Canadiens: Andrew Hammond And The Impact Of Martin St. Louis

I’ve been an openly outspoken critic of the Montreal Canadiens struggles this season.

Whether it be their recent 10 game losing streak, the complete lack of responsibility and action taken by owner Geoff Molson during said streak and beyond, or the numerous struggles players like Jeff Petry, Jake Allen, and Cole Caufield have gone through, I’ve made a point to tab the Canadiens as one of the worst teams in recent NHL history. As I sat in one of my class lectures whittling away at my last In Other News… piece, the news was dropped shortly after I finished (expectedly) that head coach Dominique Ducharme had been given the axe, with Hockey Hall of Famer and former Stanley Cup Champ Martin St. Louis taking his place.

It goes without saying that Ducharme was a bit of a polarizing figure in his time behind the bench, and things only got worse as the season wore on. However, with the general lack of experience St. Louis had behind a professional bench (with his only experience coming in Quebec’s local minor hockey programs), I thought ultimately the switch wouldn’t change much besides a bit of increased energy here and there.

I was wrong.

Instead, St. Louis has completely and totally reinvigorated this Habs team, which has looked a lot more like their high energy, high offense selves of last season, and facing a struggling but still talented New York Islanders squad on Sunday afternoon, they turned to an old school NHL legend to get the job done, with Andrew “the Hamburglar” Hammond himself making 30 saves in his first NHL start in four years. In any other situation, Hammond’s acquisition earlier this month would’ve been brushed aside as a depth AHL move, with the Canadiens giving up little but enforcer Brandon Baddock in return.

Instead, Hammond did what he’s always been able to do at the NHL level. Win, and that’s something the Canadiens need a lot more of as they look to salvage something out of this season as an impending fire sale at the March 21st trade deadline, looms. Needless to say, it’s been a bit of a bizarre change of pace for the Habs after it looked like they had all but given up on the season following a 7-1 drubbing against a hapless New Jersey Devils team on February 8th.

Yet, as the team has moved out with the old and brought in the new, it’s made all the difference in the world in giving Canadiens fans a little glimmer of hope as to this team’s future going forward. While I was aware that Ducharme was obviously a reason behind the Canadiens struggles, I didn’t think he was this big of a reason, and it makes you wonder how much of the room he had lost prior to being given the axe (answer: all of it).

While St. Louis’ lack of experience is noticeable (having brought it up previously in post-game interviews), he’s managed to light a fire underneath this team that has, at long last, made the Canadiens fun to watch once more. With a roster that has been mostly assembled out of waiver-wire pickups and call ups from the Laval Rocket, Montreal has managed to run with it over the last while to snag their first back-to-back wins on the season, reach 10 wins on the season, and have their first 10-goal scorer in Josh Anderson, who netted one from the slot against the Islanders on Sunday.

Martin St. Louis has had an immediate impact on the Montreal Canadiens recent success, turning to Andrew “The Hamburglar” Hammond in a 3-2 SO win on Sunday.

Caufield, who prior to St. Louis’ hiring had just one goal on the season, now has four over his last five games and five points overall, now having 5-8-13 totals over 35 games this season, which are much more encouraging and far easier on the eyes. With Cayden Primeau now back in the AHL with the Laval Rocket after a disastrous eight game stint in Montreal, it looks as though St. Louis will be going with the tandem of Hammond and Samuel Montembeault going forward.

With Carey Price and Allen having been the Habs go-to guys last season, this is a duo most, if not all Habs fans would have never seen coming. While Montembeault has largely struggled this season with a 3-10-4 record and .895 SVP, it’s been behind a team who was clearly sick of the man behind the bench, and the Becancour native has posted some impressive performances at times, which should only continue under St. Louis.

The fact that Hammond is even in the NHL in 2021-22 is baffling enough, but after a remarkably solid performance against the Islanders on Sunday, Hammond continues to write his tale as one of the more unlikely stories in the NHL, whilst riding on the coattails of probably the most unlikely bench boss in the NHL, and quite frankly, I’m all for it.

With both the Rocket and Trois Rivieres Lions establishing themselves as one of the hottest teams in both the AHL and ECHL, the Canadiens recent success is all the more encouraging. As the 2021-22 seasons continues on across all of this professional hockey landscape, the Montreal Canadiens finally have back-to-back wins on the year. Revel it in it folks, the Blue Blanc et Rouge are back, if ever so briefly.