Habs DO Have a Theme This Season, Early Impressions of Training Camp, Slafkovsky Exit Interview

Habs DO Have a Theme This Season, Early Impressions of Training Camp, Slafkovsky Exit Interview

What’s up, guys? Thanks for tuning in to the video today. It has already been a full week since the prospect showdown in Montreal, and man, it’s gone by fast. We’ve already got a ton of stuff that’s come out of Canadians camp, out of the golf tournament. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you guys much since the golf tournament, but I will say this that even though there wasn’t actually a direct theme that came out of the Montreal Golf Tournament or direct messaging that came from the Canadians like it did last year when the theme was or the message was in the mix. I’ve kind of come up with my own here and you can decide if you agree with it or not. And I don’t really care if the Canadians have a theme or not. But what’s kind of come out to me that I’ve been reading into from hearing all from Jeff Gorton, from Kent Hughes, from Jeff Molson, from the Canadians players, the theme that’s come out for me so far is calm confidence. If you guys have ever watched better human, better pet with Caesar Milan, aka the dog whisperer, yes, that’s where the inspiration for this name came from. But I really do believe that that name is actually describing the way the Canadians are presenting themselves. sort of the feeling or the vibe that you get when they talk in training camp and in their press press press press conferences. That’s what’s come out to me so far is calm confidence. The Canadians are really looking to take a major step this next season. I say major, but I really believe the Canadians are confident and they know themselves that they expect this year to be a playoff team. I think as fans, we all should also. And some of the teams that are going to be vying to fight for that last last playoff spot the way the Canadians did last year are going to be climbing up. And I’m not going to get into who that’s going to be yet, but the Canadians to me, this feels like in a way their playoff spot to lose this year. They had everything to gain by making the playoffs last year. And those five games of experience really did add a lot of muchneeded experience for this still the youngest team in the NHL, especially at that time, the youngest team in the NHL to make the Stanley Cup playoffs when they did last season. There are so many storylines that we could talk about. And let me just say upfront here that looking at the scrimmages, the practices they’ve had in just a few days here of training camp so far, I’d love to say I could give you a lineup prediction, but right now all I know is it’s still very much going to be a battle in training camp. It’s already been quite the battle and we’ve seen some pairings sort of develop early on. I think sort of the two lines or pairings that I think are jumping out that probably could have a good chance of sticking together a lot of this season or most or all of it is the pairing on defense first of all of Mike Mat who looks just rejuvenated and relieved to have a right-handed shot pairing defenseman in Noah Dobson. It looks like they’re going to be playing together this season at the very outset most likely at the start. And I think that Jake Evans, Brandon Gallagher, Josh Anderson as a line, as a trio, they very much look like they could be a line this season. The fourth line to me, if you even want to call it that, because I know Marty St. He loves to roll four lines and doesn’t necessarily like to number his lines, but the biggest battle to me is going to be on the fourth line on whoever is going to be positioned at center, left, or right wing. Because last year, Jake Evans was the fourth line centerman. And he’s also lost two of his wingers and now maybe getting a promotion, if you will, to the third line, however they decide to roll them out. But if Evans Gallagher Anderson ends up being your fourth line, that’s not a bad thing either. It’s pretty interesting to see Owen Beck actually being placed on the wing in training camp here. He actually played a bit of the wing for the first time in his pro career and even maybe looking at his junior career, I don’t think he played much wing either. He’s been more of a center, but he’s been playing the wing here so far at training camp. Beck played on the right wing today with Alex New Hook at center and Buluk on the left wing. And I got to say that looking at the lines, I’m thinking like Buluk is some people feel like is going to make the top six or play in the top six at some point this season, which I think is very possible, but I’m like looking at these lines and I just have no idea where Bul Duke is going to fit on this lineup yet. What we know from Bul Duke also is he has an amazing shot. He can play on the power play. He’s likely going to play in the second power play unit. But as far as who’s going to make this team out of training camp, I think that’s the one thing we can agree on that is of very much interest to us as fans right now. Marty St. Louis mentioned how Owen Beck specifically when he’s playing his game, he’s playing physical, he’s playing smart, he’s being playing responsible defensively, he’s getting in on the forche. And I can tell you that from at least the rookie game, it looked to me and I noticed Owen Beck playing a more physical game that I’ve seen him play in the past couple years here. When it comes down to it, I do think and I kind of agree with Tony Marinero in this one. I kind of expect Joe Valeno to make this Canadians lineup, not because he’s going to have it have the job handed to him. He’s got a lot to prove. He’s on a one-year one-way deal with the Canadians, which means he’s not waivers exempt. So, if he makes this team and earns his spot on this Canadians team, he’s been a centerman in the past, as we know, and I know I learned my lesson. Joe Valeno is not a faceoff specialist. That being said, Owen Beck in his junior career was a faceoff specialist. So, do we see some version of Owen Beck, Kenan, and Joe Valeno forming your fourth line? Also auditioning for that spot will be yes, Florian Jackie and Samuel Blle. So, I think Ble could be the 13th forward maybe, or maybe it’s going to be Joe Valeno. You don’t want to give Florian Jackie, you’re going to give him ice time pretty much from here is what I’m trying to say. To me, looking at Florian and Jackeye playing alongside Tuck and Thorp, that sounds like a pretty darn good line for Laval this season, and those guys could log a ton of minutes, and that’s what I expect is that Florian