The Canadian | The essential role of the “big brothers” in defense

During a commercial break on Saturday evening, a television camera followed a conversation between David Savard and Jordan Harris.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

We couldn’t hear the content of the exchange. But to see the gestures of the 31-year-old Quebecer, whose 660 was^and season game in the NHL, it was clear that he was coming back to a game situation with the one who, 10 years his junior, was experiencing his baptism of professional hockey.

It’s a scene that we could see often over the next few years. Because the renewal of the defense of the Habs is well and truly underway. Justin Barron, 20, has played the team’s last four games. Corey Schueneman, 26, is obviously older, but he still only has 19 games of NHL experience. In the Junior League West, Kaiden Guhle has established himself as a dominant fullback. He will be welcomed with open arms next fall, whether in Montreal or Laval, in the American League. At 22, Alexander Romanov suddenly appears to be one of the most experienced in the group.

This presence of several young skaters leads to a modification of the tasks of their more experienced colleagues. Establishing yourself as a defender in the professional ranks takes time and requires a lot of coaching. Mistakes, inevitable, are numerous; still have to learn from it. Veterans must, on the one hand, be ready to take over after a blunder and, on the other hand, find the qualities of a teacher.

The wave of defensive rejuvenation that the Habs are experiencing is probably the most blatant in some 20 years. Several parallels have already been drawn between the difficult 2000-2001 season and the current CH campaign. We could add this element to the stack.

At the time, two rookie defensemen played over 60 games. Andrei Markov, 21, had just arrived from Russia, and Stéphane Robidas, 23, had just spent three years in the American League. Their names were added to that of Francis Bouillon, who had only one season with CH to his credit, and those of Christian Laflamme, 23, Sheldon Souray, 24, and Craig Rivet, 26, who each had only three full seasons in the NHL.

Alongside them, Karl Dykhuis (28), Patrice Brisebois (29) and Eric Weinrich (33) almost passed for patriarchs. But they fully understood the context and embraced the challenge before them. Brisebois took Markov under his wing. Weinrich did the same with Robidas.

“I loved it,” says Eric Weinrich on the phone. It must be said that he inherited from a “good student” who “did everything well” and who, when he did not succeed in something, “practiced again and again until he got there”.

Patrice Brisebois, for his part, recalls that “as soon as we saw Andrei Markov arrive, we knew he would be a star in the NHL”. However, everything was new to him.

Taciturn, the former Dynamo didn’t speak a word of English. An employee of Don Meehan, the agent of the two players, begged the Quebecer to “take care” of the rookie. Brisebois accepted and he remembers having had “beautiful moments” with him. “I think he smiled three times during the season, but I remember the one he gave me after his first goal in Philadelphia,” says the one who got an assist on the game.

Management

Eric Weinrich is now a development coach with the New Jersey Devils. His role is the same as the one played by Francis Bouillon at the Canadiens: closely follow the progress of the defenders drafted by the organization until their arrival in the NHL.

Having himself played 1157 games in the Bettman circuit, he can therefore testify to the factors that contribute to the success of a young player, all the more so if he plays in defense, “one of the most difficult positions” to master, he said.

“Going directly from junior, university or Europe to the NHL is very unusual,” he said.

However, he believes, beyond the proverbial patience, it is above all important to “surround” these players. As much within the school club as in the NHL, behind the bench as on the ice, “we need experienced people to support them, to help them in all situations”.

We were talking about Savard, but there is also Joel Edmundson, at the Canadiens, who is already taking this role to heart. He’s been paired with Justin Barron since his debut with the team and, along with Christian Dvorak, went to dinner with Harris in Florida to answer questions from the newcomer. And of course there is Luke Richardson, assistant to Martin St-Louis in charge of defenders and one of the team’s most respected figures.

Both Brisebois and Weinrich spontaneously remember those who served as their role models when they joined the NHL. Brisebois talks about Jean-Jacques Daigneault and Sylvain Lefebvre, who were his five-on-five partners, and even Mathieu Schneider and Éric Desjardins who, even if they are not much older than him, have him accompanied on the power play.

Weinrich, he evokes the name of Murray Brumwell, whom he rubbed shoulders with in his first season with the Devils of Utica, in the American League. By 1988, Brumwell was in his late twenties and had mostly, unknowingly finished his NHL career. He was assigned a young partner who had just arrived from the University of Maine, and the two spent the season together.

“It’s the same thing in all areas, not just in hockey: when a young person arrives, those who have experience must help him, believes Weinrich. [Brumwell] was not where he wanted in his career, but he accompanied me in every training, pushed me every day. I’ve remembered that all my career. »

Virtually all defenders will say it: they learned their job “on the job”. And that’s what the Canadiens’ young fullbacks do.

Knowing this, do we protect them from risky situations, or do we send them to the lion’s den at the first opportunity? Patrice Brisebois chose his side: he loved seeing Barron and Harris – we could add Schueneman – getting ice time in overtime in recent games.

“That’s how they’re going to learn,” he insists. They are good skaters, they have an offensive sense. So go! They will make mistakes…but veterans do too. This is how they will gain experience. They have talent. Let them play, they will give their all. »