Rocket:
Last week, an educational study from the University of California-Irvine characterized the current crop of university students as ‘the entitled’. At least, that’s a common belief from a student’s perspective. They believe that they should be entitled to good grades and recognition, even merit-based awards, as long as they show up for class. Actually some have the same expectation if they are merely on the class list.
That same sense of entitlement seems ingrained in certain members of the Montreal Canadiens based on their place of birth.
Guillaume Latendresse is already revered by a legion of fans and media alike. But exactly, what has he accomplished so far in his young career? By normal standards, Latendresse’s development would be considered sub par. But Latendresse is a member of the Montreal Canadiens, so normal is tossed out the window.
Let’s take a look back. Guillaume Latendresse graduated from junior with very high expectations. Red Line Report is the premier independent scouting service for the NHL and is used by GM’s from almost every team. In the final 2005 pre-draft ranking , Red Line Report listed Latendresse as the #6 forward available just behind Anze Kopitar.
Here’s is RLR’s detailed assessment of Latendresse:
“The biggest and strongest power winger this year is Guillaume Latendresse, who is not only huge at 6-2/220 pounds, but also freakishly strong. He’s impossible to move off the puck, and few even attempt to drive him out of the crease. Though not at all dirty, Latendresse often injures opposing defensemen with the sheer force of his crushing hits in the corners and along the walls. He’s a heavy-footed skater, but has soft, quick hands and a nice release on his shot.”
Quite high praise indeed!
Despite the high praise, NHL GM’s were not biting. Their own files contained notes about Latendresse’s slow foot speed, poor work ethic, and negative attitude. Therefore Guillaume fell from a rather lofty top ten ranking to being picked #45 overall. Latendresse was selected by the Montreal Canadiens after Bob Gainey traded up for the opportunity to get him.
The Canadiens brass was already feeling the heat from the francophone press for Gainey’s selection of a goaltender with their 1st pick. The media gurus had been advocating that Gainey select Gilbert Brule for weeks and were shocked (and very critical) when he didn’t follow their advice lock-step. As we all know, the goaltender is none other than Carey Price, now franchise player of the Canadiens.
Most assumed that Latendresse would return to his junior team, the Drummondville Voltigeurs, or spend a year or two as a member of the Bulldogs to develop his game and work on his shortcomings. We would soon learn that the name on the back of his sweater would be his ‘Get Out of Hamilton Free’ card.
Latendresse’s lack of performance or not living up to his promise has not yielded trips to the AHL and only on rare occasions, to the press box. Consequently, Gui’s career progress has stalled, or perhaps never really got started. As one journalist commented “In his case, Latendresse’s career was in a holding pattern at best. He was still young at 21, but he was not progressing.”
Latendresse, as billed in the Red Line Report, has exceptional potential. Unfortunately, his billing as a top power forward with soft hands has not come close to being fully realized. Gui does not consistently play physical and in the first two years, had a reputation around the league as a cheap shot artist. He has also gone looking for the big hit at the expense of putting himself out of position. He seems allergic to the blue ice as he doesn’t go to the front of the net. Gui will park himself at the side of the net but must rely on the 1 in 10 times that rebounds come in his direction rather than parking himself at the top of the crease to screen and for deflections.
Latendresse doesn’t play well without the puck and has not made a commitment to being a good two-way player. His foot speed is improved but remains relatively slow. The biggest surprise is that his supposed soft hands haven’t been able to convert more scoring chances even when playing with world class passers like Tanguay and Koivu.
At the end of last season, Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau met with Latendresse to urge him to work on his skating and balance over the summer, something that they had mentioned to Gui in previous meetings. As Carbonneau said, “We tried that earlier; we tried two years ago and he was supposed to do it.” But he didn’t. That old criticism of work ethic seemed to be a concern again.
To his credit, Latendresse did complete 35 hours to power skating last summer. The result has been a marginal improvement in his skating. But devoting the equivalent of a work week to improving his foot speed over the past 3 summers is not nearly enough.
When asked, revered hockey analyst Pierre McGuire consistently refers to the development path of Latendresse as the Canadiens biggest mistake over the past few years. At the start of this year, McGuire said that the mistakes could have been somewhat mitigated by sending Latendresse to Hamilton for 20-25 games. McGuire felt that during the pre-season that Max Pacioretty had earned the chance to stay with the team, and had moved past Latendresse.
When asked about the possibility of going to Hamilton, Latendresse believed it couldn’t happen to a third year player. His response wasn’t that he had earned the right to stay but instead reflected a sense of entitlement.
Even Guy Carbonneau feels that the competition is catching up to Latendresse. Carbonneau said, “He sees the competition. I don’t think that three years ago, when he came up, that we had the depth we do now. Last year, he realized if he does not get better he would be playing on the fourth line again.”
I look at the Red Line analysis of Latendresse’s potential. That’s exactly the kind of player I want to see in the Canadiens line-up. But it won’t happen by itself. It requires a lot of work. My fear is that all the potential could be lost as Latendresse is leaning towards the same fate as Mike Ribeiro.
Ribeiro is thriving now and producing in Dallas but such success would never have been possible for him in Montreal given Mike’s attitude. Ribeiro is another native Quebecer who’s early career suffered from a sense of entitlement while with the Canadiens.
Ribeiro was another player who was adored in Montreal just for stepping on the ice. As a consequence, Ribeiro had poor work ethic, was disruptive in the dressing room, and at best, only had inconsistent performance. Ribeiro was another poor skater who refused to take part in off-season training programs and enjoyed an overzealous social life with Jose Theodore.
It must have been a shock to Ribeiro when he arrived in Dallas. Unlike Montreal, he wasn’t praised by the media just for being on the ‘class list’. The Dallas fans didn’t chant his name regardless of performance to insulate him from scrutiny. It was only after a few private ‘chats’ with Brenden Morrow that Ribeiro woke up and had an attitude adjustment. It resulted in a big improvement in his performance.
Guillaume Latendresse is young and has real potential to be a force on this team. But it will only come with hard work on his part. Yes, Latendresse had several second assists while playing with Koivu and Tanguay, a pairing that doesn’t need any more assists. They need a finisher. Interestingly enough, some of Latendresse’s best play, being physical and working hard, has come when he was playing on the 4th line. When suitably motivated, I believe that Latendresse can progress and perhaps live up to his true potential. But if his mind drifts into the sense of entitlement, Gui will be a very popular underachiever.
Check out a very good article by Habster written last Spring on the same topic:
Are The Canadiens Hindering Latendresse’s Development?