Not many supporters, even fewer observers, granted the slightest chance to the Canadian to enter the end of season series this spring.
Against all expectations, CH had the privilege of getting out in five by the eastern champions, Washington’s capitals, a unique chance to add to the experience of a group of players with green green green navel.
Against winds and tides, the players united. Often, without really knowing where the coaches were going, they have gone behind their mentor, their leader.
Martin St-Louis found the words and he forged the path. The players bought the plan, blindly. None of them regret it today.
In professional sport, a motivation element very often comes back: we against the rest of the universe. This adage applied perfectly to the Canadian season. With the nuance that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton should be placed in the “rest of the universe” category.
The tandem of architects of reconstruction probably did not expect to live a fever of the series this spring. It should be remembered that it was the owner Geoff Molson who launched the famous wish to be “in the mix” to my comrade Renaud Lavoie during an end -of -season assessment a year ago.
This vow of the control shareholder found echo at the golf tournament launching the activities of the calendar 2024-2025 in September, without neither Gorton nor Hughes being able to explain with precision what was the precise objective associated with the principle of being “in the mix”.
The actions taken by the duo, and I want to say the inactions, tend to demonstrate that what we have just experienced was for them squarely bonus.
The credit of this admission to the real season is to the players that he returns, as in St-Louis and his assistants.
Was St-Louis perfect? Far from it. But who can claim to be in this world. Certainly, it was much better than less good. His progress behind a bench was very clear this season. The most beautiful illustration is his work during this series against the band in Ovechkin.
Coaching in season and coaching in series is two cases. St-Louis is a brilliant and sensitive man, an embodied winner. He certainly took note of what happened in the five games in the series and he will be much better next time, then the next time.
To get there, however, he will have to receive a much better support from his two patterns. It is nothing less than the twelve works of Asterix version Gorton-Hughes that await the senior leaders of the glorious.
There is a lot of work to do, immense breaches to fill, whether in the top-6 in attack only in terms of depth and robustness in general.
You will never win in this league with 20 Nick Suzuki. Not even with 20 Lane Hutson. But you approach to win by surrounding these great athletes as it should be with what it takes with shortbread paper so that they can work freely and without fear of being taken out by the Tom Wilson of this world.
What the players and St-Louis have accomplished this season is fabulous and rejoicing and great hope. Beware, however, of the rapid conclusions with shortcuts. This league relies on parity and everything will have to be redone in September, because there is no guarantee that the Canadian will be eliminatory series in the spring of 2026.
