Therrien suggests that Hughes and the Canadiens made a mistake right at the beginning of camp

"The Canadiens made a mistake by inviting 74 players to training camp. That's way too many in my eyes.

The camp should normally be used to evaluate the players most likely to start the season in Montreal, including the organization's top prospects. But not all of them."

"It's concerning that the Canadiens lost their pre-season games. Without a win, it shakes the confidence of the group. It takes a good camp to start the season right.

When I took over in Montreal in 2012, the team had finished last in the East and 28th (out of 30) overall the previous season. After having a good camp, we started the campaign strong with six wins in the first eight games. That gave us momentum going forward. Helped by that strong start, we were able to close out the season atop the Atlantic Section, ahead of the Boston Bruins, which helped us qualify for the playoffs."

"Of all the kids at training camp, Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky especially stood out. They impressed me the most. They showed me that they can play in the National Hockey League right now. I didn't hate Jordan Harris either. All the others didn't convince me. At least not yet."