BROSSARD – When the Canadiens hired Derek Lalonde as associate coach this summer, nobody in the organization needed to guess what his first assignment would be. Montreal’s penalty kill finished 18th in the NHL last season — not disastrous, but not good enough for a team that wants to play meaningful hockey in a stacked Atlantic Division. On Friday at the CN Sports Complex, that project was the main story out of camp.

Martin St-Louis didn’t downplay how much it matters. “For sure, it’s huge. Your PK and special units, especially given how good teams are, could make all the difference,” the head coach said during his scrum.

The appeal of Lalonde isn’t only the tactics, it’s the voice. He and St-Louis share a similar communication style, and on a roster still leaning on players in their early-to-mid 20s, that kind of consistency carries real weight. “You need that. We still have a young team. Our team gained a lot of experience last year, but you need good communicators, and those are two good ones,” said Phillip Danault, who skated with Group A on Friday.

The rest of the day’s camp notes were mostly encouraging. Kaiden Guhle, still working back from minor adductor surgery this summer, joined Group A for part of the session after a solo skate — a step in the right direction with the opener approaching. Ivan Demidov also practiced with Group A, while Lucas Condotta was given another therapy day as the rest of Group B ran through a full session in Brossard.

Friday’s Groups

Group A

Forwards: 17 Anderson, 76 Bolduc, 13 Caufield, 77 Dach, 24 Danault, 93 Demidov, 71 Evans, 91 Kapanen, 22 Kreider, 15 Newhook, 20 Slafkovsky, 14 Suzuki, 85 Texier, 63 F. Xhekaj

Defensemen: 45 Carrier, 53 Dobson, 42 Engstrom, 21 Guhle, 48 Hutson, 8 Matheson, 64 Reinbacher, 47 Struble, 72 A. Xhekaj

Goalies: 75 Dobes, 32 Fowler, 35 Montembeault

Group B

Forwards: 61 Arseneau, 62 Beck, 60 Belzile, 58 Bentley, 37 Berard, 36 Dauphin, 49 Davidson, 55 Legkov, 41 McKown, 46 Mesar, 52 Mianscum, 67 Nadeau, 40 Pastujov, 88 Poulin, 43 Simoneau, 54 Thorpe

Defensemen: 51 Dion, 56 Dubinsky, 83 Hache, 38 McCallum, 65 Mittelstadt, 68 Protz, 74 Samson, 79 Szuber, 44 Walsh

Goalies: 98 Jones, 34 Kahkonen, 90 Lapenna, 70 Mandolese

Montreal closes its preseason slate against Ottawa on Saturday with a pair of split-squad games: one group travels to Kanata while the other stays home to face the Senators, both starting at 7 p.m. ET.

None of Friday’s headlines will show up on a stat sheet. But if the Canadiens are serious about taking a real step forward in the Atlantic, a fixed penalty kill is exactly the kind of unglamorous improvement that turns close losses into points in the standings — and the Lalonde hire says as much about where this team thinks it’s headed as any trade would.

Source: NHL.com/Canadiens