Hockey

Martin St-Louis admits he needs to better manage certain players’ ice time
Félix Forget
Martin St-Louis admits he needs to better manage certain players’ ice time
Credit: Screenshot/Twitter

For some time now, the subject of ice time for certain Habs players has been the talk of the town. Zachary Bolduc and Ivan Demidov are two names that come up a lot in this debate.

Seeing them play so little on Thursday night, for example, didn't exactly please the fans in town.

Given that the Habs spent a lot of time on the short-handed Thursday, that's fair enough… except that, generally speaking, it's been a trend since the start of the season.

And this morning, Martin St-Louis was asked a question about Bolduc… and after insisting that the forward must find consistency, the coach deviated from the question for a few minutes (the excerpt is already posted below, and it's worth it) to take some of the blame:

I need to be better at managing certain players' ice time. – Martin St-Louis

Obviously, the fact that he brought all this up in response to a question about Bolduc suggests that he is one of the players in question. And it's hard not to think of Demidov too.

The coach explains that he often finds himself caught between having to manage the special units and wanting precise trios to face others 5-on-5, which means he can't always give certain players as much ice time as he'd like.

And maybe he finds himself giving too much to guys who maybe don't deserve as much.

Still, it's interesting to see the coach acknowledge all this in front of the media, and you have to wonder if he'll eventually want to make changes in this area. He says he wants to improve and try to find solutions, which is a good step forward.

We'll be watching over the next few games.


Overtime

– In any case, Bolduc takes advantage of practice to show off his skills, hehe.

– He, too, deserves a little more ice time.

– A name to watch.

– I like it.

– Well deserved.

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