Jackie will go to the Laval Rocket. I think he’ll be one of the last cuts at training camp this season. That’s what I believe. But we’re also going to get a chance to see some of these guys in exhibition games, too. Speaking of getting a chance to see some players in exhibition games, we saw a bit of a tender moment from Kirby Doc today. Let’s just say that uh I just prayed for Kirby Doc. And I’m going to keep praying for Kirby, by the way. Kirby had a bit of a what almost looked like a knee-on knee collision with Arbor Jackie in practice or actually during the scrimmage today. And Kirby went back to the bench and you could just see that there was a bit of uh bit of a moment of maybe reliving some of the trauma that he’s experienced with his injuries. But Lord help him, keep him healthy, keep him unafraid, I think is the one big thing. And also one of the biggest things that came out of the Canadians golf tournament was Jeff Gorton, one of the first ones to speak at the golf tournament and he said that they have a plan in place to have Kirby Doc ready for opening night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That was really encouraging to hear because we know that the plan is to have Kirby Doc be healthy. And what the also encouraging thing about Kirby summer was he didn’t not he didn’t not only work on his rehab, he also worked on his conditioning. And it did seem like Kirby really needed to have again like your Slavovsky a better start to his season than he did last year. I saw some of the same things from Slavovsky and Kirby Doc against the Vegas Golden Knights last year in late November when I went to see the Canadians and there was some intensity missing. There was some defensive play that was lackluster and those guys both specifically helped contribute to goals against for the Canadians in that game that I went to. But Slavovsky mentioned, and this is a big thing I want to bring up too, is that if you watch the Crave series, the last episode that just aired, there was only one exit meeting that the Canadians actually showed behind the scenes of at the end of last season after the Canadians got eliminated by the Capitals in five games, and that was the exit interview with Uri Slavkovski, Kent Hughes, and Jeff Gordon, not necessarily grilling Slavovski, but asking him, “What do you think you could do to have a better start of your season?” because Slavsky was not happy with his game out of the gate. And like I mentioned, Kirby Doc wasn’t either. But Slavovsky’s interview was showed for good reason. They have a lot of faith and belief in this guy. He’s still a kid. He’s still 21. He’s not even a full grown man yet. And when he grows into that mentally, physically, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in the NHL. Kent Hughes specifically asked Slavowski, “Did you see the effect that Tom Wilson had in that series against the Canadians?” Kent Hughes said to Slavkovski, “That could have been you. You could have taken him on. I don’t know if he meant in a fist fight, but he could have played up to the physical capabilities that Tom Wilson brought to the game. There is so much more to be had from Slavsky’s game, and you know, the Canadian staff are craving it out of him. Even more so, we know how hard Slav has been on himself. So, I expect a great start for him. I expect a good start, a healthy start for Kirby Doc. Lord be with him.” and also for the Canadians themselves. You can tell how important it is going to be for the Canadians to have a good start this season. Marty St. Louis just said today their approach so far in training camp has been all business. It’s not overly intense to the point where they feel like they have to prove it to the fans or prove it even to themselves, but they know what they have to do to take the next step. They’re very, very aware, especially getting a taste of playoff hockey last year. I can’t believe I haven’t even mentioned him yet, but I’m not going to get a chance to talk about everybody that stood out in camp so far. But Arbor Jackie, Marty St. Louis, particularly complimentary about Arbor Jackie and the way he has prepared for this training camp and what he’s already showing so far in training camp. Eric Engel’s tweeting out both days in a two days in a row about how Arbor Jackie is everywhere. He’s all over the ice. He’s getting involved. It seems like he’s making better reads defensively. He’s playing physical when he needs to. He’s playing smarter when he needs to. Also, we’ve seen Demidov and Patrick Line already lighting it up together. We hear the confidence and the joy that Patrick L has. And I love how how he had a sense of humor about playing with Demov. And they asked him, you know, how do you feel about playing with Demov? And he’s like, and they’re like, he’s like, how do you well, how does how does Debov feel about playing with me? He gets to play with me. Got to love the confidence out of Patrick Line. I’m not going to get into predictions for stats this season, but let me just tell you that this Canadians lineup this season. Get ready because they are not going to disappoint. Any season will have its ups and downs, its highs and lows, what have you, what have you. Its es and flows, but this Canadians team, they are taking it seriously. They are all business as Marty St. Louis said. And I’m just I’m really excited, like I hope a lot of you are, about this season, and I can’t wait to see the Canadians play some exhibition games. Whether preseason means nothing to you or not, it’s going to mean something to these players cuz some of them are are auditioning for jobs here. That’s all I got, guys. What a training camp so far. I love the calm confidence coming from these Canadians right now. That’s the theme I’m going to go with for me. That’s the vibe I’m getting out of this team or the messaging, if you will. You can sense it. You can feel it. And uh there’s a lot of anticipation around this season for good reason. They’re going to take a good step forward and they’re going to be a fun hockey team to watch. Let’s enjoy this. Hit like on the video, guys. Hit subscribe if you haven’t already. Thank you so much. It’s so good to be back getting into it here with you all. Go Habs. Go. Love you guys. Bless you all. See you soon.

The Montreal Canadiens have a theme or message for the 2025-2026 season and I reveal it here. Early impressions of Habs training camp so far, and talking about Juraj Slafkovsky’s exit interview with Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes in the final episode of The Rebuild series on Crave.

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