Habs Mailbag: What Canadiens forward lines could look like in playoffs
With the salaries players earn in the NHL, it would take a real passion for the game to want to get into coaching afterward.
St. Louis and New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy are two examples of that.
I asked St. Louis a couple of years ago why he thinks he and Roy are the only two Hall of Fame players coaching in the NHL.
“The No. 1 thing for me is the commitment,” St. Louis said. “It’s not a 9-5, five-days-a-week (job). It’s 24/7, I feel. Everything in life comes at a price. You’re giving up something to do that. The time with your family and, I assume, a lot of guys want to be around their family, probably. I think for Patrick now vs. maybe when he was (coaching) in Colorado, I think his kids are older. For me, I was fortunate enough to have kids at a young age that I felt I was ready to (coach in NHL) because my kids were older, too. But everything comes at a price. I think it’s the commitment that comes with the job.”
The two current Canadiens players I could most see becoming coaches — because of the way they see the game, their intelligence and their personalities and communication skills — are Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson.
Might you sense the vibe on how the Canadiens will come out playing after the Olympic break? Or is it anyone’s guess at this point?
Ed Helinski
I’m sure the Canadiens will be pumped up coming out of the Olympic break, with their first game in three weeks next Thursday at the Bell Centre against the New York Islanders (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS). But so will all the other teams battling for a playoff spot, like the Canadiens were last season following the 4 Nations Face-Off break in the schedule.
The Canadiens had a 25-26-5 record ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off break last season and then went 15-5-6 in their last 26 games to earn the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They’re in much better shape this season — with a 32-17-8 record and sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division heading into the Olympic break — after going 4-0-1 in their last five games.
“It’s not going to get any easier,” Brendan Gallagher said Tuesday after the Canadiens held their first practice of the Olympic break. “I think you’re going to see a lot of desperation in a lot of teams, and it’s going to be important for us to pick up where we left off.”
According to Hockey-Reference.com the Canadiens’ odds of making the playoffs this season are 88.7 per cent.
