Martin St-Louis says it openly: Justin Barron must improve defensively

Justin Barron is having a good training camp so far.

He’s solid, and the intensity he’s bringing to the rink tells me he’s figured some things out in terms of his attitude.

He’s known as a soft guy, after all.

But Barron isn’t perfect, and Martin St-Louis talked about it today: the defenseman needs to find a way to be more responsible on the ice.

The Habs coach was blunt about Barron, who will have the opportunity to play alongside Lane Hutson on the club’s first defense pairing tonight.

St-Louis admits that there’s no problem when Barron is in possession of the disc, but that it gets complicated afterwards.

And that’s a powerful message sent to the defender:

When we have the puck, we’re okay with JB (Justin Barron). But the rest is to keep working. – Martin St-Louis

Justin Barron, Lane Hutson’s partner. He’ll have to take care of his defensive game.

MSL quote:
“When we have the puck, we’re okay with JB, but it’s about continuing to work on the rest. It’s a good opportunity to understand the situation. He’s pretty smart.

– Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) September 26, 2024

You may have great offensive qualities in your game… But if you hurt your club when you’re on the ice because you’re not able to be good defensively, you’re no further ahead.

That’s what Barron needs to understand.

We know he’s capable of supporting the attack when he makes the right decisions, and he’s useful when he gets into the zone in a support role on a counter-attack.

Barron is mobile, has a decent shot and can move his feet on the ice.

We saw it when he scored his first NHL goal:

First career NHL goal for Justin Barron!

First career NHL goal for Justin Barron! #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/2ldSwtzkhN

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) April 6, 2022

The good news?

You can work on a guy’s defensive game, but you can’t work on his offensive game.

Some players have natural skills, while others have to work hard to improve.

At this level, Barron has what it takes offensively to have a successful NHL career, but there are too many shortcomings in his defensive game to be talked about as a regular NHL defenseman right now.

Therein lies the problem, and Martin St-Louis did the right thing in sending him such a message.

By the way, Barron is said to be an offensive defenseman… But last season, Arber Xhekaj was more productive than him offensively in the AHL.

Arber collected 11 points (three goals) in 17 games in Laval, while Barron collected 11 points (two goals) in 32 games.

That said, are we underestimating Xhekaj’s offensive talent? Or are we overestimating Barron’s offensive talent?

Both questions…

Overtime

– Yikes.

The organizers of the @PresidentsCup tournament were very disappointed by the mayor’s lack of cooperation in organizing the event.

What is most deplored is that in 4 years of work, they have never been able to meet her in person, according to what they…

– Jeremy Filosa (@JeremyFilosa) September 26, 2024