The Canadian | Suddenly eyes turn to defense

In the Montreal market, goaltending melodrama has almost become a tradition. This matter being settled until further notice, it is obviously the defenders who will fuel the discussions in the appreciable future.

Defensively, the Habs have had a difficult season. At five-on-five, the team was among the worst in the league for scoring chances allowed. The responsibility obviously does not fall only on the defenders, but it is logically they who are on the front line in this matter.

Often, over the last seven months, we have witnessed scenes of confusion in the CH territory. The hybrid scheme, combining zone and man-to-man coverage, still needs a lot of break-in.

The group, as we have said hundreds of times, is young. Kaiden Guhle, Justin Barron, Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris are under 24 years old. Adding Johnathan Kovacevic, who is a little older, we arrive at a total of 519 games of experience shared between five players. For comparison, note that between them, Mike Matheson and David Savard have played 1,419, playoffs included.

Regardless of the identity of its members, what does this defensive squad need to improve? “Probably maturity,” Kaiden Guhle suggested Tuesday before the game against the Detroit Red Wings.

On Wednesday, Mike Matheson echoed the same sentiment by talking about “consistency,” a recurring theme.

“It’s true for the whole team,” he clarified. That’s the hardest thing to acquire in this league. The games come so quickly, and they are never the same. The more consistent we are, specifically as defenders, the more it will help us. » The veteran is also proud that his team “never stops working”.

David Savard, who also spoke to journalists on Tuesday, welcomed the fact that there are, around him, “more and more guys ready to sacrifice”. According to him, it will be necessary to continue in this vein.

Abundance

That being said, the identity of the defense will necessarily evolve depending on those who compose it. And there are people at mass.

The eight defensemen named above played 44 to 82 games in 2023-2024. Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux got short auditions late in the run, but both will definitely want to vie for a position next fall. And he’s less talked about these days, but last round’s first-round draft pick, David Reinbacher, won’t want to be left out.

In his crystal ball, David Savard sees a group “of young people who move the puck well and who restart the attack well”, some of whom particularly appreciate the more physical game – Xhekaj and Mailloux in the lead.

“A nice mix of young people who will be able to play offensively or physically, depending on the match we play,” he summarized. We have to continue to develop these guys, it will be okay. »

More than ever, it is becoming clear that the general of this defense, in a future perhaps less distant than we think, will be Kaiden Guhle. The Albertan has made giant strides over the past year, and in only his second season in the NHL, he was the one Martin St-Louis sent into the fray to counter the best forwards in the world, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in the lead.

“It’s fun to see his progress, but I think he still has a lot of room to improve,” said David Savard. I think we haven’t seen his ceiling yet. »

The same Guhle, despite his 22 years, said he was “ready” to accept an increased leadership role, if by chance Hutson, Mailloux or another breaks through to the team in October.

“Not long ago, I was in their shoes,” he recalled. I felt the same nervousness as them, the same pressure. I am ready to take on the challenge of welcoming them and making their lives easier. »

In any case, internal competition will be high. General manager Kent Hughes revealed in a press briefing that agents of the organization’s defensemen, aware of the congestion at this position, had already called him to find out the place of their clients in the team’s plans.

To everyone who asked him the question, Hughes replied that it was “too early,” in his eyes, to decide who stays and who goes. “No defender will leave for the summer expecting to be traded,” he said. We assume that the personnel review will begin quickly, and that we will identify either the excess men or those we would be ready to sacrifice in a transaction.

We can’t predict exactly what the Canadiens’ defense will look like next training camp. What we do know, however, is that this will be a matter under close surveillance until then.