Laval – Early Monday morning in Laval. The Rocket forwards hit the ice a little before 11 a.m. for a “development day” with coaches specializing in the field. The session is going well. To the left, right or directly under the indicator board, no trace of Pascal Vincent.
The head coach, we learned later, had blocked his schedule for individual meetings.
“I was talking to Logan Mailloux about the Stanley Cup in the morning,” he simply blurted out during a long and rich lunchtime conversation. “That’s just what I’m thinking: playoffsStanley Cup. How are we going to make you become that player who will help the Canadian? »
The Habs’ farm club is having an unexpected start to the season in all that is most positive of the term. His record is second best in the American League. He has won his last seven matches. The team’s offensive stars are producing, the rookies look like young veterans. Imagine a cyclist who overcomes the first 100 meters of a long climb only on his rear wheel.
For this departure that no one really saw coming, Vincent picks up the flowers. We knew he was more than qualified to take care of the next generation of this rebuilding club. Nevertheless, his reputation, damaged by his time in Columbus, perhaps needed to be restored. The results he has obtained so far should be enough to ease the anxieties of those who doubted.
But Vincent hardly talked about the results during the half hour during which he patiently reflected on the questions of the two journalists who had come to cover his team. Not surprising considering the word has all but been banished from the modern coaching vocabulary.
In his responses, however, there is no room for the usual clichés either. Vincent could have said three or four pre-prepared sentences that talk about process and accountability. Rather, he spoke about the methods, beliefs and values at the center of his teaching.
The details of his meeting with Mailloux alone help to paint the portrait of this avid reader who took a course on leadership at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and who describes himself as “a student not just of hockey, but of human beings in general.
“We start at the end and try to build a program. What makes Logan Mailloux a player who can stand out? It’s a process that takes time, because you can say a lot of things, use a lot of words, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect reality. We really want to find his own reality. »
“Once you’ve done it and you know who you are on the ice, you know what you have to bring, everything changes,” enthuses Vincent. Because knowing that, your pre-match preparation, […] how you will practice and, even more importantly, your self-assessment [vont changer]. After a match, instead of thinking about a million things, you focus on one or two things and that’s what you evaluate yourself on. »
Clearly identify expectations and separate the essential from the superfluous. In a word, “simplify”. If it is true that you have to learn to walk before you run, for Vincent this step is the equivalent of tying your shoes.
“We start from ‘there’ and we go ‘there’ as quickly as possible, but the end result is even better than if we waste time left and right. We peel the layers and attack the core. What brought you here and what will bring you there? »
“I don’t play game »
It happens that Vincent’s vision for a player differs from the image that this player has of himself. “Completely no, but sometimes we don’t necessarily agree. And it’s perfect,” he explains.
In his discussions with his protégés, the coach tries to leave room for doubt, questioning, compromise. “What I see, if you don’t agree, we’ll talk to each other, we’ll look at it and we’ll find solutions,” he said.
He cites as an example a conversation he had last year with Johnny Gaudreau when he was managing the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“At the end of the year we sat down, because he had had an ordinary season, and we had a very open conversation. There were things he told me that I didn’t realize. So the coming year, we were going to modify things for Johnny, my coaching for him. It happens sometimes and it’s okay. That’s what I want. »
Vincent compares the locker room of a hockey team to a “mini-city or a mini-society” in which all the individuals are linked together and each feeds off the strengths of the others. “When you take a player out of the equation, it changes the whole dynamic,” he notes. Hence the importance of tearing the filters. “That’s why I don’t play game », insists the Rocket pilot.
“There is one element that is important and that we want to create in our environment, and that is trust. If you don’t trust me because you’re not sure of my intentions, we will progress but we won’t progress as quickly as we would like. When a player comes into my office and tells me things I didn’t expect or is able to tell me no, I think we’re in a good place because we can be honest with each other . »
“I want to return to the National League”
This honesty that he offers and demands from his players, Vincent does not get rid of like a coat that can be hung on a hook when he leaves his office.
The question was carefully preceded by a context which we will summarize here. The Rocket is a hit while at the top, its big brother is having a hard time. Martin St-Louis is less and less spared from criticism. If senior management were to judge that he is no longer the man to carry out the rest of the Canadiens’ reconstruction, Vincent would probably be identified as his logical successor.
“I spent eight years in the National League. Yes, I think about it, the 53-year-old man responds openly. I want to return to the NHL. But I signed a contract and my job is to help the Rocket, help the young people […] and help the Canadian. My job is to help Martin as much as possible. »
“I have no pleasure in seeing the results at the moment,” he adds, choosing his words carefully.
Vincent believes that his greatest quality “is that I am super loyal” and that his loyalty is “beyond anything that can be said.” »
“Do I want to go back to the National League as a head coach one day? Yes. Like I told Martin, I hope I’ll help him. And if I go somewhere else, I go somewhere else. But I didn’t come here to steal anyone’s job, far from it. »
