Canadiens Notebook: On Roy, Armia, starting roster and St. Louis' confidence

BROSSARD, Que. — We didn’t see it going this way, and we’re certain Joshua Roy didn’t either.

If you had asked us 18 days ago where we thought the skilled winger would slot into the Montreal Canadiens’ opening-night roster, we’d have confidently penned him into the team’s top nine. 

Roy had to be envisioning himself there, too. 

It would at least partially explain why the 21-year-old couldn’t quite muster the required urgency to lock down his spot in Montreal.

The other part of why Roy is starting in Laval is simple: Emil Heineman, Oliver Kapanen, Alex Barre-Boulet, and even Michael Pezzetta, played as though nothing for them was guaranteed and, as Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said after Monday’s practice, they earned what Roy didn’t.

“I think that it’s probably a combination of his camp and other players’ camps. At the end of the day, it’s an internal competition,” added St. Louis. “Josh knows how I feel about him, he knows I like him as a player. He’s got a few things that he didn’t really show us in this camp that I would like him to come back and show us.”

Roy will have that opportunity in short order if Monday’s decision lit a fire under him. 

He was a motivated player who proved more than useful to the Canadiens over his 23 games last season. He ranked in the top five of virtually all advanced statistical categories forwards are measured by — from corsi to expected goals to high-danger shot attempts etc. — and showed the same elite hockey sense that allowed him to post 97 goals and 218 points over his last 111 games in the Quebec-Maritimes Junior Hockey League before posting 13 goals and 32 points in his first 31 American Hockey League games. He showed he has what it takes from last January to March, when his season was cut short due to a hand injury.

But for Roy to stick in the NHL now, he needs to show it with far greater consistency than he did throughout this camp.

That was made clear to the Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Que., native.

“It’s to keep pushing,” St. Louis said. “We know he has a very good ceiling, and I think he’d be the first to tell you he didn’t show that ceiling enough from the beginning of camp to now. But we know it’s there. We believe in the player and know he has good qualities to be a good NHL player. Now he has to show that he can find his place. All young players have to find that consistency. And the more you have that consistency, the higher you raise your floor. 

“In general, Josh has an NHL computer, and now he’s got to work on everything else.”

Heineman, Kapanen, Barre-Boulet and Pezzetta must do the same. 

It’s not because they’re starting the season in Montreal that they’re guaranteed permanent residency with the Canadiens. 

That goes for almost everyone named to Monday’s roster.

“It’s set for today,” said St. Louis. “The behaviour of your team, the individual behaviour (informs decisions). That’s why we have 23 men. Some guys can come in and out. We have a team in Laval—if some guys aren’t performing (in Montreal), some guys can come up. You have to earn every day, and I think that’s the kind of approach that we take.”

Lane Hutson earns spot, will have opportunity to earn more

There wasn’t much doubt Lane Hutson would be on the Canadiens’ roster to start the season. 

Now we’ll see how far up the lineup he can play himself.

The dynamic defenceman is starting next to David Savard at five-on-five and anchoring the second unit of the power play, but when you hear St. Louis talk about how he views Hutson, you know he’ll have the chance to earn more responsibility as time moves along.

There’s no trepidation from the coach about the five-foot-nine, 162-pounder. None in terms of the offence he can provide, and none on the defensive side either.

“So far, he hasn’t made me think that he can’t defend,” St. Louis said. “I think he plays with a tremendous amount of pace. He’s got mental pace, but his feet are quick so he’s able to close. And he reads the game really well. He’s not going to defend the same way as a (Kaiden) Guhle, but so far what he’s shown me is he can take care of that part of the job.”

Hutson’s ability to do it consistently—as the pace picks up in games that actually matter—will dictate how much more responsibility he can assume.

It’s not a stretch to think it’s a lot, based on what Hutson has already shown.

“He attacks ice, he attacks space with and without the puck,” said St. Louis. “He sees the play develop before they do. And when he doesn’t have a lot of space, he’s really good at creating space. 

“An elite player doesn’t need a lot of space to create stuff. An average player probably needs a little more space. I feel, for him, he can get in a phone booth and create space.”

Joel Armia fills space initially designated to Patrik Laine

It’s one of the better stories of this Canadiens camp—a veteran player who was waived at the beginning of last season completely rewriting the script by the end of this training camp.

Armia isn’t guaranteed to stay on a line with Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach, and he’s got big skates to fill to bring what injured forward Patrik Laine was hoping to provide the Canadiens this season.

But the 31-year-old, who was drafted 16^th overall in 2016 by the Buffalo Sabres, scored 17 goals in 66 games last season and appears poised to fill an offensive role to start this one.

“I think it’s the way he’s comported himself,” said St. Louis. “His comportment over the last two months, what he did last year when he came back and what he did in this camp showed he’s a player who deserves this opportunity.”

We’ll see what Armia does to keep it.

St. Louis confident Canadiens will start on time

Even if the coach didn’t get a real semblance for what his entire lineup looks like in a game—after having not dressed it for any of the six pre-season games so the Canadiens could mitigate further risk of injury—he said he has no concerns about it headed into the season.

“I think we’re going to be ready,” St. Louis added.

His confidence appears to be mainly rooted in what the Canadiens showed at even strength in the pre-season. 

And St. Louis doesn’t seem to be worried at all about the team’s 0-for-30 run on the power play.

“I’m very encouraged our five-on-five game is going to be the foundation of our success,” St. Louis said. “Special teams? Yeah, (our power play could be running at 30 per cent right now and they’d probably be talking about, ‘Well, they did it against American Hockey League players.

“Overall game, I think I’m very comfortable. The power play? I’m kind of happy that we haven’t showed any team anything. To me, that’s a positive. If we were running at 33 per cent and in the first game we go 0-for-6, who cares about that? 

“I know we’re going to get judged (starting) now, and to me, I would’ve hoped that maybe we would’ve clicked on it, but at the end of the day I’m happy they’ve seen nothing.”

The Canadiens power play had better show the Toronto Maple Leafs something come Wednesday at the Bell Centre, and St. Louis knows it.

It was a major focus for the coach on Monday, as was the penalty kill, with all potential participants on both special teams spending an extra 30 minutes on the ice following main practice.

That will remain a work in progress, but St. Louis is satisfied with where the Canadiens are overall.

“Our collective game, the things we attacked, I feel we’re way ahead from where we were last year,” he said. “Having the chance to see our final product (where everyone’s at together)? Maybe we’re a bit behind, but I don’t think we’re the only ones due to the types of games we played. Not just us, but everyone around the league.

“It’ll take a game to know where we are for sure, but on the collective plan and the stuff we worked on I feel we’re ahead of where we were last year.”