(Anaheim) Where were you in the fall of 1941? Maurice Richard was playing for the Montreal Canadiens, but for the Quebec Senior League, not for the NHL.
Émile “Butch” Bouchard was playing the first of his 15 seasons with the CH. Before becoming a coach, then an avatar on Twitter, Toe Blake was the leader of this Habs team, with teammates like Bunny Dame, Cliff Goupille and Peggy O’Neill.
If we are talking about this edition of 1941-1942, it is because this edition of the Canadian has had the worst start since that time. With a 4-2 loss on Sunday against the Ducks, the Habs are left with a 2-8-0 record, their worst since their 1-8-1 start to the fall 1941 season.
The team would even go to 1-10-1. But the team’s failures may not have come high in the league of people’s priorities. The 10e defeat came on December 7, 1941, when something a little more serious was happening in Honolulu. But we move away …
Inordinate expectations?
Nick Suzuki set the tone in the post-game interviews. The Canadian is already powerless at the center position and the injury to Mathieu Perreault (see other text) adds to the shoulders of Suzuki and Christian Dvorak.
Excellent at camp, good at the start of the season, Dvorak has been significantly less efficient in recent matches. Suzuki, on the other hand, stood out above all in small games here and there, but did not generate anything very threatening offensively on Sunday.
“I always put pressure on myself, I want to contribute to success at all levels. All my career, I wanted to be an impact player, recalled Suzuki. But today, I haven’t done much, honestly. It’s probably one of my worst games. I am disappointed with my meeting, especially with our absences from the center. I have to play better. ”
Response from Dominique Ducharme: “Guys like him, like Tyler [Toffoli] want to do more. Sometimes you do more, but not in the right way. ”
After a more encouraging performance on Saturday, Cole Caufield did not get any shots on Sunday and was the least used player in his camp evenly (excluding Cédric Paquette, sent off). Ducharme has been asked if a stay in Laval is an option for his young winger still looking for a first goal.
“He’s looking for himself now. It’s more complicated for him. With the puck, he is not as we know him, ”analyzed the head coach, without commenting on a dismissal.
Then came a question about Alexander Romanov, guilty of letting Troy Terry slip away on the winning goal. His partner, David Savard, had meanwhile been unable to neutralize Ryan Getzlaf along the ramp.
“When you have players who have ups and downs from match to match, from presence to presence, from period to period, it’s harder to manage,” Ducharme recalled.
The findings are final. Coaches will often defend their young people, remind them that they are “only” such an age, that they have to go through a learning process. But Ducharme did not.
PHOTO GARY A. VASQUEZ, USA TODAY SPORTS
Goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault
On the ice, the coach can “isolate” the young people in question, prevent them from tough confrontations, ask a little more of established players. Ducharme did not do it either, but could he even spare the three young people in question?
Last year, Phillip Danault was able to cope very well with difficult missions at the center. He’s gone, and Dvorak has yet to reach the Quebecois’ level of defensive excellence. Jake Evans missed a few games. That’s a lot on the plate at Suzuki, who has also added the penalty kill to his responsibilities.
On paper, the Canadian has depth on the wings, but with Brendan Gallagher playing visibly injured (he missed Sunday’s game) and Toffoli in slow motion, this depth is undermined. Caufield’s production would be welcome.
At the blue line, the loss of Shea Weber and the absence of Joel Edmundson forced Ducharme to employ Romanov in his top 4.
These three young people are also evolving in a context where expectations are high. Suzuki has always said that its own standards are very high; his post-game words clearly demonstrate that he is serious. The eight-year contract he signed three weeks ago confirms that the team is also living up to their expectations.
Caufield was seen by many as a Calder contender this season. He faced his good friend Trevor Zegras on Sunday, who did not help calm the game by predicting him on Twitter a season of 40 goals.
And Romanov, at 21, could progress to his second season in North America, after a two-part debut campaign.
After 10 games, the expected progression has not materialized. Young people are of course not the only ones responsible. The cases of Toffoli and Gallagher have been mentioned, and the defensive unit in general is lagging behind.
But it will be interesting to see what management will be done of what constitutes the succession of the organization. With a qualification for the playoffs that already looks like a distant goal, it will at least be necessary to ensure that the development of young people does not suffer in the process.
We do not grow a flower by pulling on it, likes to write our colleague Martin Leclerc. This is the danger that now awaits the Canadian.