MONTREAL — The Bell Centre was a cauldron of emotion, with images of fire engulfing the bowl filled with Montreal Canadiens fans excited about this playoff run, this game and this series against the Buffalo Sabres. A trip to the Eastern Conference finals and a date with the Carolina Hurricanes is on the line.
Those fans were not necessarily concerned with the future, but as exciting as these playoffs have been, this postseason remains indicative of the brightness of what’s to come.
This is just the beginning in Montreal, where the Canadiens beat the Sabres 6-2 in Game 3 on Sunday night.
The building blocks were laid at the 2022 NHL Draft in this building, which was packed with probably many of these same fans, all of whom were focused on the future. This future.
The Canadiens took Juraj Slafkovský with the No. 1 pick that night, and he scored a power-play goal in Sunday night’s win. They took Lane Hutson with the No. 62 pick in that draft, and he had two assists and was named the game’s first star.
But they also acquired Kirby Dach in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that night, not long after selecting Slafkovský and a day before picking Hutson. Of the three, Dach has been the least impactful, constantly derailed by injury, his talent never given much of an opportunity to rev up and hit the road.
A year later, at the 2023 draft in Nashville, the Canadiens swung a similar trade to acquire Alex Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche.
Both trades were meant to fast-track the rebuild managed by Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes. Both were scrutinized because of the price paid to acquire those players, and both have been seen as perhaps the two biggest missteps of an otherwise model rebuild.
Dach and Newhook have regularly battled injuries, hindering their ability to fulfill their projected roles despite their massive potential.
Yet they — along with goaltender Jakub Dobeš — might be the biggest reasons why the Canadiens are up 2-1 on the Sabres in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, providing the five-on-five scoring that has not come from the team’s top stars.
Newhook scored his team-leading fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs, and Dach scored the third-period goal that put the nail in the Sabres’ coffin. It was his fourth of the playoffs.
“It’s great to see,” team captain Nick Suzuki said. “Both guys have been through a lot, just grinding to get back in the lineup, grinding to find your way in the league. Both players have been absolutely massive for us in the playoffs, just two young guys that are figuring it out. It’s super important for our future.”
Dach’s acquisition became a model for the Canadiens to follow, which they did a year later with Newhook. Both trades were examples of how the Canadiens can leverage future assets to help in the present. They did the same in acquiring defenceman Noah Dobson ahead of the 2025 draft, and to a lesser extent, defenceman Alexandre Carrier last season and centre Phillip Danault this season.
Dach and Newhook’s accomplishments are a reward for the belief Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis kept in them.
St. Louis could have scratched Dach after he cost the Canadiens a loss in Game 2 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, icing the puck needlessly in overtime and losing his coverage on J.J. Moser on the ensuing faceoff, allowing the Lightning defenceman to score the winner.
But St. Louis stuck with Dach, putting him right back in the lineup at his natural position of centre for the next game. Ever since, Dach has provided solid depth while centering the fourth line, scoring those four goals and spending a lot of time in the offensive zone.
“I’m not afraid to tell the truth, but there’s always an empathetic angle that I have also, because I have felt what they felt,” St. Louis said Sunday before Game 3. “I’ve made the same mistakes, I’ve cost the team, I’ve made big plays. And I think my players know that I’ve lived all that, so I feel like when you have these moments of truth that affect everybody, it comes from a place of, ‘I’ve been there before, and here’s how I can help you.’ I don’t think I’ll ever take my empathetic angle out just because the games mean more.”
Alex Newhook (15) scored twice in the Canadiens’ Game 3 win. (Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
In the case of Newhook, it’s been a project for St. Louis to get him to use his tremendous speed and seemingly endless gas tank on defence as much as he does on offence. He is an exceptionally fast and strong player, which helps him win battles in the offensive zone but also helps him backcheck and get pucks back.
For some time, Newhook primarily used those skills in one direction. St. Louis has gotten him to use it in both. St. Louis used to mention the need for equal defensive effort whenever he was asked about Newhook. He doesn’t bring it up anymore.
“My speed’s a big part of my game, but that’s something I focused on when I first got here, just using it more efficiently,” Newhook said before the game. “If he’s not talking about it, that’s probably a good thing. I think I am using it efficiently. On both sides of the puck, I’ve been able to close on guys and been able to attack on the other side.
“That’s when I’m at my best.”
Getting the best out of Dach and Newhook has presented separate challenges. Their injury issues have been a common element, but when healthy, Dach has learned to use his heaviness and physicality to his advantage, while Newhook has learned to use his speed in more varied ways.
The convergence of that learning at this specific moment is helping the Canadiens surge toward the Eastern Conference finals. It has also demonstrated how a proper rebuild can be fast-tracked with good timing and a little bit of luck.
“They’re two important guys that management went out and got when they could have probably just drafted somebody,” Suzuki said. “They’re big pieces. They bring a lot of different things to our lineup.”
Player development can be derailed by external elements that cloud the final picture. A rebuild requires patience and layers.
Those layers are now forming for the Canadiens, most notably in the way Dach and Newhook are providing everything their team needs in these playoffs.
That is important in the present. If the team continues to progress, it could be even more important in the future.
