Over the years, hockey has modernized. The time when an authoritarian coach had absolute control over all his players and the leisure to impose on them an abominable way of the cross is not only distant, but completely gone.
Today, a coach must have a speech adapted to each of his players and concepts of speechs pre-chewed for pep-talks of motivation, public relations formulas.
Over the years, we have seen subgroups appear, including a leadership group. Each team generally has one.
They are the ones who generally submit the locker room representations and communicate the wind of the room to the head coach or even the general manager, if necessary. They also manage the social club.
They are also the ones who, when things are going badly, will get together and agree to call a team meeting involving only the players.
At the Canadiens, who are the members of the leadership group? We can easily believe that captain Nick Suzuki chairs it, supported by his deputies Mike Matheson and Brendan Gallagher. I am convinced and, in fact, I fervently wish that veteran David Savard would be part of the six pack.
Afterwards ? It’s not simple. Maybe Caufield as a young veteran? Josh Anderson at the limit? Certainly not Christian Dvorak or Joel Armia.
This interesting exercise brings a maddening truth to my face: this team is sorely lacking in strong leadership.
Do you think that in Florida or in Tampa, in Toronto or in Boston, we cannot quickly name the six members of the leadership group—?
Bergevin’s acquisitions
In Chicago, we made the courageous decision to rebuild from the ground up. The Hawks managed to get their hands on Connor Bedard, an exceptional one. Without delay, we signed veterans at the end of their career in order to properly integrate the young sensation, to supervise her well and protect her on the ice.
Who are these veterans in Montreal? The truth is, we don’t have any.
We talked a lot about Marc Bergevin, it’s typically Quebecois. We collectively learned that everything he did was not worth “shit”. However, he took the Canadian to three victories of a Stanley Cup.
Montreal came from behind 1-3 to beat Toronto in 7 before defeating Winnipeg in 4 and defeating Las Vegas on Midsummer’s Eve to join Tampa Bay in the final. Four opponents stronger than CH on paper. A win in four against the Jets, why? Because when the brute Scheifele made an attempt on the life of Jake Evans at the end of match number one, the veterans stood up—.
Who were they? Shea Weber, Corey Perry and Eric Staal, the three veterans who stood up in the locker room after the Leafs’ third victory in the previous round. They were all acquisitions by Marc Bergevin, supported by Chiarot, Edmundson and Gallagher, among others.
Let’s understand each other well. I accept the principle of reconstruction. But it cannot be done without the contribution of guardians of the right path within the troops. Veterans who will agree to be the guides of our young guns in search of respectability. Unfortunately, I see very little of it with the CH currently, and I really wonder how the Gorton and Hughes pair could knowingly neglect this essential detail in a hockey club, even and especially in reconstruction.
