OverDrive - Denis on the Canadiens' playoff hunt, Hutson's notable season and Suzuki's compelling leadership

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

RDS Canadiens Analyst Marc Denis joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Canadiens, the team sitting in a playoff spot, Lane Hutson's impressive season, Jakub Dobes' role in the crease, Martin St. Louis' coaching views for the team, Nick Suzuki's impactful leadership to the team

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here's Mark Diney, how you doing Mark? gentlemen, outstanding so who do I have to endorse and who do I send the invoice Mark, Mark here's the scenario I said, Brian Hayes the host of the show said get rid of everybody at the deadline.

No, I didn't. Hang on a second. He said, I've got to stick with the plan and I'm dumping players to get draft picks, blah, blah, blah. And I said, they've got a good vibe right now. I don't know if you can do that to the locker room. They've had so many tough losses and they finally get cooking and then you're going to start ripping guys out of that lineup.

I don't think that's the right play at this particular time. Please weigh in with your thought process. Yeah, I'll tell you this. I'm glad we're having this conversation because a couple of weeks back there wouldn't have been a conversation. Everybody would have been on board. You just, you know, sell the farm because nothing's working. Right now this is a much different team. This is a team that went into a very tough holiday trip. Right now, this is a much different team. This is a team that went into a very tough holiday trip, coming out of it beating four Stanley Cup champs or the four most recent Stanley Cup champs, winning a big game against Vancouver last night.

And not only are they in the mix, which a lot of people around here in Montreal have been making fun of, they're actually in the playoff spot as we speak with the next game being the midway part of the season. So listen, I'll tell you this much. I think Brian is dead on if this show was being aired. Hold on, Brian. You're not going to like me here. If this show

was being aired, it was being aired 365 days ago. This plan of, you know, of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gordon at this moment where they're at, they're more competitive than definitely expected after 25 games and now this plan now is is about signing you know Jake Evans and maybe listening and entertaining options but even the all army has become an option to come back next season so this is a much different animal than you know when first round picks were on the table for Sean Monahan, this is a team that's actually sent a pretty strong message. Unfortunately, I've been part of teams that haven't been in the race that don't send messages and you know what's coming.

But at this point in time, I think to some extent sticking to the plan is maybe another Alex on carrier type of, uh, deal, but definitely not selling out or going to get a very expensive veteran player I think part of the rebuild I mean one of the greatest part of a rebuild is if you know you don't speed it up with getting an expensive veteran is you get that team playing meaningful games late in the season and maybe even a playoff round. And now, you know, that rebuilds on fast forward. Well, listen, I appreciate that they're in a different position today,

certainly than they were a month ago, certainly than they were a year ago. I will say that deadline is in March. So let's see what happens between now and then, right? Absolutely. If the wheels fall off a little bit, I would think if they get a call on David Savard and the price is right, then they might make that decision to move on

From him or but what would the price be right? Like if it's some kind of third round pick does that make any sense? Like what the hell does that turn into? That's a good question. I mean Frankie you can chime in on that like mark there was one morning where Marty was asked about the rebuild and he was asked about the veteran players and I never Thought about it this way, but he said, you know the veteran guys sacrifice a lot in a rebuild they basically say young guys we're going to be patient with you and we're going to give you guys a lot of leeway and be there for you but then marty said at some point the tables have to turn the young guys have to repay it to the vets that sacrifice their individual careers and seasons for these guys

and now it feels like we're almost getting to that point, doesn't it? Where like the young guys have taken control and like the Armia, Savard, Dvorak, these guys that you're all talking about that are, you know, UFAs, it's like, maybe they can prosper a little bit here because of the work of the young guys

and then being patient. I don't know, like Mark, does that make sense to you? It does. And if we're gonna get into the very fine details of the different players have been talking about i believe in this moment that christian the war act is going to walk in there gonna let him walk apart from that

i think all three other players are in play jake evans i do believe the much of an angel starting go sheen pretty hard eventually to bring him back into the fold. Now it leaves Armia and Savard. Armia is going to be tough to replace. I don't see a player as of now and maybe Ivan Demidov comes over from Russia and he steps in but we're talking about depth player here.

