Canadiens: Seeing prospects rub shoulders with regulars 12 months a year creates a great culture

Yesterday, Francis Bouillon, Stéphane Robidas and Alex Burrows spoke to the media at the golf tournament for the Canadiens Children’s Foundation. It was clear, then, that field hockey was getting back into the swing of things, slowly but surely.

Before you know it, training camp will be back underway and we’ll be back to discussing the third trio and its composition. I’m already looking forward to it – and that’s not really a joke.

All this to say that, on the Habs, the place is still, more than ever, for the youngsters. Stéphane Robidas talked about how his young defensemen will perform. Alex Burrows was asked about the club’s new additions.

And Francis Bouillon, who works in development, was asked about prospects of all kinds.

Obviously, Logan Mailloux’s name came up in the discussion, and according to him, the defenseman still has things to learn. He sees him possibly going to the AHL, where he’ll have to prove that he can play in the NHL after years of playing too little field hockey.

And anyway, I’m not even sure he can play field hockey in the NHL right now.

Yet Renaud Lavoie tweeted recently that Mailloux has been given the green light to play in the big league → https://t.co/FeWaivetzF

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) August 28, 2023

All this to say that Mailloux, at least, has given himself the tools to help himself. But how? By spending his summer in Montreal, once again, rubbing shoulders with NHLers.

And clearly, he’s not the only one to have done so.

It’s quite an opportunity they have. – Francis Bouillon

The development coach says that if he’d had such a chance in his day, he’d have been overjoyed. So he advises the youngsters to take advantage… and many have.

Logan Mailloux, Xavier Simoneau, William Trudeau, Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney are among the guys who took the time to spend the summer in town. They took advantage of the city, but also of the regular players who were training there.

Nick Suzuki, Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj spent the entire off-season here. Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson also spent time in Montreal.

The result? The youngsters had role models to fall back on… and were easily accepted.

What I like is that it creates a great culture. Seeing the guys enjoy the facilities 12 months a year on the South Shore is pretty interesting.

Because that’s what the new management wants: to see the guys stay in town. So they have access to the ice, to certain specialists (Adam Nicholas and Scott Pellerin, in particular) to help them improve, and to the chefs who work in Brossard.

“It’s quite an opportunity they have. In my day, I would have come running!”😁🔵⚪️🔴https://t.co/JTcv8rUCsJ

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) August 28, 2023

I think it’s important to see that the guys learn to create chemistry during the off-season. That way, the youngsters will be able to arrive at camp with more confidence and more adequate preparation.

And that’s a win-win situation for the CH.