The Canadian | The genius of Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson is considered a genius these days, and it makes him laugh.

Richard Labbe
The Press

The veteran defender, we remember, was perhaps the only person on this earth to speak openly of a playoff spot for the Canadian in September. He had made this audacious statement in the open air during the Canadian golf tournament and, at the time, many of us had wondered what Edmundson could put in his coffee.

But two months later, no one laughs at this crazy flight, which may not be so crazy after all.

Hope and Trust

“You just had to believe it, replied the defender Monday morning in the locker room in Brossard. If you don’t believe it, you’re already one step behind the rest of the competition. In this locker room, we believe we can compete with anyone in this league.

“It’s in our mentality: we know we have a young team, we’re fun to watch, it won’t always be perfect, but if we believe in it, good things will happen to us. When I said that [au tournoi de golf], I knew some people would laugh about it. But honestly, I believed it. »

Edmundson says he started having grand thoughts when he took a closer look at the 2022-23 roster.

“In addition to the veterans and the players who arrived this season, it makes us good elements, and it makes us a good hockey team,” he adds.

The Kirby Dach case

Moreover, and then precisely, there is among those who arrived a certain Kirby Dach, who has 14 points in 15 games this season.

The young forward is a man of very few words, so he’s not the one who’s going to roll around Old Montreal yelling that he loves his new life, but all the same. We feel in him the discreet happiness of one who feels invigorated by a new start, after three difficult seasons in Chicago.

This is even more true since he was added to the first line, supplemented by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, where he has since collected 11 points in 7 games.

Martin St-Louis, he believes that the beautiful story of Kirby Dach has only just begun.

“If you give up on someone 21, in hockey or elsewhere, it’s probably because you don’t have a lot of patience…and maybe also not a good vision of the big picture at that age, replied the CH coach about him. At 21, that’s so young. What I saw in him? I saw a player who was a third overall pick…”

Jean-Béliveau Trophy for Jake Allen

It was Jake Allen who won the Jean-Béliveau trophy, 2021-2022 edition, an honor awarded for community involvement. Jonathan Drouin won the same trophy the previous season. The Canadian confirmed Allen in this capacity on Monday at the Brossard center, in the presence of Élise Béliveau, wife of the late number 4. Allen is at the head of the Program 34 foundation which, since its creation in 2016, has donated nearly half a million dollars to 22 charities in New Brunswick, the Guardian’s home province.

Armia and Drouin absent, Slafkovsky back

Joel Armia and Jonathan Drouin weren’t there Monday morning in Brossard, due to a day of treatment in both cases, and Martin St-Louis was unable to say if the two players would be in training Tuesday night at the Bell Center, facing the New Jersey Devils. Juraj Slafkovsky should be there after finishing his two-game suspension for his blow against Detroit Red Wings Matt Luff. “I called him to apologize,” said the young forward. I didn’t mean to hurt him, but it’s always hard when you’re 50 pounds heavier than the other guy…”