The Canadian hasn’t often been first in anything over the past two seasons, but he has been first in games missed due to injury.
This is certainly not the goal, obviously, but at the rate things are going, the Canadian could still fight for the top position in this unenviable list.
Thus, after Kirby Dach, lost for the season, the Canadian confirmed another absence on Thursday, that of defender Kaiden Guhle, whose state of health is assessed “daily”, according to official channels. We will have understood that the young man was not at training on Thursday morning in Brossard.
There is nothing to be happy about in all this, but Martin St-Louis prefers to stay the course.
“You always have to focus on the team,” explained the coach. The group must be stronger than the individual. We have more depth and more experience than last year, so that doesn’t worry me, because I’m happy with the depth of our training. We continue, we don’t stop because we lose a guy or two guys. The rest of the league doesn’t mind if we have injuries, the league will continue. Why would we bother with that? »
Nothing has been confirmed, but immediately, it appears that Justin Barron could be called in for relief. The 21-year-old defender has yet to play this season. “I feel good and I’m ready,” summarized the former Colorado Avalanche. I think I can be a good player both offensively and defensively. »
In the locker room, the absence of Guhle does not seem to be too much of a cause for concern.
“He played with a lot of confidence this season, he played well in the first games, and I think it shouldn’t be very long before he can come back,” said veteran David Savard with optimism. In the meantime, it allows him to watch the match in another way, from the heights of the arena. »
Johnathan Kovacevic, Guhle’s partner since the start of the season, also displayed an air of optimism about the man he considers a friend.
“It’s a shame, and it’s sad for me because I played with him,” explained the defender. He’s a friend, and you never want to see something like that happen to anyone. So I wish him a good and speedy recovery, hoping that he will be back with us in a couple of weeks. He was unlucky, but we will try to be there for him. »
The good news in all of this, if we can put it that way: the world of sport is full of fabulous stories about players who took advantage of opportunities and open doors, and who were able to establish themselves after seizing their chance. This may be the case starting with the next game, Saturday night at the Bell Center, against the Washington Capitals.
On this subject, David Savard recalled that this is exactly what we saw last season, and that with a little luck, there will be other pleasant surprises this time among those who Maybe we don’t wait.
“Injuries are things that happen in hockey, there are accidents,” added the veteran defenseman. But it can also give an opportunity to someone else. We saw what happened with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard last season…”
The Canadian cannot continue to spend so much time in the penalty box, and Martin St-Louis is fully aware of this. Let’s remember here that Tuesday evening at the Bell Center against the Wild, the Montreal club received 10 minor penalties, which gives a total of 85 minutes of penalties, a record in the NHL as of Thursday noon. “That has to change,” admitted the Montreal driver Thursday noon in Brossard. We are working on that. You can have the game plan you want, but even the good teams, if they received these punishments like us, they would not have these results. We need to tighten the screw on that. »
Nick Suzuki is the captain of this team, an offensive leader too, but right now he only has one point in three games. Which is probably not enough. “It’s certain that he must be better, and he would say that too,” Martin St-Louis responded Thursday in Brossard. I’m not worried, but it’s certain that with the number of minutes he plays per game, he has to give us more […] But Nick has not forgotten how to play hockey. Sometimes it’s just a matter of trust. »
