Jean-Charles Lajoie would like to see Martin St-Louis employ Juraj Slafkovsky in a different role than during Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
The young Slovak, whom the Montreal Canadiens selected first in the last draft, was then relegated to the fourth unit along with Jake Evans and Michael Pezzetta.
“Why did we put (Joel) Armia to the left of (Josh) Anderson and (Sean) Monahan? For me, Slafkovsky with Monahan and Anderson, I would love to see that. I think it would look like a real second trio that looks good, ”he offered Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse on Thursday at JiC.
“Am I in the field, me?”
On the other hand, Lapierre takes nothing away from Armia, even that he prefers the positioning of the Finn to that of the power attacker with whom he completed the trio of Monahan.
“I think it would make even more sense to put Armia with Monahan and Slafkovsky. Anderson, for me, he just runs everywhere and it’s confusing to play with him, believes the ex-agitator.
“A guy like Armia, even if he doesn’t always offer good performances, is well positioned and he brings a little something.”
Photo credit: Joël Lemay / QMI Agency
“With him, we go the other way around”
Guillaume Latendresse agrees.
“We’ve been talking about his inconstancy since he’s been in Montreal and we acquired him in a funny way – there’s a reason for that – but the fact remains that Armia has an offensive talent for me. When he is confident and you pat him on the back, he is a guy who has had very good games and good streaks.
Latendresse also criticizes Armia for his often intuitive playing.
“(Wednesday) I was watching Josh Anderson. Every time he touched the puck, he threw it in the back and tried to run after it. He never made a game. You don’t keep possession of the puck when you’re with Josh Anderson on the ice.
“In the style of Martin St-Louis, what we want is puck possession. With him, it’s the opposite.”
See at the top of the article the segment The Blue Pocket on the show JiC.