Nick Suzuki said he wanted to forget Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Montreal Canadiens suffered several losses this season, but it was important that no game was wasted since the main objective was to progress.
The captain of the Habs cast a rare glare at a journalist when he pointed out to him that the 50 shots allowed to the Hurricanes was a record for the Canadiens this season and that the 14 released by the Montreal club was its lowest total.
Suzuki acknowledged that he and his teammates were never in the game against an opponent who wanted to regain their identity after three straight losses and a rare bad streak this season.
“The whole game was frustrating. We almost didn’t have the puck and when we had it, there was immediately a player on us and we were getting a turnover, Suzuki noted after the 3-0 loss at the Bell Centre. It was the same when we were in the offensive zone. We gave them the puck back. It was frustrating, and I’d rather forget about everything. »
Head coach Martin St-Louis echoed his captain, speaking in frustration. St-Louis has also been stingy with words in most of his responses for a rare time this season.
“I have experienced matches like this, this feeling, he said. You feel like you’re skating from one end of the ice to the other without ever having the puck. It’s frustrating. »
Should the context be considered if someone were to rate players based on Saturday’s performance? St-Louis replied that the evaluations were almost complete.
“What, five games left? There’s not a lot left to assess, he said. I have a good idea… but you have to try to finish better than that. »
This is perhaps the only good news for St. Louis, the management and the players: there are only five games left in the season.
Decisions to come
St-Louis contented himself with saying that it would be “disappointing” to see the campaign end in a fish tail. But he knows what he has on hand and must already have a good idea of which players will be back or not next season.
The offseason is likely to be quite complex for general manager Kent Hughes. Only five players will be able to claim full autonomy this summer, including Sean Monahan and Paul Byron, whose careers seem to be compromised.
The other three are forwards Jonathan Drouin, Alex Belzile and Chris Tierney. In addition to the contracts of Drouin and Monahan, these are not important contracts that will disappear from the payroll.
Over the past few weeks, three players in particular have seemed out of sync within the St. Louis concepts: forwards Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick and defenseman Chris Wideman. The three are still under contract for the next season.
We can also wonder about the future of forward Denis Gurianov, acquired from the Dallas Stars shortly before the trade deadline, in return for Evgenii Dadonov. Gurianov had five goals and three assists in 18 games with the Habs and was quiet on the ice most nights.
The 25-year-old Russian could become a restricted free agent if the Canadian made a qualifying offer. At this point, it would be surprising if the Habs continued their association with him in order to better use the approximately three million US dollars that a qualifying offer would command.
Joel Armia returned to action on Saturday after missing 19 games with a respiratory infection. We can also question his future with the Canadiens, but his contract is still valid for two more campaigns.
The most interesting situation might be in front of the net. Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault are already under contract for at least the next campaign, while Cayden Primeau will be eligible for waivers for the first time in his career.
The Canadian recalled Primeau in time to give him an NHL game last week. He played an honest game in a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. And after a long dip in the first half of the campaign, Primeau has shone in recent weeks with the Laval Rocket.
His NHL record remains 3-11-2 with a 4.05 GAA and .876 save percentage.
Hughes will likely have to make a goalie decision this summer or risk losing Primeau on waivers next fall.
We may know a little more about the vision of the management during the assessment of the Canadian, on April 14. A date that seems to be unable to arrive quickly enough for some.