The Montreal Canadiens checked another item off their offseason to-do list this morning. They were finally able to hire an assistant coach to fill out the bench that is headed by Martin St. Louis.
An assistant’s job became available when Luke Richardson left the organization. He was hired about a month ago to be the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have since gone ahead and torn down their entire team, so best of luck in your chase for Connor Bedard, Luke!
Replacing him in Montreal will be Stephane Robidas. The Habs newest assistant is a veteran of over 900 NHL games, and was drafted in the 7th round of the 1995 NHL Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He was a star in the QMJHL for the Shawinigan Cataractes, scoring 245 points in 272 career Junior games as a right defenceman.
He played just two seasons with the Canadiens before being claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Thrashers at the beginning of the 2002-03 season and immediately traded to the Dallas Stars for a 6th round pick. He would turn into a dependable defensive player who added a bit of offence, scoring a career high 41 points in 2009-10.
Robidas spent most of his playing career with the Stars, but would sign a three-year contract with a $3 million cap hit with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014 when he was 37 years old. He played one season and then kind of vanished, places on LTIR and never heard from again.
Well, until now. Of course, he did work in the Maple Leafs organization from 2017-21 in a player development role. He was the team’s Director of Player Development for most of that time and though it pains this Habs fan to say, the Maple Leafs players have developed tremendously in that time.
All of their star prospects, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander have turned into far better players than anyone could have expected in 2017. Morgan Rielly has taken huge leaps in that time and other players like Zach Hyman, Pierre Engvall, Tim Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin have improved greatly in the organization.
Not all of the credit for those players turning out should go to Robidas, but when you are the head of player development and player’s develop properly or more than expected, you deserve some praise.
Robidas’ title with the Canadiens will be different, and he will be on the bench every night, but his role is probably going to be somewhat similar. The Canadiens are going to be working a lot of young players into the lineup over the next couple seasons and they obviously want them to develop and reach, if not exceed, their potential.
Robidas did a phenomenal job helping young player in Toronto and he will continue to do the same with the Montreal Canadiens.
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