Ducharme would have received a very specific directive from Gorton
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Jeff DrouinDecember 18, 2021 (9:29)
After the game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, the stat sheet showed one obvious fact: make room for the youngsters. Dominique Ducharme gave plenty of playing time to Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Ryan Poehling, Alexander Romanov and Jesse Ylonen.
With the type of season the Montreal Canadiens are having, it's the perfect time to see what these youngsters have to offer. They all responded well to the call from Ducharme, who no doubt received this directive from Jeff Gorton, according to Mathias Brunet. Gorton wants to test what he has on hand in order to start his roster.
It is certainly no coincidence that the playing time of this quintet was between 15 minutes and 25 minutes. Nick Suzuki played a total of 25:09 minutes, which is more than enough for a forward, even in overtime.
In my opinion, Ducharme didn't come in suddenly that day and drastically change his way of doing things. His new boss probably whispered a few words in his ear, as Brunet believes.
Regardless of who it came from, the important thing is that we saw youngsters capable of taking more on their shoulders, which is an excellent sign for the future.
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