Then it all came together, as if by magic, and they lived happily ever after.
The end.
Forgive me for beginning with the ending, folks, but the run the Canadiens are on is fairy-tale stuff, a Disney sports-movie fantasy. “Ragtag kids get wonder skates from Santa and beat the big bad bullies.”
It never seems to happen in real life, but the Canadiens are on an epic streak. Ragtag as recently as Dec. 12 when they absorbed a shattering 9-2 defeat at the hands of the ramshackle Kyle Dubas Penguins, the Habs are playing like a team transported intact from the 1970s.
They are 11-2-1 over their last 14 games, a streak to rival almost any from their legendary past and the gentlemen who put this together are clearly enjoying themselves, as they should. During the game in Utah, the RDS cameras cut to Kent Hughes often. Hughes was invariably leaning back, smiling, laughing and joking.
This Saturday marks the three-year anniversary of the Hughes tenure, the date he was lured away from a highly successful career as an agent and partner at Quebec-based Quartexx Management to join executive vice-president Jeff Gorton at the helm of a troubled Canadiens franchise.
The club had fired GM Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson drew the inevitable fire for hiring the highly qualified but unilingual Gorton in November 2021. When Hughes was tabbed as GM, there were accusations that he was there merely to translate Gorton’s decisions into French.
From the get-go, it was a foolish take. You don’t leave a position like the one Hughes held to become a highly paid interpreter. It quickly became apparent that Hughes is as sharp and thorough as anyone who has held the position, up to and including Sam Pollock.
We took issue last week with the Hughes decision to travel to Russia to see uber-prospect Ivan Demidov in action, but apart from that, you don’t need fingers to count the mistakes Hughes has made. The only trade he apparently lost, the one that sent Artturi Lehkonen to Colorado for Justin Barron, has been more than redeemed by the acquisition of Alexandre Carrier from Nashville for Barron.
Carrier, it can be argued, is the glue that made this entire complex puzzle come together. His presence has enabled Kaiden Guhle to play where he belongs, Guhle has been an absolute force, their steady presence as the second defensive pair has freed Mike Matheson and Calder Trophy favourite Lane Hutson to unleash their considerable talents and so on.
The victory over Dallas was important because the Canadiens had played one of the toughest teams in the west to a standstill over two games — but it was during that win in Utah, with Hughes looking on, that it all seemed to come into focus.
The day before the game, outstanding rookie Emil Heineman had been struck by a car while out walking on the street in placid Salt Lake City. Heineman suffered an upper-body injury and it was announced before the game that he would be out for three to four weeks.
An incident like that could gut a more fragile team, but the team Hughes and Gorton have constructed is anything but fragile. They seem to be able to overcome anything from an embarrassing loss in Chicago to Patrik Laine’s prolonged illness to the latest dumb penalty from the unfortunate Michael Pezzetta.
Against Utah, Hughes acquisition Kirby Dach took another huge step in his recovery from a season lost to a knee injury, scoring two goals and being named the game’s first star.
Lane Hutson, the reason Danny Gallivan brought the word “scintillating” into the hockey vocabulary, racked up three assists, underlining the sheer brilliance of snatching this game-changing talent with the 62nd pick in the 2022 draft.
Laine, acquired with a second-rounder from Columbus for Jordan Harris, scored his 10th goal of the season in what was then his 15th game of the season — his first even-strength tally for the CH.
Hughes doesn’t get credit, however, for drafting young Czech goalie Jakub Dobes, whom Marc Bergevin chose with the 136th pick in the fifth round of the 2020 draft. In four starts, all on the road, Dobes is 4-0 with an 0.98 goals-against and a .963 save percentage.
No wonder Hughes is smiling.
So was the man behind the newly grown salt-and-pepper beard. Martin St. Louis, the coach who was the target of so many unjustified barbs less than two months ago, has seen all his hard work bear fruit.
This isn’t simply the result of knowing how to inspire players and to persuade them to play together. It’s also St. Louis learning on the job at breakneck speed and installing a complex system that is functioning beautifully.
St. Louis is no longer an inexperienced coach. He has coached 245 NHL games and while his career win percentage is at .457, it’s .545 for this season despite a terrible start.
There is something happening here. What it is may not be exactly clear — but seeing a young team come together in this fashion is a beautiful thing.