Canadiens: Expect A Big Jump In Accountability

As the Montreal Canadiens take the next step in their rebuild, you can expect to see a change in attitude from coach Martin St-Louis towards specific players. Last season, many fans complained that the bench boss was too harsh on Arber Xhekaj, making him pay dearly for mistakes, but that’s what happens when a team is not just looking for development but also for results.

We saw St-Louis have a similar attitude toward Patrik Laine at the tail end of the season. The big Finn wasn’t buying what the coach was selling, so he paid in ice time and opportunities—finding himself skating on the fourth line and off the first power play. Laine had had enough time to adapt, and eventually, the coach turned up the accountability setting on his account, which makes sense.

This upcoming season, there are a couple of players who will be candidates for increased accountability. First and foremost, Juraj Slafkovsky. Why? Simply because while he is still only 21 years old, the power forward now has 200 NHL games under his belt, and it’s time to take the next step. Plus, St-Louis now has something he must have been craving for ages: options.

The arrival of Ivan Demidov means that if the big Slovak doesn’t deliver, the coach has a ready-made option to replace him on the top line. In previous years, the Canadiens didn’t have a player who could have ridden shotgun with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, but now they do.

Should Slafkovsky struggle out of the gates as he has done in the past, he will be met with a very different reaction. St-Louis will be less patient with him, and that’s perfectly fine. There comes a time when a coach needs to stop shielding a player.

The Canadiens have been patient with Slafkovsky so far and have helped him develop the parts of his game they believe will be the key to his success in the NHL. He wasn’t drafted to be a points-producing machine, but to play the role of a bona fide power forward. The left winger now knows and understands this, as evidenced by his comments to the media last season about having to play more like Brady Tkachuk to be successful in the NHL.

Slafkovsky demonstrated last season that he can adapt to the team's expectations and play the way the team needs him to, but he needs to dig deep and find a way to do it consistently. If he doesn’t, Demidov will be waiting in the wings to get a chance to skate alongside Suzuki and Caufield.

Furthermore, the fans will likely start grumbling now that he will be entering the first year of his eight-year, big-money contract. We’ve seen some complain about what they considered to be an unsatisfactory points output, but the big contract will mean more intense scrutiny on what he does on the ice daily.

Kirby Dach will be another candidate for increased accountability. As the big center enters his contract year, St-Louis will be a lot less tolerant. He was last season and shielded the player by pleading with the media that patience was needed, given the fact that the pivot was coming back from a serious injury.

However, at the end of the season, when Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes spoke to the media, it became evident that the team was not impressed with the shape he was in when he reported for camp.

Dach is now 24 and will be entering his fourth season with the Canadiens. Injuries or not, it’s time for him to deliver. While he will more than likely be given another chance at centering the second line, which he likely wouldn’t have had if the Habs had been able to find another option on the trade market, he can’t expect St-Louis to be as patient as he was in the past.

The Canadiens took a step forward last season by making the playoffs, and they’ll want to build on that. Furthermore, he will likely skate alongside Demidov on the second line, and there’s absolutely no doubt that St-Louis and company will want the rookie to be put in winning condition. Having an underperforming center is not what the Russian phenom needs.

While there wouldn’t be an option as obvious to replace Dach as there is to replace Slafkovsky, the coach would still have to make a move, be it giving Zachary Bolduc a shot at center or Oliver Kapanen a shot on the second line.

The Canadiens are improving, and with that come higher expectations. It’s perfectly normal and something players cannot be shielded from indefinitely.

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