Canadiens' attempt to develop and win exemplified in victory over Canucks

New York Times

12-03-2025

VANCOUVER — Juraj Slafkovský is three years younger than Jayden Struble, but how they are at different stages of their respective development is indicative of a line the Montreal Canadiens are trying to straddle right now.
Because Slafkovský has far more NHL experience than Struble despite their age gap. Struble was drafted in this city one round after the Canadiens made Cole Caufield their first-round pick at the 2019 draft, and the difference between their two stages of development is just as stark.
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Slafkovský, Caufield and their captain and linemate Nick Suzuki are driving the Canadiens' bus right now while Struble is simply attempting to secure a seat, but that has importance for the present and future.
And all four of those players combining to score an important goal for the Canadiens in a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday demonstrated to some extent how they are straddling that line and developing players at different stages all at once.
Let's start with Struble, who was at Justin Barron's last supper with the team and whose spot in the lineup was effectively blocked by the arrival of Alexandre Carrier via trade. He was puzzled at the time as to what he did wrong, but realized over the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off that he needed more urgency in his game, to treat every shift like it might be his last.
But that can have a countereffect as well, because if you are paralyzed with fear that every shift might be your last if you make a mistake that costs the team, that doesn't allow you to make a play like the one Struble made on that goal scored by Caufield. It takes freedom to make a play like that, one where Struble collected a puck deep in his own zone and fired a cross-ice pass to the opposite blue line to Slafkovský.
Le 1er trio des Canadiens! 🔥🔥🔥
Le 32e but de la saison de Cole Caufield! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/N1d2uqZsnQ
— RDS (@RDSca) March 12, 2025
'There was just no thought,' Struble said. 'Just go to him.'
Struble's playing some good hockey on a pair with Lane Hutson, taking full advantage of not only the opening Kaiden Guhle's injury provided him but the decision by Canadiens management to carry the minimum six defencemen on the roster right now. Coach Martin St. Louis — who expressed rather severe disappointment in Struble earlier this season — has no choice but to play him right now, and he's liked what he's seen.
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'He's played very well,' St. Louis said. 'I think he's giving us a bit of everything. I think he's defending pretty good and he's starting the offence with a good breakout pass. He's keeping things simple, but I think he's been very efficient with his decision-making.'
But that decision to throw that long cross-ice pass to Slafkovský doesn't just happen organically. It takes a body of work that allows you to permit yourself the freedom to take that decision, which was the right decision but involved a quick risk assessment that a player paralyzed by fear would be unable to make.
'I think I just felt good today, the passes were just kind of connecting,' Struble said. 'When you're like that, it's easy to just play free and do what your first instinct is. That was just it.'
So now, to the recipient of that pass. Slafkovský fully expected Struble to make that pass, which speaks to a confidence in your teammates that is vital to any team's success.
'Because that's how we play, that's how we groove,' Slafkovský said when asked why he expected that pass. 'That's how we want to play, quick to the other side. If the puck comes to one side, usually on the other side there's less players. I was going there already hoping that if he sees me, he's going to put it there. He made a great play, and then Suzy made an unbelievable pick up because it wasn't a great puck.'
Speaking of confidence, why was that not a great puck?
'He had to take it with the backhand,' Slafkovský said. 'I don't think I would have picked it up.'
This play was part of Slafkovský's first three-point night of the season. He is someone who defines himself by points. It did him some good.
But Slafkovský's development in the NHL has been happening for longer than Struble's, and his effectiveness right now is largely based on something he rejected as a rookie. It took him a while, but Slafkovský has come to accept that his big body means he will best facilitate his line and his team by being a consistent presence at the net front.
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It is something he has been doing since the return from the 4 Nations break, and it was not something he was doing consistently before.
'I'm a big guy, I screen the goalie, maybe sometimes two guys get on top of me, they try to box me out and then it opens up someone else,' he said. 'Then Cole or Suzy skate around, create some confusion for them, and then I can pop out or something. Because I feel like I'm maybe not the fastest guy out of the corner, but if I'm net front and then I jump to the side of the net or stuff like that, and playing with two skilled guys they can make those little plays.
'If I'm net front and he beats his guy, it can create a little two-on-one or a little three-on-two because of just the presence, just being there.'
Back when he was a rookie, Slafkovský refused to be defined by his size. He had hands, he knew how to use them. But he has come to understand that this is the best league in the world, every little advantage you have needs to be optimized, and his biggest advantage is his size. That doesn't mean he can't use his hands, but he needs to optimize his biggest advantage by going to the front of that net and allowing his line to benefit from it because it's necessary.
'Well,' he said, 'we're not going to put Cole there.'
This has been a key element to the line's success. Slafkovský's presence at the net front, just being there, has created tons of room for Suzuki and Caufield to operate.
'You need that on a line, you can't have three perimeter guys,' St. Louis said. 'I'm not saying Suzy and Cole are perimeter guys, but they're going to control the puck a little more than Slaf, and they should. And Slaf should be around the net. And when they get stuck and they throw the puck around the net or below the goal line, Slaf gets involved again, wins pucks for us and extends O-zone.'
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This, too, is development, but Slafkovský's had more time to figure that out than Struble, because they are at different stages of their development but are doing it simultaneously within the context of a Canadiens playoff chase, a context in which St. Louis readily admits there is less rope given for development when results are so important, because results can lead to a playoff berth where this development can continue.
'When we started this, we had a lot of young players and we wanted to teach them how to play together, and I think the development part that we're doing right now is learning how to win and play close, tight games,' St. Louis said before the game. 'That's part of development. It's more like decision-making development, the risk management, versus development where, hey, this is how we play with five guys on the ice, this is how we support each other.'
This is what has made it more difficult for guys like Struble or rookies Lane Hutson and Emil Heineman because it's like they need to jump on a moving train.
'Those guys, unfortunately for them, are jumping in at a different stage than our team, so the rope is probably not as long,' St. Louis said. 'Especially with where we are.'
The Canadiens' win in Vancouver, coupled with losses in regulation time by the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers, left them two points out of a playoff spot with 18 games to play. The games remain meaningful for the second-youngest team in the league. And they are demonstrating you can develop and prioritize results all at once.
They have guys riding that moving train and guys jumping on when it matters most.