Canadiens St-Louis Details Shift In Philosophy For Young Defence

Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis has shifted his approach with his young defensive brigade, beginning a new phase in their developmental path.

The Canadiens’ defence has had an interesting ascension over this past season, with encouraging signs coming from some of their youngsters over the last few weeks thanks to some notable steps in their development.

Head coach Martin St-Louis has spoken about trying to use this season to build up the future of the Montreal Canadiens on the back end; but he broke down his strategy in a little more detail this weekend.

“We built through that first half and really made sure that guys were confident and free, so to speak; but still inside our concept,” said St-Louis about the shift in approach with his defensive brigade halfway through the season. “I think, in the second half, it’s more about building our brand and let’s play for the logo.”

When looking at the underlying numbers from the first half of the season below, it’s fairly obvious to point out those who excelled and those who struggled.

Based on the graph below, one would think that the trio of Arber Xhekaj, Johnathan Kovacevic and Jordan Harris were the Canadiens’ three most dependable defencemen on average.

However, it’s important to note that Kaiden Guhle and David Savard had much tougher even-strength deployment; focusing on shutting down the opposition’s top players; while the aforementioned trio played more strategic minutes.

However, since January, injuries to the likes of Mike Matheson, Joel Edmundson and Kaiden Guhle have pushed this young trio up the Canadiens’ defensive depth chart.

With added minutes, half a season of experience and some newfound confidence playing under St-Louis, they’ve maintained their underlying numbers against better competition with the increased ice time.

In fact, the duo of Harris and Kovacevic haven’t flinched at all in the face of significant adversity over the last six weeks; instead building on their safe, two-way game by adding new offensive elements that hadn’t been seen before.

Even Xhekaj was playing exceptionally well defensively over his last five games; lining up on the top pair next to David Savard and displaying much more structure and maturity in his defensive play.

According to St-Louis, it’s all been part of the plan.

“We have a style that we want to play, we have a brand that we’re trying to build. You can’t come in and give them the manual and say that this is the way we want to play. It’s something you have to build.” said St-Louis about his progressive approach with his young defence. “We’ve taken the action of building from the back, defensively and out. Now, we’re starting to bring in detailed offensive concepts, and it shows.”

St-Louis praised his youngsters after their successful back-to-back victories against the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers, where Harris, Kovacevic and even Justin Barron have slowly begun to show more of what they can do outside of the defensive zone.

For the Canadiens bench boss and assistant coach StÉphane Robidas, it’s now time for a new developmental phase; one where his young defence becomes the crux of his club’s transition and offensive game.

“We were very connected. Our passing and our poise under pressure helped us maintain control. To be able to do that, you need a lot of that to come from your defencemen,” said St-Louis when highlighting his added concepts in action during the Canadiens’ victory against the Oilers. “It’s what they gave us tonight, but it’s what we’re building toward having for every game.”

As the Montreal Canadiens continue to work toward becoming the fast and skilled club general manager Kent Hughes has sought out to build, St-Louis’ work with this defensive brigade will be of the utmost importance.

As the old saying goes, “the best offence is a good defence”.