CH, Team Cinderella?

At the dawn of the start of the season in the National League, I want to be positive and ask myself the question: Why can’t the Canadians be the Cinderella team in Sharqia?

Why don’t you even participate in the series? I know, you tell me: “Jose, you’ve lost your mind.” And I don’t blame you. Rest assured, this is not an expectation, but I do mention this possibility.

Logically, on April 13, 2023, the Canadian will likely be closer to the bottom of the standings than the 100-point mark, which was the minimum to reach the playoffs in the East last season.

Since CH finished their final season with 55 points, the worst harvest in the NHL, it’s hard to imagine them in the playoffs, but in sports, reasoning sometimes happens to replace the highly improbable.

This was our case in 2001-2002 in Montreal. We had a lot of injuries, our attack was anemic and our captain, Saku Koivu, was diagnosed with cancer. He played his first game only in April.

Veteran Jeff Hackett was in goal, but was injured in mid-October. I took on the job and had the best season of my career. We were able to create harmony and play aggressively, reducing the number of allowed goals.

Against all odds, we qualified and even beat the Boston Bruins, the best club in our league, in the first round of the playoffs.

I’ve been asked a lot how I managed to win the Hart and Vizzina awards that season, and the only answer I could give was: “Because I believed in him.”

But I wasn’t the only one. Every player on our team believed we could achieve something big, and given our talent, that’s what we did.

St. Louis example

Today’s players have the best example before them of someone who has beaten the odds. Their coach is Martin St. Louis. You know his story. He was never recruited, but he reached great heights for one reason and one reason only. secure in it.

In short, this is what I want to see from CH, ruthless men who believe in themselves and don’t care about everyone’s analyzes and expectations.

Players have to ask themselves, “Why not me? Why not? It’s happening now and you have to prove things. I don’t want to hear we’ll be good in two or three years.”

If everyone had the best season of their career, the Canadians might have run the knockout race again in March and that would already be a huge success. We don’t ask them to cut.

An identity that must be developed

It all starts with the net, and if Marc-Andre Fleury wins the Vizina Cup at the age of 36, why shouldn’t Jake Allen, at 32, be able to get his best campaign, if he’s clearly staying healthy?

With the exception of David Savard, Mike Matheson and Chris Weidman, the defense is young and promising. It’s going to be tough some nights, but we should see some progress along the way. And Joel Edmondson started skating again.

If Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson produce and the other lines are up against the opponent every night, the Canadian might be hard to beat and that’s the identity to develop.

There are a lot of things to be constrained and just like you, I’m skeptical, but players have no right to doubt. They need to start winning their first game as soon as possible and get rid of the weight of their eight-game losing streak in training camp.

Once again, I have the impression that CH will make us experience all kinds of feelings.

Interview by Jill Moffett

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Slavkovsky c. Kotkaniemi

Canadian First Choice, Juraj Slavkovsky The season will start in Montreal. He’s played better in his last two exhibition games than in his first two, but you can’t say he’s had a great camp. In fact, Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a better camp in 2018. The advantage of the Slovakian (Slafkovsky) over the Finn is that he is bigger and stronger. We’ll all be watching it, and if we eventually realize that going down with a Laval rocket is the best solution, don’t hesitate. We don’t want to burn it.

Watch out for oilers

Conor McDavid You’ll shine again this season and I have a feeling the Edmonton Oilers will be even more amazing. They improved in goal with goalkeeper Jack Campbell in possession. Backup Stuart Skinner should do a good job in Mike Smith’s absence. Mikko Koskinen went and burnt the Swiss league with Lugano. McDavid will be on a mission like never before and he has to tell himself that after Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Nathan McKinnon, it’s his turn to win the Stanley Cup. However, the Colorado Avalanche should be the team to beat. But his new first guard, Alexander Georgiev, did not encounter a large camp.

Long live the guardians!

What excites me the most at the start of every season is keeping track of the goalkeepers, and since there have been so many changes in this position this summer, I can’t wait to see how it goes. Will the winner of the Vezina Cup, Igor Shesterkin, present statistics similar to those of the last campaign? We know his talent. It remains to be seen if he will be in the best flying season after season like Andrei Vasilevsky. There will be a lot of pressure on new Toronto Maple Leafs goalkeepers Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov. I’m also interested in dissident Darcy Quimper at “my” Washington Capitals. for the first time, Jake Oettinger The season will start as a start in Dallas.