There is no magic system a hockey team can play that guarantees wins.
If there was, every team would use the same system in the NHL — and one team would still lose.
Martin St. Louis knew what kind of system he wanted the Canadiens to play when he took over as head coach three years ago. He wanted to focus on speed with his team going on offence when it gets the puck and switching to defence as soon as it loses the puck. He put in place a hybrid system in the defensive zone — a mix of high-pressure zone coverage down low and man-on-man coverage up high. He also wanted to leave room for freedom and creativity when players get the puck with time and space.
St. Louis knew it would take time to teach his system and get all his players on the same page.
The Canadiens seem to have reached that point now with a 13-3-1 record in their last 17 games, following Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning that moved them into a wild-card playoff spot with a 24-19-4 record.
“I think we’re connected,” St. Louis said. “The guys know what their job is and we have predictability for our group. But still, inside that, we have unpredictability for the other team we’re playing against. So I just love we’re so connected and it takes time to get to that. But we’re not just connected on the forecheck. We’re connected off faceoffs, we’re connected in our zone. There’s just so many parts of the game … we’re connecting with the puck, we’re connecting without the puck.”
Since taking over as head coach, St. Louis has said teaching his system is like a book and he was going to patiently go page-by-page and chapter-by-chapter.
Is he now near the end of that book?
“I don’t know if you ever get to the end of the book because I feel you always keep writing,” St. Louis said. “But we’re definitely in a really good place. There’s blank pages always and that’s our job (as coaches) is when you feel you have a good story there’s more pages to keep writing and that’s what we’re trying to do. And don’t just write to write. Have a purpose if you’re going to keep writing and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to add things. We’ll make adjustments and stuff. But the power of the pen.”
The key to any system working is for the coach to get his players to buy into what he’s selling. The Canadiens are now fully bought in and it shows.
“I feel coaches, we’re salesmen and it’s how you convince them by example, by discussions that it makes sense for them,” St. Louis said. “Because if it makes sense for them they’re teaching each other. They come off the ice they know what they should have done. To me, when you have the players teaching themselves it’s because it’s very clear and I feel we’re getting there. I feel we’re there, but it’s something that you have to keep doing. You can’t just take it for granted and I think we attack that each and every day.”
Cole Caufield, who leads the Canadiens with 24 goals, said one of the keys to St. Louis’s system is getting the puck behind the opposition deep in the offensive zone.
“Our forecheck has been pretty good, too, which is probably the biggest part,” Caufield said. “I’d say quick plays in the O-zone, too, getting to the net, putting pucks on net and just tracking hard.”
Caufield added that the team’s improvement in the defensive zone is a combination of St. Louis making some tweaks to his system and players better understanding what’s expected of them as they play more games.
“It’s the most important zone,” Caufield said. “We’ve tried to limit teams to even getting in the zone, which obviously helps a lot. Limiting touches to the top guys, too, not letting them get going. D-zone has pretty much been the same all year. I think we’re just getting better at it and competing a little bit more.
“It’s one chapter at a time and when you move on you can’t forget the chapter before,” Caufield added about learning St. Louis’s system. “I think that’s why it’s taken some time.”
St. Louis’s patience to stick with his system is paying off.
“I think it’s just everyone’s on the same page,” Jake Evans said after scoring the winning goal against the Lightning. “It’s not a calculus textbook. It’s pretty simple. There’s certain things that you have to do and we know where to be and we expect everyone to be in a certain spot. It just makes it easier for everyone.”
It’s impressive how quickly the Canadiens have reached this point in Year 3 of their rebuilding plan.
“I didn’t have a set time,” St. Louis said. “To me that’s not as important as getting there. Getting there is important. If you put a timeline on it you always feel like you’re chasing something.”
The Canadiens are now chasing a playoff spot.