Can Lats Play?
-- by Mario Perrazzino; GOHABS.com
Guillaume Latendresse, the Canadiens 19 year-old rookie, is quickly finding out if he belongs in the NHL so soon in his career. It was only one year ago, where Latendresse, nicknamed Lats by his teammates, impressed many at the Canadiens training camp.
In 2005, Latendresse was a final cut and was returned to his Quebec Major Junior team where he suffered a let-down, after coming so close making the NHL club. His lackluster performance at the junior level, became more obvious when, playing for Canada’s National Junior team, he played very little, and was a non-factor in Canada’s Gold Medal victory.
Fast forward to this season, where once again Latendresse impressed many at training camp. New Canadiens’ Head Coach, Guy Carbonneau, had to make his first important decision. Who takes the final spot on the roster? Latendresse, or rookie Andrei Kostisyn.
Kostisyn (from Novopolotsk, Belarus) played last year mostly with the Canadiens’ farm club in Hamilton. But Kostisyn was briefly called up by the Canadiens, appearing in 12 games with the Canadiens, collecting three points (2-1-3).
However, at the end of this year’s training camp. Head Coach Carbonneau elected to go with Latendresse. And the head coach made the bold declaration that Latendresse would play out the season with the big club, and not be returned to his junior team after 9 games into the season (the NHL, the NHLPA, and Canadian Junior hockey have an agreement whereby teams can return junior eligible players back to their junior clubs within the first 9 games, and it won’t count against a players’ years of service eligibility.)
After 10 games into the season, Latendresse has played little. Averaging less than 10 minutes per game. However, against Boston on Oct 26, Latendresse played over 12 minutes. Often times he looks out of position, and earlier this season was criticized for extending his shifts. He does try to use his physical play, (6-2, 229 lbs), but it hasn’t translated into any points thus far. He saw limited action on the team’s second line at one point, but now finds himself back on the seldom used forth line.
So what does Latendresse have to gain seeing limited action in the NHL? Well according to the Canadiens, he has more to gain playing with Montreal, then returning to junior. Just being with the big club, he gets the experience that will help him develop in the future yars.
Some have speculated that Latendresse made the team to boost the number of French Quebecers on the team. Looking at the numbers, there might good reason to speculate such a thing. The 2006-07 makeup of the Canadiens is comprised of 11 Europeans, and 11 North Americans, of which three are from Quebec; a team low for a team rich in French Canadian character.
The jury is still out on whether it was a smart idea to have Latendresse on this team. But after 10 games, the Canadiens will have to live with this decision for the remainder of the season.
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