MONTREAL — Martin St. Louis often talks about some of the top teams the Montreal Canadiens are facing, the ones that have a long-established identity and a long-established core, as something to aspire to.

He talks about the Boston Bruins this way, he talks about the Tampa Bay Lightning this way, but he also talks about the Carolina Hurricanes this way, even though they haven’t won a Stanley Cup in 18 years.

He admires how the Hurricanes play, how they are on top of their opponents, much like he wants the Canadiens to be on top of theirs, how they have an easily identifiable way they’re going to play, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.

The Hurricanes will dump pucks out of their zone, dump pucks deep in your zone and put tons of pressure on you, coming two men at a time, and will dare you to make them pay for their aggression. It’s not easy.

“They’re very disciplined in their style, you know exactly what you’re going to get,” St. Louis said after the Hurricanes beat the Canadiens 3-0 on Saturday. “With that aggressiveness that they play with, they get caught, and we caught them a few times, we just didn’t capitalize. You’ve got to try to capitalize on your chances when you can bypass their aggressiveness, and if you get on the other side of their aggressiveness sometimes, there’s some good stuff.

“But when the good stuff is there, you’ve got to capitalize, and we didn’t do that.”

It takes time to be very disciplined in your style, to fine-tune it, to make it so you don’t get caught very often. But before time, it takes pieces, players. The Canadiens are trying to establish an identity, but they are still looking for players. It is St. Louis’ job to establish that identity, it is Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes’ job to find those players.

Which brings us to Alex Newhook.

A year ago at this time, the Canadiens had seen enough of Kirby Dach to be excited about what he meant to their rebuild. His season was over due to a concussion, and he had missed significant time earlier in the season, but what he had shown was enough to suggest Dach would be a significant player for the Canadiens for years to come.

Newhook and Dach will forever be linked because they were acquired in similar ways, trading away futures to add a first-round pick coming off his entry-level contract who did not live up to expectations in his original location. Dach took off playing wing with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, same with Newhook. Dach began showing potential when moved back to centre, and that’s what we’re seeing with Newhook now.

Newhook’s line with Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher was dangerous against the Hurricanes, but Newhook himself demonstrated what his combination of pace and aggression and competitiveness can do against the pace and aggression and competitiveness of a team like the Hurricanes. He has qualities that are unique in the Canadiens’ mix, much like Dach.

This Newhook line has been buzzing all night.

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 31, 2024

Whereas Dach’s length and anticipation made his ability to extend offensive zone possessions more and more noticeable as the season went along last season — something we’ve also seen from Juraj Slafkovský this season — Newhook is different. It is his motor, his strength on the puck, and, most importantly, his extremely high pace that set him apart.

They are all qualities that are necessary to play the way the Hurricanes play, which is a way St. Louis would like the Canadiens to play, or some version of it, at least.

“I think my pace, when we play teams that are fast and like to play fast, that suits my game,” Newhook said. “I like playing that style and we play that style here a lot, regardless of the opponent.”

That pace could make Newhook a menace on both sides of the puck, but from the sounds of it, he still needs to learn how to use it on the defensive side of things.

“He’s got the tools to go against that,” St. Louis said. “Offensively, he has that, and I think for every young player that has those tools, it’s playing with that pace defensively, which is not as fun. But he has the tools to do that. I feel Newy’s playing very well lately, and when you play against a team that are on top of you like that, he’s able to beat his guy who’s on top of him, and he’s able to do it with and without the puck. When you play teams like that that are hard man-on-man, you’ve got to challenge guys a little bit, and he can do that.”

Looking down the road, which is all Canadiens management is doing right now, Newhook might be in the process of changing how he is viewed in the grand scheme of things. The Canadiens saw him primarily as a winger when they acquired him, ideally one who would complete Suzuki and Caufield, and perhaps they still do. St. Louis has repeatedly said the only reason Newhook is playing centre right now is that they need him there due to injuries to Dach and Christian Dvorak. But maybe there’s a silver lining to that need.

When he was sidelined with a high ankle sprain on Nov. 30, Newhook had a faceoff percentage of 38.7 percent in 23 games, though he didn’t play centre for very long. He had been playing there out of need because Dvorak was injured to start the season and Dach was lost in the second game, and Newhook did not look good at the position, regardless of his faceoff percentage. Once he was moved to wing with Suzuki and Caufield, Newhook started to pop.

Since returning from his injury on Feb. 10, Newhook has played 23 games and is winning faceoffs at a 52.3 percent clip, having taken more than twice as many as he did in his first 23 games.

“I was working on it a little bit (while injured), but I think it was more of a mindset thing,” Newhook said of his improvement in the faceoff circle. “Coming in and learning at the beginning of the year, kind of what works and what doesn’t and just trying to be more consistent with it. I think having a (mindset of) don’t take any draws off, or don’t let up on any draws. I’m happy with where I’m at right now in the dot.”

Newhook had 13 points in his first 23 games and has 12 points in his last 23 games, the major difference being he is driving his own line now, whereas his most productive stretch before his injury came playing with Suzuki and Caufield.

Looking down the road, if the Canadiens want to play a high-pressure, on-top-of-them kind of style, they will need depth, and while Newhook did not look like much of an option at centre before his injury, he certainly looks like one now, well beyond his improved faceoff numbers, though that helps.

“I enjoy it, I think I’ve played more centre than wing throughout my career,” Newhook said. “I like being in those key situations playing low, taking draws and being in the mix that way. I can play both (centre and wing), I don’t know if I really prefer one or the other. I think my game’s been growing in the middle here recently, I just want to continue to get better.”

Newhook, like his coach, was able to see the loss to the Hurricanes in the big picture. St. Louis sees the Canadiens incrementally improving every time they face the Hurricanes, and finds that encouraging, especially on a night where they played them to a stalemate at five-on-five, allowing one short-handed, one power play and one empty-net goal.

“You stay sane when you have truth,” St. Louis said. “Winning’s great, but we didn’t fail tonight. We just didn’t win.”

Part of that truth is what Newhook is showing himself to be, much like what Dach was showing himself to be last season.

“I think we’re still building something here,” Newhook said. “Even though we’re out of the picture, we’re still building for what we’re going to be in the future.”

It is becoming increasingly clear that Newhook will be a significant part of that future.

(Photo of  Alex Newhook taking a shot against the Hurricanes: David Kirouac / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)