In 1993, Martin St-Louis was just an 18-year-old student-athlete at the University of Vermont. That year, the Hartford Whalers arrived at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington to hold part of their camp.
We can guess that the young man at the time was far from suspecting that he had in front of him, on the ice, one of his future predecessors (Randy Cunneyworth) and a future general manager of the NHL (Pat Verbeek).
“It was impressive to see them up close,” St-Louis recalled at a press briefing on Wednesday. The next few years, it was the [New York] Rangers. Brian Leetch, Mike Richter… It was impressive to see the guys move. We were spoiled. »
This week, a new generation of fans will have the chance to observe NHL players up close, as the Habs will finish their camp in Mont-Tremblant, with practices on Thursday and Friday. The workouts will be open to the public and media, so the term “closed retreat” is more or less apt.
However, players will take advantage of this to hold group activities. Nick Suzuki confirmed that a golf tournament was planned. “I had to ask all the players to give me their handicap to make balanced teams,” said the captain. No other details have been leaked. Will they play Parcheesi, pockets, truth or consequence? The answer, unfortunately, is unknown.
The goal of the exercise is. “We have new faces, but several of us have already spent time together,” Suzuki recalled. But at camp, we were divided into four, so there were guys we didn’t see, we spent the summer scattered everywhere. »
These expeditions were once popular. The Pittsburgh Penguins used to go to the West Point military base near New York. Under Guy Carbonneau, the Canadian had gone to Tremblant; under his successor, Jacques Martin, it was instead on a ranch in the Collingwood area, Ontario. When Mike Matheson played in Florida, the Panthers would spend a few days in the Everglades doing “military” style activities. But these traditions were lost with the pandemic.
St-Louis was however clear: even if the players will have fun, “when we are at the arena, we are going to work”. He recalled that his club was reaching the final stage of the camp. The start of the camp, the intrasquad games, it was “a lot of evaluating, not really teaching.”
“Then you have to enter concepts, so that we have a team game. We had three groups. In all three groups, guys were going to play matches, so a lot of things had to be managed. Once you have fewer players, you can go into more detail, and that’s what we can do. »
With personnel reductions, St-Louis can now group all of its players in the same training session. On Wednesday, there were 23 skaters (15 forwards, 8 defensemen) and 3 goalies. Sean Monahan and Gustav Lindström were treated to a day of treatments.
Speaking of which, Monahan’s day of treatments was certainly unexpected, at least from the outside. It is indeed special that a player is entitled to it the day after a training leave, and this, after Monahan has played three preparatory matches so far.
Absent from Monday’s training, forwards Alex Newhook and Joel Armia were back with their teammates.
Christian Dvorak was also part of the group. Having undergone knee surgery in March, the striker must theoretically be absent until November, general manager Kent Hughes said at the opening of camp. He still wears a gray sweater, suggesting he can’t take any contact yet. That said, he skates with a certain ease which suggests that he will have no trouble meeting the established deadline…
Mike Matheson has still not played a preparatory match, but he practiced with his teammates on Wednesday and is hopeful of being able to play on Saturday, in Ottawa, in the sixth and final preparatory duel for Montreal.
“When it’s been months since we’ve played, it helps to get the timing back,” said the Quebecer.
We guess the organization will want to be careful with Matheson. Last year, he was injured in camp and had to wait until November 19 before playing his first game. He played 24 minutes in his first game, which became his average, but after nine games he was falling again.
Despite a very ordinary start to camp, winger Emil Heineman survives. Before the start of hostilities, the colossus was considered a candidate likely to cause an upset, but a beige rookie tournament, at best, lowered the expectations of many.
It’s always slow to stand out. Monday in Toronto, he blocked a few Maple Leafs attacks, but his turnover also led to a Toronto goal. On the other hand, he offered a physical presence that few of his teammates are capable of, distributing four hits, including one that shocked T. J. Brodie at the start of the match.
“The robustness means that I am more involved in the match, I bring energy and that helps me to win battles for the puck, to spend time in the offensive zone,” described the Swede.
Heineman will, however, need a slaughter in the infirmary, because he does not have to go through waivers to be transferred to Laval, and in the event that Montreal starts the season with three goalkeepers, there would be one position less for skaters.
