I can't remember a coach who let you know who he liked on a particular night more than Jacques Martin. Simply look at the scoresheet. You don't even have to ask Martin who impressed him - just look at the ice time.

Coaches will always show a natural disparity in a player's ice time, but it is more exaggerated with Martin.

Here are the numbers that stick out against Detroit.

Guillaume Latendresse had under six minutes. The coach has lost confidence in him. Six minutes is a pittance. That's with the Habs trailing most of the game. How many minutes does 84 get if the Habs are winning and they are trying to hold on to a lead? Four I guess. The coach shows you with this ice time that he doesn't believe in 84's offence either. Guillaume's career at the moment has stalled. He always talks about mirroring the play of Tomas Holmstrom. Well, Holmstrom was his stand-in-front-of-the-net pesky best Saturday night. I hope Guillaume was watching from his great viewpoint - the front row in the middle of the bench.

What has happened to Max Lapierre? This was supposed to be his kind of night, being a pest and getting under the skin of players like Datsyuk. Lapierre had just eleven minutes.

Don't even bother to wonder how the coach feels about Georges Laraque. 4:47 is all you need to know.

Contrast this with Tom Pyatt's 17 minutes and 30 seconds. Tom Pyatt! This was supposed to be a stop gap call up, but this kid is earning a season-long spot on the team as we speak. How can I be so bold with this statement? That's a large amount of ice for a kid in a big, tight, and important game against a quality opponent. Jacques Martin is making the statement. Not me.

Max Pacioretty wasn't happy with his game against Detroit he told me, but he logged over 14 minutes.

Do you sense a changing of the guard here?

Tomas Plekanec had over 25 minutes. That's a Pronger number. Metropolit over 20 minutes.

Martin loves to go with the hot hand and those committed to put in the effort. You don't work. You don't play.

That's the way it should be. No gifts 'cause of your reputation, or stature on the team. Kostitsyn was getting five minutes earlier this year. Now that he is showing some hunger, he's getting 20 minutes.

In time, using this strategy, something subtle but important happens in the room: players come together. They get along. They believe in the fairness of the situation and they understand what it takes to improve their careers.

That's the way it should always be, but I can tell you flat out, it wasn't this way last year, and that's why at the end of the year there was so much rancor.

Bob Gainey doesn't get enough credit for correctly evaluating that 10 UFAs had to go. Not just because their skills were diminishing, but also because the room had to be cleaned out so more ice time was the reward for good play, not more ice time was the reward for years served.

This coach gets it. He has them all on board. This team, with all their injuries, has overachieved, and if you want to see who is overachieving the most - just grab the stat sheet and hear the coach loud and clear speak to his players and you without saying a single word.