Golden Knights-Canadian | A match and an audition for the Four Nations Showdown?

November isn’t just fall prevention month. It is also the time when, year after year, the Vegas Golden Knights make their annual trip to Montreal.

The 2023 Stanley Cup champions are coming to town, but behind this Saturday evening duel at the Bell Center are individual issues.

We are talking in particular about the Confrontation of the four nations. Casually, it is in around ten days, on December 4, that the training will be revealed.

Saturday’s match will pit two goalkeepers among the many candidates for a position in front of the Canadian net: Samuel Montembeault for the Habs, Adin Hill for the Golden Knights.

It has often been said: Canada is no longer swimming in abundance at the goalkeeper position. The best goalies in the country so far this season in terms of efficiency are veterans (Cam Talbot and Jake Allen) as is Logan Thompson, a 27-year-old athlete who has never really been number 1 in the NHL.

Sure values ​​don’t rain and that is perhaps why the name of Joey Daccord, American by birth, but eligible to play for Canada, surfaced. The Hockey Newsquoting assistant GM Jim Nill, revealed that Daccord was in the conversation for the national team.

Failing to present amazing statistics, Montembeault and Hill arrive with interesting elements in their CV. Montembeault helped Canada win gold at the 2023 World Championship, while at the same time Hill guided the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup.

“He’s a man of special occasions,” noted Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy about Hill after Saturday morning’s practice. When he needed to get up for the Stanley Cup, he did it. If he represents Canada he will stand up as always. He’s a big, calm goalkeeper who makes the key saves. »

Distraction ?

The Four Nations Confrontation in itself is not historic: it remains, like the 2016 World Cup, a pure – imperfect – creation of the NHL. But knowing that the Olympics will follow a year later, it’s hard not to make the connection from one to the other.

At the CH, the Canadians Montembeault and Nick Suzuki, the American Cole Caufield and the Finn Joel Armia have the best chances of receiving an invitation. Of the bunch, Armia is perhaps the safest pick, even if he doesn’t occupy a top role.

Do the players think about it? Since the start of the season, Montembeault has always admitted that the tournament was one of his goals. And Kyle Dubas was often seen at the Bell Center this fall. However, it is unknown whether he was there in his capacity as GM of the Penguins or personnel director of Team Canada.

Caufield, for his part, tried to downplay the importance of this selection. “It doesn’t matter to me, I’m focused on becoming a better player for our team,” replied the small forward.

A bit incredulous, a colleague asked him if he was really indifferent to it. “I just know it’s in Montreal,” Caufield retorted. And the link with the Olympics, which arrive in February 2026? “They’re two different teams, it’s two years away. Just because you’re on this team doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be at the Games. I don’t think about it too much. I’ll let my game speak for me. »

When he started as head coach of the Canadiens, Martin St-Louis often said that he could put himself in the shoes of all his players, because of his background. These days, it is his experience in the national team that can help him. He was selected for Turin in 2006, also for Vancouver 2010, but did not play. He was then ruled out of Sochi 2014, before an injury to Steve Stamkos forced Steve Yzerman – both his GM in Tampa and the GM of Team Canada – to invite him.

This pressure from the selection, “I felt it as a player, but I tried to control the actions that could help my cause,” recalled St-Louis.

“They are all proud players who would love to represent their country and I am sure they are thinking about it. But they need to focus on what they can control, their performance on the ice. Then, that doesn’t guarantee anything. But I know that the closer it gets, the more a player thinks about it. »

No change

While awaiting decisions, the Canadian does indeed have a match to play in the evening.

No changes to training are expected. Everything indicates that Michael Pezzetta and Justin Barron will once again be supernumerary. Patrik Laine trained again with his teammates, but still without the green light for physical contact.

The Montrealers obviously hope that their atypical week, which has allowed them to hold three full practices since their last match, will be beneficial to them.

“The guys were committed this week, we planned well for the three days,” said St-Louis. We didn’t take it one day at a time, we did things on day 1 knowing what we were going to do on days 2 and 3.”

It remains to be seen what they will do on day 4.

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