For the first time since 1995, I can follow and write about a Canadiens organization that is solid from top to bottom.
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I was sorry to miss American Thanksgiving with my sister in Colorado this year, especially after she told me that she was going easy on the baking this year by making only six pies.
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I was contemplating the holiday this weekend, thinking about things that make me thankful, like the last time I was in the Colorado for Thanksgiving and on Black Friday morning as I was leaving to drive to Seattle, her son noticed that the tires on my Hertz rental were as bald as Mark Messier. I swapped the car off and two days later I was caught in a whiteout blizzard crossing the Continental Divide in Wyoming between Riverton and Jackson Hole.
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Bald tires and I would have been off a 500-foot drop on either side of the road. I looked desperately for a place to pull over but saw none. Mercifully, the new winter tires held and at the bottom of the descent, a Wyoming Highway Patrol officer waved me over to the side. “You’re lucky you made it,” he said. “We’ve closed the road. You’re likely the last one through.”
So I’m thankful for that. And thankful that, for the first time since 1995, I can follow and write about a Canadiens organization that is solid from top to bottom. You can argue with that appraisal if you wish, but I’ve seen enough bad in 30 years spent writing sports columns to recognize something good when I see it.
The Canadiens may have been out of the playoff race by American Thanksgiving, but the rebuild is on track. The pieces are falling into place. And they have the perfect coach for this team at this time in Martin St. Louis.
Yes, St. Louis is absorbing the blame every time Justin Barron loses track of his man or Christian Dvorak passes to the wrong team. St. Louis was a great player, but he can’t take the place of every young defenseman or mediocre veteran on the roster. It’s Montreal — there are always segments of the fans and media who want the coach outta town, no matter who it is.
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Finally, I’m grateful for Columbus. So many things came together in Columbus Wednesday night. The Canadiens won a game in overtime. They won after conceding the first goal. They got goals from every member of what was (and will be) their top line. They got a road win with backup Cayden Primeau in goal. They got to see how very smart Lane Hutson is with the play that led to Nick Suzuki’s winning goal in overtime.
Juraj Slafkovský didn’t just get the monkey off his back, he tossed it into the cheap seats with a big-league goal and an assist. Emil Heineman, easily the surprise of the season to date, scored his fifth goal of the young season with an effort that was equal parts speed, skill and sheer determination.
Kirby Dach inched back toward finding his game. After practice Tuesday, Dach told reporters (including my mentor, Zeke Herbowsky) how tough it’s been: “In terms of my game, it’s frustrating offensively. I haven’t been feeling what I normally can do out there. It just takes time, but it sucks waiting for time. You’re trying to speed it up. It’s tough missing a year and coming back.”
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“It’s tough missing a year and coming back.” Is anyone listening? Does anyone care? “It just takes time.” That applies to more than Dach. It applies to this entire very young team. It will apply to Patrik Laine when he tries to return from another injury, perhaps as soon as this weekend. It applies if the Canadiens opt to keep hard-luck Rafaël Harvey-Pinard on the roster and he attempts to regain the form that impressed the club two seasons ago.
It applies to Slafkovský if he goes into a slump, and Barron, and Hutson and even Cole Caufield, who broke out of a relatively brief slump of his own when he scored his 13th goal of the season against Columbus.
The Canadiens face a tough weekend, with back-to-back afternoon road games against the Rangers and Bruins. At the end of December, the annual holiday death march looms like the cavern of doom for a team that has been more down than up.
But the last thing this team needs is another revolving-door coaching change. It’s been going on since I wrote my first stories about the Canadiens when Jean Perron was coach. Since the last Stanley Cup 31 years ago, the Habs have burned through Jacques Demers, Jacques Laperrière briefly, Mario Tremblay, Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Gainey again, Jacques Martin, Randy Cunneyworth, Therrien again, Julien again, Dominique Ducharme and St. Louis.
How many coaches on that list really had to be fired? Tremblay, Therrien the second time, Ducharme. Cunneyworth through no fault of his own.
And what was the result? Years of mediocrity and failure. Change for the sake of change.
Listen to Kirby Dach. “It just takes time.”
And be thankful that no matter what else happens this weekend, Mario Tremblay will not be running Patrick Roy out of town.
jacktodd46@yahoo.com
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