Tony Marinaro talks Habs on The Sick Podcast with Brian Wilde, Snake Boisvert

The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up their California road trip on Wednesday night with a 6-3 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.

Martin St. Louis's troops have Thursday and Friday to rest and get in some practice before a weekend of back-to-back early-afternoon contests. First against the New Jersey Devils, who are fifth overall in the Eastern Conference, but have a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games. Then on Sunday, Tampa Bay will visit the Bell Centre, and they are five points ahead of the Canadiens, with two games in hand, as we speak.

Montreal band-aided the bleeding with a win against the San Jose Sharks, but the thumping at the hands of the Kings, reopened the wounds. Surely, Marinaro and his visitors - Brian Wilde and Simon Boisvert, will have plenty to say. And with less than a month until the 2025 Trade Deadline, there is no shortage of material to discuss.

Let's dive in to a few points that stood out to me.

Patrik Laine on the top line?

Marinaro believes Nick Suzuki is the best playmaker on the Canadiens roster, and I think he is right. Lane Hutson and Cole Caufield are very good, too, but Suzuki will make whoever plays with him better. Patrik Laine is struggling at five-on-five and often looks like his conditioning is taking its toll.

Laine needs a shakeup, so the prospect of him moving to another line doesn't sound like a bad idea. If you're looking at the top line, they are not playing particularly well, but they are relied on heavily. With the second line struggling to do anything, somebody needs to move around.

Montreal doesn't need to do anything drastic, because the team is in a position where they will make the playoffs if they can string together some wins. But on the opposite side of the coin, they could falter and those hopes could be ripped away, and their losing skid has uncovered issues. Internally, they could swap Juraj Slafkovsky with Patrik Laine and see if it does anything.

I think at this point, why not try it, then if it's deemed the team is in a spot to acquire an asset to help the top six, that can be explored. There is a little bit of time now before the Trade Deadline, and in my opinion, it can be used to see what the Canadiens are. I don't see a world where trading for a player now, and then missing the playoffs makes any sense at all.

Kent Hughes pulled Juraj Slafkovsky aside for a talk

Marinaro touched on Simon Snake Boisvert having interviewed Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes. But most interesting, is that Boisvert told Marinaro that Hughes pulled Slafkovsky aside to have a one-on-one chat with him. Essentially Hughes told Slafkovsky what the club wanted when they drafted him, and they don't expect him to do Jack Hughes things.

The club saw the dominant Slovakian beast, who at 16 years old had an entire nation on his shoulders, expecting him to do great things. Slafkovsky is mature beyond his 20 years, and his dominant performances on the international stage are what enamoured the Canadiens with the player. Slafkovsky was a dog on loose pucks, a nightmare in front of the net and confident carrying the puck through the neutral zone.

I have seen Jaromir Jagr mentions, when searching for an NHL comparable, stylistically. Jagr and Slafkovsky are different players, but their size, strength and passing are familiar. Jagr has an all-world shot, his puck skills are nasty and his offensive zone awareness is elite.

But Slafkovsky's premonition of playing with Suzuki and Caufield, really only works if Slafkovsky plays the way he is capable of playing. The streakiness, and non-linear development path are normal for prospects, especially 6'3" and 230 lbs prospects. Bigger players take longer, it's a fact, but he has shown flashes that he is that guy the team needs.

But with a talent like Ivan Demidov coming down the pipeline as soon as next year, I think there will be a change. Maybe not right away, but early into the 2025-26 season, I expect that Demidov will be on the top line. In saying that, Slafkovsky likely moves down to the second line, but whoever plays on line two, will need Slafkovsky playing to his strengths.

Slafkovsky can certainly carry the puck, but deferring to his linemates and then thriving in his off-puck play is his main strength. He creates space, and when at his best, his routes open passing lanes for him to exploit for shooting opportunities, or he creates three-way passing plays.

Final thoughts

I think that Slafkovsky is going to be a top-line talent, but the issue in Montreal is that Demidov is a more skilled player. You don't want to keep a talent like that on the second line if he is the top player on the Canadiens. Kirill Kaprizov, Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin play on their teams' top line, and for the same reason, Demidov will do the same.

I want Slafkovsky to develop into a power forward, that makes the team a hard matchup every night. I think even if he slides to line two, and plays with Michael Hage, and maybe Kirby Dach in the future, the top six will be a formidable one. I believe that depth is essential for the Habs' success, and if they wish to sustain that, then having a balanced top six with tremendous support from the bottom will be the smartest way to achieve that.

Slafkovsky should not be traded, I think that he needs to find his groove and then stick with it.