Jack Todd: The Canadiens suck at losing this season

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This tank job is not going well.

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For those keeping score from the cheap seats, the Canadiens are, at the time of this writing, in a four-way tie for third place in the Atlantic Division, with the Sabers and Red Wings holding the lead with a game in hand.

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They are ahead of the mighty Toronto Maple Leafs and a young Ottawa Senators team that was expected to make a big jump up the standings this season. They have even scored more goals than the Leafs through nine games, with only Cole Caufield one goal fewer than Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares combined.

It is unlikely to last. Teams find their level during a brutally long NHL season. The Leafs won’t finish out of the playoffs and Matthews won’t keep scoring to Hal Gill’s pace, but it’s more fun to watch this exciting young Canadiens team than at any time since Pierre Turgeon was traded for Shayne Corson. and probably with a greater advantage.

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It would still be too optimistic to expect this team to make the playoffs, or Caufield to score 50 goals, or the Habs to finish ahead of the loaded Leafs at the end of the season. But things are coming together faster than anyone imagined, and Martin St. Louis is such a perfect fit for this group that it’s unreasonably pessimistic to think they’ll be on the hunt for Connor Bedard.

Tank work for Bedard was fool’s gold from the start. The draft doesn’t come with guarantees, no matter how much effort you put into losing. Buffalo lost the lottery to Edmonton and got Jack Eichel, whose career can best be summed up as “not Connor McDavid and never will be.”

This draft is different in that there are at least four elite players at the top, so many that it’s not inconceivable that Bedard himself, like Shane Wright, would drop a peg or two. The 2023 draft will go even deeper at top-tier forwards, which is what the Canadiens need if they’re going to become true contenders in the next three or four seasons.

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For the moment, it is enough to see Nick Suzuki and Caufield operate. Like all great snipers, Caufield can do more with less space than mere mortals. Give it a ray of light and the puck is on the net.

Adds up to a very leaky tank job. But it sure is fun to watch.

Then there’s that other coach… St. Louis has done great things in this city, but it will have to do some to match Wilfried Nancy, who led CF Montréal from nothing to the third-best record in Major League Soccer before the club fell victim to his personal kryptonite. in the way. from New York City FC in the second round of the playoffs.

That result has to earn Nancy, entering the final year of her contract, a hefty extension. Some eyebrows were raised when sporting director Olivier Renard said after the team was eliminated that Nancy is under contract with Montreal for next season without elaborating.

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Team President Gabriel Gervais stopped by RDS during the week and cleared things up a bit. Gervais just said that Nancy’s return is one of his top priorities and that he hopes to have good news for fans in the coming weeks, but he should know that Nancy holds all the cards for her. If you want to see an angry fan base, check with CF Montréal fans to see if the club let Nancy escape.

Nancy has shown that she can not only develop young players (a must in Montreal), but that she can also win while developing them. You don’t let a guy like that get away.

Lies, rumors &&&& vicious innuendos: A little esoteric, perhaps, but we’d like to see Christian Dvorak’s hat-trick goal song taken from its namesake, composer Antonin Dvořák, New World Symphony. One Dvorak punch serves another. …

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Pleasantly surprised to see Genie Bouchard making an impact and winning matches. For a long time it looked like Bouchard would slide comfortably into a broadcaster career (which she’s good at), but she has struggled and, at 28, is still young enough to be a factor on the WTA tour if she can. put it all together. . …

Samuel Montembeault can sometimes be seen as a guy who can lead a hockey team for 50 games or more. His performance against Buffalo was one of those games. He’s big, he’s young, he’s healthy, is it possible that he could be a long-term solution? …

World Series? Did someone say World Series? I don’t know, if there is one, the games are ending too late for me.

Heroes: Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak, Samuel Montembeault, Jordan Harris, Summer McIntosh, Maggie MacNeilFélix Auger-Aliassime, Djordje Mihailovic &&&& last but not least, Wilfried Nancy.

zeros: Soccer Canadahockey canada Kyrie IrvingDanny Maciocia, digital skating rink ads, the chaotic Maple Leafs, Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and always.

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