Stu Cowan: Canadiens’ Ben Chiarot looks to imitate coach Luke Richardson

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It’s fun to see Luke Richardson on the ice during Canadiens practice.

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The 52-year-old assistant coach is still in good shape. He retired as a player in 2008 after 21 NHL seasons, but he doesn’t look out of place when engaging in drills with Canadiens players or skating laps with them on training ground.

Richardson made the jump straight to the NHL as an 18-year-old defender after being selected seventh overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1987 NHL Draft. He played in 1,417 NHL games in his career, posting totals of 35 -166-201 and 2,055 penalty minutes.

At 6ft 4in and 210lbs, Richardson was a guy you didn’t want to get on the ice with.

“He was just playing like two years ago, right?” Canadiens defender Ben Chiarot said with a smile when asked about Richardson after Wednesday’s practice at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

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“It is quite identical to what I am trying to emulate in my career,” Chiarot added. “A guy who played for a long time, he played a tough and nasty style. A leader. So it’s pretty much exactly what I’m trying to do with my career. I couldn’t have a better guy to work with every day. He’s fine.

“Not only that, but he’s a great guy off the ice. All the boys love it. I’ve said this before … guys would walk through a wall for him, especially the Gs he works with every day. He’s a type of character that we all love. “

Chiarot played a lot like Richardson during the Canadiens’ run to the Stanley Cup final last season as part of the team’s “Four Clydesdales” on defense. This is how Richardson called Chiarot, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson, who averaged more than 23 minutes of ice time per game.

“Two months of just exhausting,” Chiarot said of the playoff run. “I mean, you hear guys talk about it since you were a kid. You’re watching the playoffs and you hear the guys talking about how difficult it is. And then when you go through it … I’ve been to the final of the conference (with the Winnipeg Jets) and I knew what it felt like and reaching the final was even one step further. How difficult those games get, how exhausted you feel.

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“He’s almost the one who breaks first when it comes to those series … who is going to break.” “We show as a group here that we have incredible stamina and just a few balls is the best way to put it. When those games get deep and the guys get tired, we have a group here that surpasses it and that is what gives teams success in the playoffs, is who can dig a little deeper and not break before the other team. . So that would be the most important thing we got out of our playoff streak.

“Excuse my lack of a better word there, but that’s the best way I could put it – we had some guts throughout the postseason.”

At the end of Wednesday’s practice, head coach Dominique Ducharme conducted a drill in which two players start at one end of the ice and compete against each other for a loose puck just outside the opposite end’s blue line before going in and shooting. to the goalkeeper. Chiarot won almost every race he participated in. At 6ft 3in and 225lbs, it is surprisingly fast.

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“Often the bigger guys, they don’t look that fast and they get going,” Ducharme said when asked about Chiarot’s speed. “Ben is one of those guys where he’s pretty efficient in the way he skates and can move.”

With captain Shea Weber not expected to play this season due to injuries, Chiarot said he is ready to take on a bigger role at the blue line. He will also have a new partner with the loss of Weber and in Wednesday practice he was paired with newcomer Sami Niku after starting training camp with Mattias Norlinder, who is expected to be out of the game for another four to five days for a minor injury.

“I don’t think you replace a Hall of Fame player,” Chiarot said of Weber. “He is such a great presence in the room, everyone knows it. We bring in David Savard, he’s obviously not Shea Weber, but he’s a great, good, solid defender. Play a steady game, which is very similar to Shea. So I hope that we can continue with what we have established here in the type of defense that we play.

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“I sat next to Shea every day,” Chiarot added. “I spoke to him every day. He was probably my best friend on the team. The guy I did the most things with. I learned a lot from him in the way he handles himself and his leadership style. No one’s going to be Shea Weber, but if I can be a little part of him, I think I’ll be happy with that. “

A little piece of Weber and a little piece of Richardson is a pretty good mix for Chiarot.

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