Come summer, the geopolitics of hockey changes. Alliances are no longer based so much on team membership, but rather on where players spend the summer season. These blurred lines may have inspired a song by Robin Thicke. Or not.
Cole Caufield spends his summers in the greater Detroit area, where he lived for two years while playing with the U.S. national program. He therefore practices with native Michigan players like Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck. In Minnesota, the volume of hockey players is such that a summer league was created, a league which includes Jake Guentzel, Brock Nelson and Jason Zucker.
There are a few centers of this type in Quebec, and there is also one in Nova Scotia, where Canadian defender Justin Barron practices.
Morgan Barron – Justin’s big brother – is also part of the group, as is Drake Batherson, of the Senators, and the two former CH players, Nathan Beaulieu and Logan Shaw. Beaulieu is not from Nova Scotia, but he has his ties to the region.
“It’s good, you know it’s going to give good sessions on ice,” said Barron after Thursday’s training. It allows me to see these elite players up close, how hard they work. »
Who is the toughest to face? “Long distance, it’s MacKinnon, because of his speed. But in tight spaces, Sid and Brad are very good at protecting the puck, they also have a good backhand shot. »
With the appointment of Brad Marchand as captain of the Bruins, their group therefore has three players wearing the “C” in the NHL. Crosby and MacKinnon are captains of the Penguins and Avalanche, respectively.
“All three are incredible people, great role models to learn from. It’s cool to see. They have different personalities. Before and after the sessions, we talk about what is happening in the league, we look back on certain games that have just happened. They love hockey. »
It now remains to be seen if this tough competition will help Barron cement his place in Montreal. Last year, he was transferred to the Rocket at the end of camp.
After a little over two months in Laval, he was recalled after the Christmas break and spent the rest of the season in the NHL. The cascading injuries suffered by Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Joel Edmundson, Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj allowed him to hang on. In 39 games, he had 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists).
Leading indicators, however, did not present it in a favorable light; at five-on-five, when he was on the ice, the Canadiens’ opponents were getting 61% of the high-quality scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. It was the worst ratio among the club’s permanent defenders.
The absence of Chris Wideman at the start of camp makes things interesting on the right, where it was already sparse behind David Savard. Besides Barron, the main right-handers are Johnathan Kovacevic, David Reinbacher, Gustav Lindstrom and Logan Mailloux. CH management seems to see Reinbacher in Switzerland this season, Mailloux seems to need playing time in the American League and Lindstrom never really established himself in the NHL in Detroit.
We can therefore believe that Barron begins this camp with a position to lose, but the young man does not see things that way.
“I probably have more of a mentality of fighting for a position. Yes, I spent the second half here, but it’s a new start and there are positions to be won,” he said.
This is without forgetting the fact that a left-hander can very well start the season on the right and thus fill one of the positions.