Catching up with Cedrick Guindon

Montreal Canadiens 2022 fourth-round pick Cedrick Guindon sat down with Habs Unfiltered, an affiliate of The Hockey Writers, in an interview. During his sit down, he was candid about his experiences from the NHL Entry Draft, to development camp, main training camp, player development coaches and his season so far with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Owen Sound Attack. 

As soon as the young man spoke, it was clear that he is intelligent and well-spoken. Throughout the interview, he was very modest, giving credit for much of his success to his teammates and coaches. Yet watching the young man play, it is obvious he has done everything he must to improve. Guindon already plays a gritty style that can translate well to the professional game. He relies on his work ethic, especially on the forecheck and ability to play in traffic. He is capable of that because of his excellent skating abilities and transitional play. He provided insight into what it will take for him to earn an entry-level contract (ELC) from the Canadiens.

Canadiens Development Approach 

Guindon used his time at the Canadiens’ training camp to learn what he needed to do for his own game but also to experience what it would take to play at the NHL level.  

Related: Canadiens’ Martin St. Louis Building a Winning Culture 

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There has been a focus on the new approach that the Canadiens are taking toward player development and how they apply it. Guindon shared his impressions of the camp, yet what impressed him most was how the coaching staff in Montreal ran practices and why they chose to focus on the drills they were doing in those on-ice sessions.

Montreal is such a young team. They kind of put everyone in the same boat. That’s kind of the vibe I got. And they just focused on getting the best out of everyone at training camp. (Canadiens head coach) Marty St. Louis was big on practicing small area games that really reflected to game situations. Just working on areas that you’ll see often in games. So whether it was three-on-three downlow drills or odd man rushes, all that stuff really focused on the things that will get you prepared for the next level. Just the speed, the passes, the execution, all that stuff. And obviously scoring right, that’s something that everyone wants to do, but there’s also so many other things that you can do to help you score goals. So I think they kind of took that approach with us.

Cedrick Guindon