POSITIVE LOOK AT THE HABS
Young team eager to prove doubters wrong: Cowan
The Canadiens were terrible last season, finishing 28th in the overall NHL standings and missing the playoffs for the second time in three years. The off-season wasn’t much better, with the Max Pacioretty soap opera finally coming to an end Monday when the former captain was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights.
So, with the Canadiens hitting the ice for the first time at training camp Friday in Brossard and the team starting with a fresh slate, let’s put on a rose-coloured hockey visor for at least one day.
With that in mind, I asked coach Claude Julien during his news conference Friday afternoon what makes him feel optimistic heading into the new season that officially starts on Oct. 3 in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
“I’m not going to be here gloating about our team,” Julien said. “I think the key here is to do what we did today. Really work hard, try to create good habits, make sure that we’re ready for the start of the season and that we’re all on the same page. I think I’d rather let our actions show what we can do than stand up here and say we’re going to do this.
“We want to be a team that plays a little faster, good pace and that kind of stuff,” the coach added. “So you have an idea of what we’re looking for. We’re going to need a commitment from the players. But like every other year, you go into a season with optimism because you just have to look at last year and I’m not 100-per-cent sure, but I think there was at least probably seven new teams in the playoffs that weren’t in there the year before. It could be a little less.”
The number was indeed lucky seven.
“Seven new teams, so why don’t we have a chance to get in the playoffs?” Julien asked. “New Jersey surprised a lot of teams. There were a lot of teams that surprised a lot of people last year and they were in there. So we just have to go out there with some optimism and some confidence and understand that it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but that’s what we’re working on right now in training camp.”
Are you feeling more optimistic, Habs fans?
Now, taking off the rosecoloured visor for a minute, the Bodog betting website listed its odds for winning the Eastern Conference championship on Friday and the Canadiens were at 50-1 with the Toronto Maple Leafs favoured at 15-4. The Hockey News Yearbook, which recently came out, predicts the Canadiens will finish sixth in the Atlantic Division as the club goes through a rebuild or reset.
There is a lot of youth with potential on this new-look Canadiens team after Bergevin’s first six-year plan totally fell apart. Tomas Plekanec, 35, is the only forward over 30, while Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi, Artturi Lehkonen and Jacob de la Rose are all 23 and Nikita Scherbak is 22. Defencemen Noah Juulsen and Victor Mete are 21 and 20, respectively. There’s a chance 19-year-old forward Nick Suzuki, acquired from the Golden Knights in the Pacioretty trade, could make the team, while it’s unlikely 18-year-old Jesperi Kotkaniemi will.
At practice Friday, Julien had Domi playing centre between Drouin and 25-year-old Joel Armia, who was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets this summer, while Suzuki was between Byron and Scherbak.
Now, let’s put that rosecoloured visor back on and ask the 29-year-old Byron why Canadiens fans should have some optimism.
“I think the fact that everybody on the team kind of takes a little bit to heart what people are saying about us, telling us that we’re probably a lottery team, we’re no good,” Byron said. “I know that certainly bothers me and I know that bothers other guys. The chip on our shoulders is pretty big with that. I think it’s pretty motivating as a hockey player when people tell you you’re no good.
“We all saw what Vegas did last year,” added Byron, who is fully recovered from off-season shoulder surgery. “They were an expansion team in the Stanley Cup final. It wasn’t a fluke. They worked for it. They were coached extremely well and everyone worked for each other and I think that could be our team right now. We have an excellent coach, we have the best goalie in the world, we have a lot of great forwards who can play anywhere up and down. It’s not about one guy or two guys carrying our team. It’s going to be a team effort and I think everybody’s got that attitude right now where we’re really looking forward to starting.
“I think we’re really looking forward to proving people wrong.”
There ... I did it. It’s amazing what a rose-coloured visor can do.