Where David Salah, maybe you need to move on from him, although he's a local guy, maybe you need to move on from him because Logan Mayhew is ready to step in and be your right hand third pairing defenseman and you need some ice time for David Rheinbach, or eventually he's going to come back from injury and he's a highly touted high draft pick. The truth of the matter is, at this point though, why would you even entertain a third round pick when David Saval at this point in time and in the play the matter is at this point though why would you even entertain a third-round pick when david saman at this point in time and in the playoff race is a blue guy for your team he'll block a gazillion shots if he can

he will be there to make sure that the dressing room is united he'll be an extension of the you know uh... of the coaching staff and with a very quiet, I'm going to the word quiet, not boring, quiet leader in Nick Suzuki who scores the big goals, he scored all three overtime goals this year

for the Canadians, you also need a vocal leader in your dressing room who's been through it. And David Savant is vocal and he's been through it and everybody, including the coaching staff and the management, love him. I'm a big fan of David Savant as well. So I'm with you. I don't know if that's enough to bring him back, but that's definitely not enough for me to deal him for a third round pick. Mark, can you explain how, I mean, you're a

goaltender, like a goaltending tweak. And we saw this last year where Jack Campbell went out the door and Calvin Pickard came in the door. All of a sudden the Edmonton Oilers turn into the 89 Oilers and they start winning every night. And Montreal Canadiens, the same thing, it's like Primo went down and Patrick Waugh comes in, the new Patrick Waugh, and all of a sudden there are the 89 Habs. It's just one little tweak that just sets everything on fire and it's hard to explain It is hard to explain and at the same time I'm gonna try to really quickly Yakob Dobesh has been kind of under the radar

Kaden Primo in this whole Minaja quad thing last year with three goalies and not wanting to lose them on waivers And then Dobesh gets you gets dealt a pretty tough hand. But you know what he made of that tough hand? I mean he made a five course service out of a can of tuna is what he did. He played way too much. They went out and got a veteran player to help him out of the AHL level and all of a sudden this month of October and November at theL. level coming out of the Ohio State University being a very good college player where I'm going to be very respectful but where the straight ahead

direct linear game will get you good stats when you're a good athletic goalie is not the same as the pro level. All of a sudden he settles down, becomes a very good A.H.L. goalie, plays a lot of games because they're keeping three goalies up to up top with the Montreal Canadiens. And now he gets lost in the hole. Jacob followers, the next guy, Samuel Montalvo is playing great, which he has been, and when it's time to step up, he just does that. And it's not about being cocky, but it's about being confident enough to say,

listen, I'm not an underdog. I gonna come in and I'm gonna beat the winning kids I'm gonna come in and play the last game of the trip and you know what I'm gonna stand tall against the Colorado Avalanche I needed just that so I Think you know confidence is a two-way street. I don't know Frankie and Jeff if you guys agree with that But you know it's one thing to say listen. We got a young guys back there We're gonna protect him, but he also needs to make the same i think both of these factors i've been part of the montreal canadians turn around in this late road trip work

they've been protecting their boys better and their goalie have been giving them a chance to be better as a team as well with mark denny of uh... ardi as so we were is i just got to have to mark it as well you know brian played new york at the top of the I just got to interrupt you mark. I just want to let you know Brian played neo-hL Could adhere to it to mark I didn't think you were gonna try to have a conversation with me tonight totally shut down your idea of down the farm I was like, you know, it's all good. We're open for discussion here. You're selling me

You're moving me in the right direction here and we were in Montreal for three or four days I guess in September around the President's Cup and the Lane Hudson hype in mid-September was out of control oh we showed up I think the first thing we talked about when we got on the air on the Tuesday was this Lane Hudson kids taking over the town everyone on trial made the comment he was like I told the GM I'm like good luck sending that kid down if you that's what you choose because you people will people are gonna be in love with him and now he's leading the league in rookie scoring he had a goal and two assists last night he's playing 25 minutes every single night you're watching it up close and personal like

the stats would indicate this kid is a rock star how good does he look live and and how is the market reacting to him in January compared to what they were saying about him in September? Yeah, the craziness hasn't stopped and I'll tell you this, he looks like a rock star as well. He's playing the part. Listen, Frankie, you played the position and hopefully you help me out here and add to what I'm going to say, but the stats are the stats.

And you know what? Just saying in the same sentence that he's ahead of Mischkov and Celebrini you know you guys get it but what I've been most impressed with is how combative he is trying to defend when he loses the puck because hiccups will happen he's playing so much and the other thing I'll say is last night last night was a very physical affair and after getting a hit a couple of times early in the game and I don't think this was his best game about midway through the game, he got points in the three most important goals of the game.

