The general manager of the Canadiens heard this somewhat eccentric sentence. Since when can you accuse a professional team of winning too much? The question still deserves attention as expectations were relatively low this season. Remember that Kent Hughes said in early October that development would be a priority to say that we shouldn’t expect too many wins with this team.

The Canadiens GM is currently pointing out that it’s November and that good teams have been struggling lately. We can think of the penguins or the blues. “Development is still a priority,” emphasizes Kent Hughes. But culture in the bedroom comes first. There are very good talented teams that didn’t have a good culture that have struggled over the years. So if we keep winning, we’ll do it with our youngsters in training as long as their game doesn’t let up. That won’t change.”

Can Hughes change his mind?

But beyond that, there is still a reality. The Canadians are winning and the fans seem very happy to have found their way to victory. Could this change the team’s plans if they ever have to make a trade or two to get playoff help? “I always like to be flexible. But will we trade the team’s future as we compete for a spot in the Wild Card? I would be very surprised.”

One thing is for sure, Kent Hughes is very happy with his choice as head coach with Martin St-Louis in charge. He stresses that he does not hesitate to consult others to find answers to his questions. As for Kirby Dach, he still sees him as a middle player, but currently doesn’t think he’ll change his line given his big hits with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

The video repeat

The beauty of November CEO meetings is that everything is on the table. Nothing will be left to chance to determine what changes should or should not be made next season.

Should we expect big changes? Currently not. There was discussion about the game delay penalty when a player sends the puck into the stands in the defending zone. Should officers be allowed access to replay videos? For now, the answer is no, as the NHL should be adding more cameras to arenas. But we never know.

As for offside, there have been suggestions like “If a goal is scored 7 seconds after offside, it should be awarded. This is a somewhat simplified consideration because it is also necessary to determine when to start the timer. Another suggestion: if there’s an offside but the defense doesn’t recover the puck, we should also allow the goal. That raises another question. What is the definition of puck possession? We saw it in a Canadian game last year. During a late penalty against the Habs, a player quickly cleared the disc, but the ref refused to blow the whistle because he said the Canadiens player didn’t have possession of the puck…anything. And this event shows the NHL that there’s always a matter of judgment that complicates everyone’s job.

Still, officials are currently saying an offside is an offside, period. The fact that a goal in “Michigan” is annulled for offside is not the end of the world. The NHL should recover.

Another interesting point, this time on penalty throws. We feel some teams think there are too many. But again, the NHL now has a philosophy that offense takes precedence over defense in all aspects of the game, so let’s keep it that way.

As for the keepers, a study is being carried out on the nets that seem to come out of the anchorages more frequently. Is it the technology that’s problematic or the goalkeepers who have found a new way to delay games? We will probably have the answer at the next Directors-General meeting in March.