Unlike last year, when we had the plague just before Christmas, the Canadian will still be playing important games for a few weeks. At least until the break before All-Star Weekend at the end of the month.
In the best of all possible worlds, everything is going well under the Canadiens' leaders, who, it must be remembered, were careful not to say the “p” word when training camp opened. When asked to take stock of his season, Kent Hughes seemed like a general manager who was quite happy with his team's situation.
“We are seeing progress in our team play. We lack a little consistency, especially at even strength, but that's normal for a young team, argued Hughes. This is also the case with special teams. We've been better on penalties lately and seen progress in massive attacking. But we have to keep improving.”
With the team making progress without necessarily being ready to take the plunge into the big spring waltz, we can expect Kent Hughes to join the seller's camp as the March 8 trade deadline approaches.
“I think it's too early [pour se prononcer], Hughes suggested first. But we will not deviate from our plan. We want to improve the team for the future.”
Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
A lost year
So expect to see articles leaving Montreal in the coming weeks. Sean Monahan and Jake Allen will definitely pack their bags if the Canadiens general manager likes the return.
What are the needs of the team? This is a bit difficult to determine. Hughes himself admitted that injuries have greatly influenced his assessment of the existing squad.
“We lost Kirby Dach in the second period of the second game of the season. “We lost Alex Newhook for a period of two and a half months when the chemistry between Nick Suzuki and him started to work,” he recalled. It changes a lot of things. That takes a year of evaluation.
On the other hand, these visits to the hospital made it possible to assess the youngest children. Jayden Struble took advantage of Arber Xhekaj's absence to virtually solidify his position in Montreal. Juraj Slafkovsky has moved to the top.
“Slaf is making good progress, Struble is coming sooner than we thought. But we don't have enough depth. Injuries hurt us more than they hurt a larger team.”
More details to follow…