episodes left in the show, and the next installment will examine when St-Louis left the team to tend to an urgent family matter.
Related
First Impressions - The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens
The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens Episode 4
The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens Episode 3
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