SAN JOSE – It probably makes little sense to point out positives for the Canadiens right now.

Their 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday was their fifth in a row since a season-opening 3-2 shootout win in Buffalo on Oct. 5, and the Canadiens room afterwards was full of glum faces talking about battling through a difficult start to the season.

Positives were the last thing on anyone’s mind, and rightfully so. These points count as much the ones in March and April; the Canadiens have three out of a possible 12 points in six games and at minus-12 have the second-worst goal differential in the NHL. That’s not good, to put it mildly.

But there is a positive that has come out of the last four losses, and it’s the play of Brandon Davidson. It was his fourth game of the season, and he’s looked solid in each one. He’s been physical. He’s played generally mistake-free. He’s begun being assertive as well, like when he sprung Ales Hemsky for a breakaway Tuesday with a great pass that led to a Canadiens power play. He’s stabilized the third pair while Jordie Benn searches for his game, so much so that Claude Julien felt comfortable playing him with Joe Morrow on Tuesday. That would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago.

Back on Sept. 22, Davidson was going through an awful training camp. His confidence was shattered. And he knew it.

“Seizing the moment is everything, but also finding my comfort zone,” he said that day. “I still haven’t found that yet. I think that’s really something I’m trying to get back to. It is coming each day, I do feel that I am building trust with the coaches, I do feel that practices are getting easier for me and everything’s starting to come together.”

Davidson was in a bad place, struggling through camp at a time when his NHL career might have been hanging in the balance. He’s 26, and generally if you haven’t established yourself as a regular NHLer at that age, chances are you never will.

Right around that time, Davidson recognized he needed help. So he went and got some.

He spoke to Shea Weber.

“I went to (Weber) when I needed some advice and he just basically got me to think about the basics, got to me kind of realize why we play this game and why I’m here,” Davidson told The Athletic after the game Tuesday. “It was a very subtle conversation, something I’ll keep mostly private, but one that was great. Ever since then I feel like I’ve had a different perspective. His great leadership just rubbed off on me, that’s all it was.”

Stories like this about Weber seem to follow him around. His leadership skills are evident whenever you speak to any of his teammates, whether it’s on the Canadiens, the Nashville Predators or even Team Canada. There is just something about him that players gravitate towards. This is the latest example.

I asked Weber about Davidson and his improved play after the game, and he initially made no mention of the influence he might have had on Davidson, because that’s just the way he is. But his answer gave a bit of a clue of what he might have told Davidson back when things were going sideways for him in training camp.

“I think he wanted to do so well early on, I think he put a lot of pressure on himself,” Weber said. “I think now, not that you don’t think when you play, but I think he’s just letting his instincts take over. He’s really stabilized his game and he’s been rock solid for us back there just moving the puck, playing physical and doing a good job for us.”

I don’t know why, but at that point I decided to ask if Weber had spoken to Davidson at some point. It just seemed like something he would have done. Here’s how that conversation went.

Me: “Did you have a talk with him?”

Weber: “Yeah.”

Me: “Really?”

Weber: “Yeah.”

Me: “What did you tell him?”

Weber: “That’s between him and I, but that’s just stuff I think everyone talks about so much with each other here.”

Me: “When did you talk to him? Is that fair to ask?”

Weber: “You can ask him. If he wants to talk about it I’ll let him talk about it. I don’t want to put him on the spot, don’t want to make it seem like it’s a bigger deal than it is.”

It was a big deal. It helped at a time Davidson needed it the most. Now, nearly a month later, the Davidson who was so unsure of himself, so concerned about finding his “comfort zone,” that guy is gone. He’s been replaced by a completely different person, one who feels good about himself and his game, and one who has provided the Canadiens with some much-needed help in a position of serious need.

It’s rare to hear a hockey player speak the way Davidson did back in training camp, and even now, when things are going so well for him, he has no trouble talking about the mental side of the game and how he appears to have conquered it. It’s refreshing, and more importantly it should help him down the road when he runs into a rough patch, which is practically guaranteed to happen.

“I think it’s just being accountable, not lying to yourself,” Davidson said before the game against the Sharks. “I think there’s things that you would keep personal, and that was just something that I felt needed to be addressed and felt that not only I could see it, but everybody else could. It wasn’t a huge issue being open about it at all. It’s just me being honest with myself.”

The Canadiens are not having a good start to the season, there is no way to sugar coat that. But this story, this emergence of a confident, self-assured third-pairing defenceman is good news for the organization.

There isn’t much of that surrounding this team these days.

(Photo credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)