Stu Cowan: The Canadians’ goal this season is simple: ‘Grow as a team’

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BOUCTOUCHE, NB — Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has one simple goal for this season.

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“Growth,” he said after the team’s morning skate session at the JK Irving Center on Saturday. “Grow as a team.”

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As we saw last season, after losing 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators in overtime on Saturday night, the Canadiens will finish with a 6-0 2-0 record in a Kraft Hockeyville game.

It didn’t help that the injury virus was already back on Canadians after they ended last season with an NHL-record 731 player games lost.

Forward Nick Suzuki and defenseman Joel Edmundson collided during a session on the ice a few days before training camp began, both suffering lower body injuries. Suzuki made a brief appearance at training camp, playing in a preseason game before being sidelined with an upper body injury, while Edmundson missed all of training camp with a back injury.

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Forwards Joel Armia, Mike Hoffman, Christian Dvorak and Emil Heineman all suffered upper-body injuries in the preseason, making it uncertain what the Canadians’ lineup will be on Wednesday when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Bell Center (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

“We’re going to go home, get a day off (Sunday) and reevaluate,” St. Louis said after Saturday night’s game when asked how the injuries will affect the 23-man season-opening roster.

The team flew home after Saturday night’s game and GM Kent Hughes will be speaking to the media about the line-up at 3pm on Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, the Canadians announced they had put defensemen Corey Schueneman and Madison Bowey on waivers to loan them out to the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

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Defenders Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris both played well enough last season to earn a spot in the squad, while Justin Barron looks like he could use some time at Laval. That likely played into the Canadians’ decision to claim defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic from the Winnipeg Jets’ waivers on Saturday.

Kovacevic, like Barron, is a right-hand shooter and the Canadians lack depth to the right of the blue line. Guhle, a left-handed shooter, played with Schueneman as a partner on the right on Saturday night.

“I’ve played on the right side here and there in my career, but definitely the highest level I’ve ever had to play on the right side,” said Guhle. “So it was good to get that and it’s good to be able to play on the right side as a left-hander.

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“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit nervous and a little bit excited about what’s going to happen,” Guhle added of the final cuts. “But whatever happens, happens, I will support it and make the best of it.”

Harris, another left-handed shooter, also played a few preseason games at right and said he enjoyed the experience of his first full NHL training camp.

“Being able to play in all situations – left or right – with different guys against different teams and just the experience,” he said of what he learned at the training camp. “There will be growing pains and you try to learn from mistakes – from positives, from negatives. I’m just bringing in these reps.”

The Canadians must also decide what to do with Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick overall in this year’s NHL draft. Any injuries at the forward position will likely give him a place to at least start the season with the Canadians.

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Harris said there were positives from the preseason, although the Canadians didn’t win a game.

“It’s really positive in the dressing room,” he said. “It’s great and kudos to these guys for staying positive and to the coaches. It’s really important if you don’t start the preseason with wins, it’s easy to come down. It’s easy for morale to be kind of down. But in the dressing room it’s the other way around. That speaks volumes about the guys in the dressing room, but also about the coaches and the leadership.”

This season will be all about development as the Canadians look to rebuild after finishing last season with the worst record in the NHL. They have a lot of young, talented players, but that doesn’t mean there will be many wins, and this team has a better chance of getting a good spot in the lottery again next year to win the No. 1 draft pick than make for the playoffs.

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That wouldn’t be a bad thing considering Connor Bedard is the top rated candidate for next year’s draft and is considered a generational talent.

But are Canadiens fans willing to be patient during this rebuild?

“I can’t control what the fans are feeling,” St. Louis said. “I can only control what I do.

“Patience is part of development and growth and I recognize that sometimes the results can test your patience,” he added. “But for me it’s just sticking with what I believe in our plan and the plan is the growth of our young players.”

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