Canadiens showcase the hockey IQ Nikita Kucherov says the NHL has lost

At Tampa Bay Lightning media day, Nikita Kucherov was asked how the NHL has changed during his career. The star forward said the league is faster now, but also “very dumb,” with what he described as low hockey IQ. His blunt assessment has renewed discussion about whether teams have chased speed and size at the expense of players who think the game at a higher level.

St-Louis behind the bench sets the tone in Montreal

In Montreal, the Canadiens offer a direct counterpoint to that concern, starting with their head coach. Martin St-Louis went undrafted out of the University of Vermont as teams passed on a 5-foot-8 forward they considered too small. He ultimately carved out a Hall of Fame career by processing the game faster than bigger, stronger opponents and finding ways to outthink them rather than outmuscle them.

Now, St-Louis is in charge of a roster that mirrors the attributes that made him successful. Over the last several years, the Canadiens have repeatedly targeted players whose hockey sense and skating could offset questions about their size or draft position. That profile has become a defining trait of the team that reached the Eastern Conference Final last spring.

Lane Hutson and Cole Caufield turn doubts into production

Defenceman Lane Hutson is the clearest example of that philosophy. Montreal selected him 62nd overall in the second round of the 2022 draft after many clubs deemed his small frame too risky for an NHL blue line. The Canadiens bet on his brain and mobility instead, and were rewarded when he captured the 2025 Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, with observers highlighting his poise and decision-making with the puck.

Cole Caufield, meanwhile, did hear his name in the first round in 2019, but later than final projections from TSN, largely because of his 5-foot-8 stature and concerns about how a winger his size would handle NHL physical play. Last season he answered those doubts emphatically, scoring 51 goals. That total ranked second in the league and marked the first 50-goal campaign by a Canadiens player since Stéphane Richer in 1989-90, underlining how positioning and anticipation can outweigh raw size.

Jake Evans: from seventh-round flyer to trusted centre

Jake Evans represents the deepest cut in this cohort. During the 2014 draft, he stepped away to get food late in the proceedings, frustrated that his name had not been called. Montreal selected him 207th overall while he was gone, the fourth-to-last pick of the entire draft. Players taken that late rarely become more than a footnote, yet Evans steadily worked his way into a regular NHL role.

In November 2024, he became the first seventh-round pick in Canadiens history to reach 100 career points. He did it while serving as the centre his coach leans on in the defensive zone, where his anticipation and positioning often prevent chances before they develop. That kind of quiet, preventative hockey rarely makes highlight reels, but it is the type of intelligence coaches value highly.

St-Louis has said he did not even realize Evans was a seventh-rounder, noting that at a certain point the league stops caring about draft pedigree. Put together, an undrafted coach, a Calder-winning defenceman once seen as too small, a 50-goal scorer who slipped on draft day and a late-round centre turned shutdown staple give Montreal a distinct identity. If, as Kucherov suggests, some teams have spent years prioritizing the fastest skaters over the smartest ones, the Canadiens appear content to profit from that blind spot.