So to me, that's what impresses me because those are signs that it's not just going to fade away eventually. Those are signs usually of players not putting up numbers and saying the numbers will come because they're doing the right thing. Well, he's doing the right things and the numbers are coming. So I've been very impressed. You know, I'm watching him now closely as he's going to go a second time around the league. And there are no signs of fading.

I mean, well, like Tom, eventually, I'm sure there'll be a lull at some point. The game won't be perfect. But everything he's brought to the table has been very impressive for a 20-year-old defenseman. I mean, we're talking about the rookie scoring chase. If you're talking about the defenseman rookie scoring chase, he's got a 24-point lead. Oh, it's not even close. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. No one's in the same stratosphere as him when it comes to that. You know what, Mark? I agree

with you. I think he's super, super, super competitive. Anytime he's given up the puck or he's had to deal with body contact, it's like he works. He works to get it back all the time. But there was a game in Detroit right before the Christmas break. He had that really bad giveaway. Puck goes in the back of the net and you're like,

okay, how does he react to that? Is he gonna kind of wilter a little bit? And he came back and it wasn't that he was Stubborn he was like I just keep playing my game and then he drew the penalty that ended up You know getting them the power play that line a shot the puck and they won the game and you're like There's the mental strength of this guy to do what he does. I think that's also what what really sticks out to me Yeah short-term memory. I think that's very important I think Kane and Goulet is a good example of what to do because he's, he's that type of young defenseman as well.

But yeah, it's impressive. And you know what? He wants to be, he wants to be that guy. Like, he's not worried yesterday. He recognizes the situation. There's a broken stick on hog lander in front of them. He just attacks them dead on. The penalty is not against Hudson, but it's on the hog lander because he's just got dance because he's got no stick and Lane Hudson just attacked him head on. I love that. That's, you know, veteran players will, they'll just get nervous with the understick more than half a second. He doesn't. So that's, that impresses me. It's, he recognized the situation. How many times, Frank frankly we've been calling a lot of games and how many times he lost the pocket next thing you know

are play-by-play men read the titles it is a saying here's line up in the old you know give away a little bit pocket and there is a neutral zone growing at the site uh... already like you know read back there east yeah he's he doesn't let up he's fun to watch man is that he is he is fun i might be better than him. That's the scary thing is my brother.

I just watched him at the World Juniors. Cole, he's unreal. Yeah, he had himself pretty young and and and out there. Right. How about that jersey ripping against the Finns and the comment against, you know, Eastern Cowan? Wow. He's yeah, he's he's more vocal than Linden. He's not shy no he's not and we've noticed you know Suzuki obviously has been playing really well recently he's putting up a lot of points do you think there's something to him being left off

the Canadian team like is this a reaction is it a coincidence what do you make of Suzuki and his place since not being named to the four nations face off? Suzuki and his place since not being named to the Four Nations face-off? That's an interesting question. I think he's a pretty level-headed man. I think I think the Montreal Canadiens knew how to react and to surround them after that decision. You know I think right now Nick Suzuki, as I said earlier, is a quiet leader but he takes this role which I think is a huge one with being you know captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs or the New York Rangers. I mean they're tough gigs at the NHL level. He was a captain when he was

just a young man still and I think you know he was pretty upfront about saying he wanted to be a point-of-game player and he wanted to help this team win and scoring the three overtime game winners and being back to a point of game as of last night with a three-point night he's true to his words he plays big minutes he's been playing a little less because Montreal willingly wanted to you know bring him back and not play so much penalty kill but But last night, Jake Evans gets a tough penalty and you know, who do you call to? You call to your captain. So he's been playing,

he's got a very important role with Lina being out of line of last three games. Pizzetta has a tough time getting the even strength minutes. So, you know, Nick Suzuki gets double shifted and, and he answers the bell. I got nothing to say. I don't think it's a reaction. I think it's a great story. We've talked about it on our broadcast. I think it makes for a great story.

I don't think it's a reaction. I think it's the right way to bounce back because he wanted to be part of that team. I think we'd all agree. But I think it's the right way to to respond after you know not be chosen not being chosen and you know it will come he will be on national teams eventually if he just keeps playing the way he has. Yep absolutely the Olympics obviously coming up in a year wouldn't be surprised at all at all if he was a part of that team. Great stuff Mark really appreciate you doing this we'll

do it again down the road thank you. All right sounds good thank you so much for having me on gentlemen. You got it Mark Diney of RDS.