It'll be interesting to see what Lecavalier’s role becomes with the Habs

It’s already been a few years since the Habs’ hockey staff underwent a major overhaul. Of course, Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis are often mentioned as headliners, but they’re not the only ones.

Some, like John Sedgwick and Martin Lapointe, were in the organization under Marc Bergevin, but many others have joined since.

One of these is Vincent Lecavalier, who has joined his good friend Martin St-Louis and his former agent Kent Hughes. Officially, he’s a “special advisor to hockey operations”, and in practice, he’s known to lend a hand to the GM when Hughes needs his advice.

However, we know that, at the moment, the Habs are looking for coaches within their organization… and in response to a reader’s question about a potential replacement for Alex Burrows, Stu Cowan(Montreal Gazette) wrote the following sentence:

It will be interesting to see what Vincent Lecavalier’s role eventually becomes with the Habs. – Stu Cowan

My weekly #Habs Mailbag answering some questions from @mtlgazette readers about Juraj Slafkovsky, who will be first player to earn more than captain Nick Suzuki, management’s offseason work and Michael Pezzetta #HabsIO: https://t.co/C3rJiFAVWG

– Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) July 13, 2024

In fact, his sentence doesn’t necessarily suggest that Lecavalier will be hired tomorrow morning as Martin St-Louis’ assistant. That said, to see a journalist on the team beat bring Lecavalier’s name into the conversation (without it having been raised in the question in the first place), raises the possibility that this is a rumour circulating behind the scenes.

Especially since, as Cowan notes, Lecavalier scored 127 power-play goals in his NHL career. A good player doesn’t necessarily make a good coach… but it also doesn’t hurt to have someone who’s been successful on the power play to run a power play.

The question remains, however, whether this is a position that would interest Lecavalier. After all, his current position means he doesn’t have to be involved on a daily basis and travel constantly, which would be different if he were to become a coach.

Could the lure of doing it with his good friend Martin St-Louis entice him to take the plunge? Possibly… but considering that he’s already in a second-floor position and still lives in Tampa Bay on a regular basis, we have to wonder if it’s realistic.

We don’t yet know if the Habs intend to replace Burrows, but if they do, giving Lecavalier a new role (which would be a simple internal hire) is an intriguing idea.

All that remains is to see if it’s something he’d be interested in.