Patience is the keyword when it comes to the Montreal Canadiens.
Patience regarding Kirby Dach returning from major knee surgery. Many promised to be patient with him, and many have failed in that promise. His game is coming along.
Patience with a young defence corps with five players having logged fewer than 500 career NHL games between them. They were bound to have some hiccups, especially early on.
Patience with a coaching staff still finding its way in the NHL. They have done many great things over the past three seasons development-wise, which HAS to be the key in evaluating them.
Patience with a goaltending tandem that’s still largely unproven in the NHL.
Lest we forget that Sam Montembault was a waiver wire pickup who has been thrust into the starter’s role on a club with a fan base that has been treated to some of the finest goaltending in the game’s history. Hainsworth, Durnan, Vezina, Plante, Dryden, Roy, Price. No other franchise comes close to that legacy. Fans expect Vezina performances on a nightly basis, but it must be realized that the NHL’s second-youngest club will have its ups and downs, as will Montembeault.
When Montreal hired Stephane Robidas in July 2022, he was a rookie NHL coach. He was asked to start the season with four rookie defencemen in the lineup at his first training camp. This had never been done in the NHL’s history.
Robidas not only pulled it off, he went one better, incorporating five rookie blueliners into the lineup that season – Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Jonathan Kovacevic, Jordan Harris and Justin Barron.
Over the past ten months, he has been asked to do it with two more rookie defencemen, Jayden Struble and Lane Hutson. A rookie coach with a fledgling head coach beside him was tasked with incorporating seven rookie defencemen at the NHL level in a span of 25 months.
In addition, Robidas has also been asked to ice a lineup this season with two of those youngsters playing on their wrong side. Right now, the Canadiens’ top-six includes two left defencemen with 197 games of NHL experience playing on the right side.
Folks weren’t expecting some setbacks? That young defence group just played a major role in shutting out two of the best players in the game on Monday—four defencemen with 313 games of NHL experience, two playing on their off sides.
Robidas is doing a commendable job considering all of those factors. Yet, a week ago, many called for him to be replaced despite goalies and forward units struggling as much as the defencemen.
When Marty St. Louis arrived in the winter of 2022, he turned around a young sniper struggling with confidence. Now, Cole Caufield is one of the league’s top goal-scorers.
Twelve months ago, Brendan Gallagher, Jake Evans, Josh Anderson, and Joel Armia looked like their careers were over in Montreal. Today, they are all making contributions to the team. Evans is one of the league’s top penalty killers, and Gallagher has seen a significant resurgence.
Pre Remembrance Day, fans were fed up with Montembeault. Since then, he has stopped 87 of the 90 shots he’s faced for a .967 save percentage. His save percentage for the season now sits at a respectable .906, and after Canada assistant GM Kyle Dubas caught his shutout performance versus the Oilers, rumour has it that he’s back in the discussion regarding the goaltenders Canada will employ at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off.
Patrik Laine is back practising with the club, and they are four points out of the playoffs. They needed to remain in the playoff picture without him, and despite the somewhat rocky path…they are still in the hunt. Habs fans weren’t talking about that a week ago – they were all asking who the club should pick at the top of the 2025 NHL draft.
Patience, young grasshoppers. There are greener pastures ahead.
