Brainiacs

    

    After eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of this year's playoffs, reporters asked Juraj Slafkovsky about his health. He'd taken a couple of serious hits to the head; one in a fight and one from a massive hit. The young player answered, "I think I'm good, you know. I can't really get much dumber."

    It was a candid, tongue-in-cheek answer from a young player who is far, far from dumb.

    By now, everyone knows the Montreal Canadiens have a young team. They have a fast team and a talented one. They're tenacious and hardworking. They have size in players like Arber Xhekaj, Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Slafkovsky and Josh Anderson. They've got generational skill in Lane Hutson and elite scoring capability in Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. And of course they have a unique coach beloved by his players in Martin St.Louis. (The hug he gave Ivan Demidov after his first-ever playoff goal was the perfect illustration of that.)

    What a lot of people miss about the Canadiens is they're also a smart team. After years of watching guys like Andrei Kostitsyn barge into the offensive zone and then appear to completely forget why he's there, smart is a refreshing change.

    It all starts with GM Kent Hughes. He's the one who decides what qualities the team should exhibit and hunts for the guys who best fit that bill. 

    "Number one, he’s very intelligent," said Vincent Lecavalier upon Hughes' hiring. He’s intelligent, but he doesn’t think he’s the smartest guy in the room. He lets people talk and lets them express themselves and he listens. He’s open to good ideas all the time. He’s very analytical. He’s a very intuitive person, too. If something’s wrong or not going well, he picks up on those things. He’s a great human being."

    Once Hughes took over, his first job was finding a coach who'd match the philosophy he wanted to bring to Montreal. Enter St.Louis, even though the choice was way off the board. He had zero pro coaching experience, but Hughes didn't care about that because of the coach's other, more valued attributes.

    "What impresses me is the reason we hired him in the first place, because of the qualities that he brings," Hughes says. "It was his analytical mind, his emotional intelligence, his leadership qualities, his hockey IQ. This is somebody who rises up to challenges. He doesn’t shrink, he’s adaptable, he’s bright, and he’s able to make adjustments."

    When choosing players for the Canadiens, Hughes and St.Louis look for skill and character, of course, but they also look for brains. They want players who don't just perform on the ice, but who are constantly thinking while they do it.

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    Some of the players...Caufield, Hutson, Jake Evans and Mike Matheson among them...were fitted for their thinking caps in college. They played in a league that focused more on physical and mental development than on a heavy schedule of game play. Unlike some of their junior colleagues, college players often tend to come to the pros with a well-rounded perspective on the game and on life.

    Others, like Suzuki, come from families that placed a high value on education. The captain actually went to art school instead of conventional college. He believes developing creativity inevitably develops intelligence.

    "It helps for sure. Thinking outside the box is a great way to be a good hockey player. Just trying to see things that other people don't," Suzuki says. "All these kinds of art forms that I've been studying have helped my brain with thinking fast and being precise."

    Some players are just born gifted with intelligence on the ice like Lane Hutson.

    "He is special. His poise, his brains, his hands, his edgework," praises analyst Craig Button. "He’s always aware of where opportunities are. Everybody on the ice knows he’s a brilliant player and yet he continues to do brilliant things."

    You don't get to thrive in the NHL as an undersized D-man without being smart enough to not only avoid being killed, but to turn what others might consider a weakness into strength.

    It's interesting to note many of the smartest players around were not immersed completely in hockey when they were growing up. Suzuki spent summers playing golf, competitive soccer, volleyball and basketball. Caufield played baseball and football in the hockey offseason. Slafkovsky played soccer and Jakub Dobes ran cross country. Sports psychologists will tell you it's important to vary a young athlete's activities, not only to improve physical strength and coordination, but because different sports require different ways of thinking which excercise the brain.

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    When you play for a smart coach like St.Louis, you'd better be smart too. His thinking is often unorthodox and requires some adaptation for players new to the room. The more intelligent the player, the easier it is for him to adjust his game quickly.

    People rave about how fast the Habs rebuild has happened, and a big part of that is group intelligence. Clever players learn quickly and they rarely make the same errors repeatedly. Take Slafkovsky for example. He came into the NHL with huge expectations on his shoulders and ended up spending a lot of time getting caught off guard and taking massive hits to throw him off his game and onto his butt.

    Now, at just 22 years of age, he has quickly overcome a very steep learning curve and is making himself into a dangerous power forward.

    "I like Juraj Slafkovský's game, maybe because I see myself in him when I was young," lauds none other than legend Jaromir Jagr. "I like these types of players who are strong on the boards. He is also very intelligent.”

    So no, Slaf. If Jagr says you're not a dummy, then you're not.

    You're smart enough to keep up with the smartest young team in the NHL.