Habs youngsters Tinordi, Beaulieu playing musical defencemen
Shuttling between big club, Bulldogs
The Canadiens have gone from playing musical chairs with their young defencemen to playing musical cities.
Rookies Jarred Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu have been sharing a spot opposite veteran Francis Bouillon on the third defence pair. The challenge has been to give each young player enough ice time to develop, and the Canadiens have come up with a solution that has them commuting between Montreal and Hamilton.
When Tinordi dressed for the Canadiens against the Nashville Predators Saturday night, Beaulieu was on his way to Toronto, where he played for the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs Sunday against the Marlies.
Tinordi watched from the press box Tuesday while Beaulieu faced the Edmonton Oilers. On Wednesday, the Canadiens shipped Tinordi to Hamilton.
“It’s important to give the young players a chance to compete in all situations,” coach Michel Therrien said. “Hamilton has three games coming up this weekend and that will give Jarred a chance to play a lot of minutes.”
Beaulieu will play against the Anaheim Ducks Thursday (7:30 p.m., RDS, TSNHABS, TSN Radio 690), and it appears he will stick around for Saturday’s home game against the San Jose Sharks.
Tinordi, who was a firstround draft pick in 2010, and Beaulieu, who was selected in the first round in 2011, have seen limited ice time in the National Hockey League this season. Tinordi has averaged 12:27 over six games, while Beaulieu has played three games and averaged 11:13.
“Jarred’s a helluva hockey player and it’s part of the process,” Beaulieu said. “I had to go up and down and it’s never fun, seeing it or having it happen to you. But Jarred’s a tough kid and I know he’s going to take it the right way.”
Beaulieu said he was making up for lost time after missing most of training camp with an injury.
“I’m getting some games in, getting into game shape and I’m starting to play my game,” he said.
Therrien had a stock answer when asked whether the Canadiens would continue to rotate the young defencemen.
“It all depends on how they perform,” the coach said.
Did he see a time when one player would emerge as a regular?
“It all depends on how they perform.”
The reader can guess what Therrien said when asked whether there was a chance one of the two could move into the top four on defence.
There is the possibility both players could wind up logging big minutes in Hamilton. The Canadiens have another prospect in Greg Pateryn, who was recalled from Hamilton Wednesday night and has been the Bulldogs’ best defenceman in the early going.
And then there’s veteran Douglas Murray, who is getting closer to returning from a groin injury.
“It’s getting better every day,” said Murray, who has
“I’m getting some games in, getting into game shape and I’m starting to play my game.” NATHAN BEAULIEU
been skating with strength coach Pierre Allard. “I want to start hitting people.”
The Canadiens are hoping to rebound from Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. That game was still fresh in the players’ minds on Wednesday.
Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins said his team took inspiration from some disparaging comments about the Oilers made by Canadiens forward Lars Eller.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” Eller told reporters after practice Wednesday in Brossard.
And he’s not likely to show any disrespect in the future. Eller had a heart-to-heart talk with Therrien Wednesday, and while neither wished to comment on the substance of the meeting, you can be assured Eller was advised to take the Danish equivalent of the Fifth Amendment in the future.
Defenceman Josh Gorges said the Canadiens got away from what works after taking a 2-0 lead against Edmonton.
“If you look at our offence in the games where we’ve taken the lead, it’s not like we’re taking chances,” Gorges said. “We’re playing good, hard, north-south hockey, and that’s when we have success. We force teams into situations where they make turnovers and we capitalize. Our offence shouldn’t come from cutting into the middle, drop passes, tick-tack-toe plays, that’s not our game. When we did that, that’s when we started trading chance for chance, and we don’t want to play that game.”
Gorges agreed with a suggestion that the Canadiens got greedy.
“We had a good first period and we could try some things,” he said. “We thought we could be cute. But suddenly, it’s 2-2 going into the third and one mistake and it’s over.”