The Canadian | St-Louis wants to form its own opinion of Gurianov

(San Jose, California) Sunday evening, Lindy Ruff and David Quinn had a long conversation on the phone.

Head coaches of the New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks, respectively, they exchanged information on the new players they were about to coach. The two clubs, remember, had just concluded a monster transaction whose centerpiece was Timo Meier.

Also on Sunday, people contacted Martin St-Louis to offer him some comments on Denis Gurianov, freshly acquired by the Canadian in return for Evgenii Dadonov. St-Louis, however, declined the offer.

“I don’t want to be swayed before I see him go; I want to make up my own mind, ”said the Habs driver on Monday afternoon in San Jose, the first stop on a busy trip to the American West.

“Not everyone sees things the same way,” he continued. I don’t want other people’s opinions to color mine. I want to see Gurianov in training and in matches. Only there, he may communicate with some people to get their impressions.

“If I can find an advantage in it, I will. But in due time. It’s important to leave a window to get a first impression. »

His first impression, exactly? “As advertised,” summarized St-Louis. Read here: good shooting, good skating.

According to what we saw in training, Gurianov will make his debut with the Canadiens to the right of Nick Suzuki and Mike Hoffman.

Skilled analyst of players from all over the league, Jonathan Drouin believes that the 25-year-old Russian will quickly find his account with the style of play practiced by the Habs.

“Moving forwards and speed in the neutral zone, that’s his style of game,” said the Quebecer. When he starts skating and he has space, he has good speed. He will fit well in our team. »

Drouin, precisely, will inherit two new wingers, after his coach reshuffled the Suzuki trio. It is now Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Josh Anderson who will skate alongside him.

St-Louis also had good words for Evgenii Dadonov, who “was a pro” during his short stint in Montreal.

The surplus of forwards at the start of the season cost him ice time, he recalled, but Dadonov always showed a “great attitude”. “I wish him success,” concluded the driver.

New start

Gurianov, for his part, welcomes this new beginning (literally) with a smile.

Even though he’s not the most fluent in English, he gladly answered questions from reporters, obviously more than he was used to in Dallas.

Without throwing an arrow at his old organization, he did not hide his enthusiasm at the idea of ​​a change of scenery. “Sometimes when things aren’t going well, you have to change things,” he said.

“Not well” is probably an understatement under the circumstances. This former first-round pick with his imposing size and indisputable individual skills suggested a flourishing future in his first two full seasons in the NHL.

However, after an obvious slowdown observed last season on the offensive level, it is the dry breakdown since the beginning of this campaign. Barely two goals and nine points in 43 games. Gurianov has plummeted in the hierarchy of Stars forwards. His ice time, logically, has melted away.

With the Canadian, he will focus, he says, on “keeping shooting”. In fact, not only has his number of shots per game gone down this season, but his success rate is also starving – 2.9%.

“Sometimes the puck doesn’t fit,” he noted. But that’s it, hockey, it happens. I have to keep trying. It’s a good idea, especially for a player who hasn’t scored since December 13.

The chance is obvious for him to take advantage of this “new start”, according to Martin St-Louis. Because, he recalled, “it’s not as if he had forgotten how to play hockey”.

It’s up to him to prove his coach right.

Guhle or Edmundson against the Sharks

Far be it from us to pretend to be a mathematician, but with only seven defenders available, the Canadian will probably add Kaiden Guhle or Joel Edmundson to his training, Tuesday night, against the Sharks. Guhle suffered a knee injury Dec. 29 and missed eight weeks of activity. Edmundson, he fell in action on January 26, first victim of a “lower body” injury which in a few hours became an “upper body” injury – a version that has been going on ever since. Like Lazarus of Bethany rising from his grave, Edmundson took part in his club’s full training on Monday, while he was still at “daily reassessment” status on Saturday. Both could play on Tuesday, confirmed St-Louis, without going any further. In addition, as is the pleasant policy of the club, the journalists could not take news of the main concerned directly from them.

Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press