Clearly, things have changed at Montreal Canadiens practice today.

For the first time this season, absolutely no player was on the ice at 10:15 AM. Evidently, players and coaches had a lengthy meeting before today’s morning practice.

Martin St-Louis Changed His Usual Approach at Today’s Practice

Secondly, as highlighted by RDS journalist Patrick Friolet, another unusual shift was noted.

«Usually, Martin St-Louis has his gloves and a stick and actively participates in the drills.

Today, Stéphane Robidas is working with the defensemen on one side, while Trevor Letowski is with the forwards on the other.

Martin remains back and supervises.»Patrick Friolet, RDS

It’s an interesting adjustment, and it’s clear that the Montreal Canadiens head coach is trying new methods to spark his team following Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss to the New York Rangers, especially in front of the Bell Centre crowd.

I must admit, I didn’t expect Martin St-Louis to find himself under so much scrutiny so quickly in this early part of the 2024-2025 season.

It will be interesting to see the results of the minor changes made this morning.

Also noteworthy is that today’s practice was more intense than usual, featuring a strong focus on one-on-one battles.

In your opinion, are the criticisms of Martin St-Louis justified this early in the season? Do you think some observers are going too far?

One thing’s certain: the coming weeks promise to be quite interesting, especially as Kent Hughes is already visibly working on bringing in reinforcements through the trade market.

Stay tuned for details.