MONTREAL— Everybody knows what the Montreal Canadiens need.
It’s not just their fans, who may have patience for the team’s rebuild but have completely lost it for the organization’s decades-long—and seemingly never-ending—quest to add a superstar up front. General manager Kent Hughes would love to have more elite talent at forward, as would coach Martin St. Louis, and even captain Nick Suzuki knows this is what currently separates the Canadiens from the team that was opposite them Monday night.
But Hughes, St. Louis and Suzuki all feel differently than the fans do about what’s already in the system, and they (rightfully) bristle at the notion the team is devoid of any elite forward talent.
It’s there, but it’s in development.
Hughes, in his own way, certainly wanted to highlight that Monday morning.
Not that he denied needing more firepower. In fact, he did the opposite, saying, “there’s no question about” wanting to collect more forwards “that can help us.”
He added he has 22 picks in the upcoming three drafts, a loaded prospect pool and a ton of depth on defence to deal from to address this, and he appeared confident trade was one of three ways he’ll be able to do it over the next year or two.
But Hughes also wanted to remind fans fixated on recent decisions to pass on Shane Wright and Matvei Michkov at the draft that the Canadiens took three forwards with their first three picks a year ago to add to what he already feels is a talent pool that doesn’t get its proper due and he brought up the one they chose first overall as a bright spot through the first half of this season.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored a goal and played a big hand in the Canadiens beating the top-heavy Colorado Avalanche 4-3 at the Bell Centre hours later, only reinforcing the point.
Yes, it’s true it was only his fifth goal of the season, but it was also just the 82nd game the 19-year-old has played in this league, and the well-rounded performance he offered was a taste of the future promise he possesses.
In this game, Suzuki and Cole Caufield showed their promise, too, not only in producing but also in giving one of the best lines in the NHL—Jonathan Drouin-Nathan MacKinnon-Miko Rantanen—a fair fight on defence one game after doing the same against Connor McDavid’s line.
Together, with Slafkovsky, they may not quite be on that level just yet, but they all feel like they’re building towards it.
“We want to be like McDavid’s line, MacKinnon’s line,” said Suzuki, who put up two assists against Colorado and now has 37 points in 43 games. “We want to be those guys that are go-to guys for offence and playing big minutes, and it’s nice that we get to do that together and grow together. I think our past two games against two of the best players in the world shows we can play with these guys and definitely gives us confidence.”
Looking at their entire body of work, they should inspire some faith they have the ability to turn into the players fans so desperately covet.
Each member of the line wants that, and they all believe they’ll do it.
But they’re all willing to sacrifice some of the production that would silence the naysayers right now for something more than just goals and assists down the line.
“I think Suz and I talk a lot, and there’s a lot of pressure from the fan base, city,” Caufield, who scored his 13th goal of the season against Colorado, said. “But I think there’s a lot of pressure from us to each other. We push each other every day to be that, and in due time it’ll come. Every day we’re coming to work, we’re not focused on just scoring. We want to be guys like that who get talked about around the league, but at the end of the day, we want to just want to do it the right way and win.”
We can see that, and so can the fans—if not in watching, then in looking at the underlying numbers that show they’ve been one of the most effective lines since uniting (ranking 14th in expected goals among those who have spent at least 240 minutes on the ice together).
Their coach sees it and feels their commitment is exactly what will eventually make them elite players.
“In terms of winning habits and being part of a winning culture, yes, they’ve definitely bought into that,” St. Louis said. “I know that Cole is getting talked about. He hasn’t scored as much as he used to. Cole is going to score goals in this league, but there’s a process of learning how to play the game outside of scoring goals and he’s going through that right now. I’m really happy with how he’s responding, how he’s engaged and is willing to be part of this winning culture. (He’s) not just, ‘I gotta score goals, I gotta score goals.’
“All those guys, I feel like they’re going through the process to become elite, and they’re doing it the right way with a team-first approach.”
Kirby Dach was another before his process was interrupted in Game 2 of this season.
Fans will have to wait for the next one to see it continue. Just as they’ll have to wait for the talent to rise to the top through the Canadiens’ farm system, and for Hughes to procure more of it.
You can understand their impatience with the process, but you can also understand why Hughes, St. Louis and Suzuki see the situation differently.
