The cruel destiny of Martin St-Louis places his feet in Mont-Tremblant.
The man who scored decisive goals with such style on the numerical advantage now finds himself stuck in the mountains in Mont-Tremblant, not to enjoy the fresh air and breathtaking landscapes, but to trying to repair the five-man attack of the Montreal Canadiens, a real black hole in modern hockey.
Ironically, this same Martin St-Louis, who once snubbed the rigid methods of Guy Boucher, must now save the day… alone, without the strategist in whom everyone saw the miracle solution.
Guy Boucher, this eternal absentee in the heart of St-Louis. The man for the job according to some, the failed savior who could, with a snap of his fingers, have transformed this massive attack into a well-oiled machine.
But no, St-Louis persists and signs: no Boucher in its team, and too bad if the numerical advantage continues to sink. It seems that resentment is more tenacious than common sense.
And now St-Louis brings his group back to Tremblant, this place steeped in history where, more than a decade ago, a certain Guy Boucher imposed his military discipline and his series of endless push-ups.
It is said that these methods had pushed a certain Captain St-Louis to the point of demanding the dismissal of Boucher.
So, seeing our coach come back here, armed with his new ideas to straighten out the massive attack, it’s almost sad… or frankly funny.
Should we laugh or cry about it? The man who refuses to hire the “power play” expert finds himself isolated in the mountains, surrounded by his deputies who, let’s be honest, don’t seem to have the magic recipe either.
But what do you expect, St-Louis visibly prefers to advance solo, even if the Canadian’s five-man attack has still not scored a single goal in 25 attempts since the start of camp. No big deal, it seems, as long as he keeps his pride intact.
And then, let’s be realistic, you can’t erase a memory as bitter as that of 2011 with a stroke of a stick. At the time, Boucher reigned supreme, and St-Louis, although idol of the crowds, was only a player frustrated by methods he considered degrading.
Today, he is the master on board, but at what cost? He could have called on the man who best knows the intricacies of the power play.
Instead, he chose to return to Tremblant, perhaps to ward off fate, perhaps out of pride.
But be careful, Martin St-Louis, the mountain is treacherous, and the ghosts of the past do not disappear so easily.
As for Guy Boucher, he must be smiling somewhere seeing St-Louis struggling with this cursed numerical advantage.
Because, in the end, if the results don’t follow, everyone will end up wondering: what if St. Louis had simply put his ego aside to hire the man who could have changed everything?
