Martin St. Louis Holding Himself Accountable

Even though St. Louis still hasn’t been perfect with how he manages his team’s ice time, on Saturday night, he did a good job for the most part. The only two players who were lower than they should have been were rookies Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen. The truth is, their line with Alex Newhook played a really good game, and they could have been rewarded with more ice time, as they were a huge factor in why the Canadiens had the lead 3-2 after 2 periods. 

Demidov played just 13:18 on the night, while Kapanen played 13:55. Newhook played a whole minute more than both but as a 6-year NHL veteran he has been given more responsibility and few extra shifts from his linemates at times as he plays on both the 2nd power play and penalty kill units, whereas Demidov only plays on the 1st power play and Kapanen only gets penalty kill time. Newhook played 14:55 and was the 7th most-used forward on the night.

Demidov and Kapanen were the 2nd and 3rd-least-used players on Saturday, with only Joe Veleno, who played 11:08, having less. For the way both Kapanen and Demidov have been playing over the last few games, they deserve to be higher in the pecking order for ice time. Demidov creates offensive chances almost every time he is on the ice and finished the night with an assist on a goal scored by Kapanen, who also added an assist later in the game. As mentioned in my game recap, their line set the tone offensively, and as a result, deserve to get the ice time that comes with the fact that they were the 2nd best line behind the Canadiens’ top line on Saturday.

However, we can cut St. Louis some slack, given the situation that the Habs are in at the time. If they have a lot of penalties to kill, obviously, it will be harder for Demidov to get on the ice compared to Kapanen and Newhook. However, at the time, he could always try to throw him out on the ice with the other top offensive players who don’t kill penalties right after an opposing team’s power play. Having Demidov out with Kirby Dach and Zack Bolduc, for example, could be a good move to create offence right after the penalty is killed. It will allow the Canadiens to gain more momentum and could lead to the Habs taking control of the game for some time. 

What St. Louis told the media before the game was that the special teams may dictate just how much ice time a player may get, as he’ll try to keep the lines intact together. However, maybe he should try rewarding the players who are playing really well following a special teams situation, regardless of the line that goes out there. It could result in better play on most nights, which was needed against the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils last week. Demidov may have gotten the 2nd fewest minutes on Saturday, but at least there was a good spread of ice time as a whole, which kept the majority of players close in ice time, with every forward except Veleno playing between 13 and 18 minutes. It shows how much St. Louis trusts his depth throughout the lineup. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen every game, even though he should.

What are your thoughts on what St. Louis said during his pre-game presser on Saturday about how he manages his players’ ice time?