Pacioretty has words of advice for teammate Drouin
Captain Pacioretty taking off-season acquisition Drouin under his wing
Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty has spent a lot of time with newcomer Jonathan Drouin this summer and he had one piece of advice for the 22-year-old.
“I told him not to worry about whether he was playing on the wing or at centre because one thing I’ve learned is that things can change quickly here,” Pacioretty said Tuesday at the Islesmere Golf Club, the site of the captain’s annual golf tournament to benefit the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation and the player’s own foundation, which supports the Montreal General Hospital.
The team’s off-season changes were a major topic of conversation, but there is a lingering hangover from last season’s collapse in the first round of the playoffs. The Canadiens’ struggles to score against the New York Rangers and general manager Marc Bergevin’s off-season machinations failed to plug a hole at centre.
Drouin will get a shot and there will be yet another attempt to determine whether Alex Galchenyuk is able and/or willing to do what it takes to play in the middle.
Philip Danault played a top-six role last season and said Tuesday he’s going into camp with the goal of proving he can continue in that role.
There’s also the expectation Bergevin will use the $8.5 million in available cap space to bring in another offensive player. Toronto, Detroit, Dallas and Chicago are over the cap and will have to make moves before the season begins in mid-October. It’s a good bet that Washington will have to make some moves because the Capitals have only 17 players under contract and $4 million to fill out the roster.
Coach Claude Julien said he would leave it up to Bergevin to assemble the team, but he noted it’s always good to have a little money in the kitty.
The Canadiens are missing three of their top six defencemen from last season — Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin and Nathan Beaulieu — but Julien noted the Canadiens have restocked the lineup with Karl Alzner, David Schlemko, Joe Morrow, Jakub Jerabek and veteran Mark Streit.
“It’s going to be strange not having Andrei here because he’s been such a big part of this team for so long and I learned a lot from him,” said Pacioretty. “But you knew that it was going to happen at some point because of his age and this gives an opportunity to other guys.”
Jeff Petry said the departure of Markov might allow him to play a more offensive role, but he also noted a defenceman’s primary role is to help keep the puck out of the net.
Petry said the introduction of new faces shouldn’t present a problem in terms of chemistry.
“There are guys who played with each other before and we have lots of exhibition games for guys to get to know each other,” said Petry.
Julien noted the Canadiens are still one of the youngest teams in the NHL, a fact that wasn’t lost on Pacioretty.
“I can’t believe that I’m one of the oldest players on the team,” he said. The only older forwards on the roster are Czechs Tomas Plekanec and Ales Hemsky.
“There are a lot of young guys who have been getting better each year,” said Pacioretty. He also said he has been impressed with the skill displayed by Drouin and “we all know what Galchenyuk can do.”
Galchenyuk scored 30 goals two years ago and was on a point-agame pace as a centre last season before he suffered a knee injury. His production tailed off and he finished the season as a fourthline winger.
“He’s still a young player and we’ll work with him to reach his full potential,” said Julien. “He’ll be starting with a clean slate.”
Julien is also starting with a clean slate. He took over from Michel Therrien Feb. 14 and wasn’t in a position where he could make major changes. He did patch up the penalty kill by installing a more aggressive system, but he’ll have more time to put his mark on the team in training camp.
The Canadiens’ main camp opens Sept. 15 and they’ll play an intra-squad game Sept. 17 before launching an ambitious eightgame pre-season schedule that includes four games at the Bell Centre, two in Quebec City and single games in Ottawa and Toronto.
I told him not to worry about whether he was playing on the wing or at centre because ... things can change quickly here.