With the Montreal Canadiens’ annual charity golf tournament taking place earlier today, the usual media scrum gathered around to interview owner Geoff Molson, head coach Michel Therrien, and some of the players present. As is the case every year, there’s always a little controversy that is touched upon and this time around, it was no different. Here are a few things that stood out to me.


When Therrien was pushed to comment on his rumoured remarks aimed at Max Pacioretty being the “worst captain in franchise history”, the coach immediately denied that anything was ever said and mentioned that he never pays attention to hearsay. He went on to talk about Pacioretty being unanimously voted in as captain by his peers, a decision evidently supported by the organization considering #67 is one of the best scorers in the league over the past few years. He went on to say that despite missing training camp last season and struggling to get into game shape due to his knee injury, Pacioretty still managed 30 goals and 64 points, which says a lot about the kind of leadership that he’s capable of demonstrating. Moreover, Geoff Molson reiterated that something of that disparaging nature was never uttered.

If you pay close attention to Therrien’s body language, you can tell he’s visibly affected by the questioning, bordering on the defensive. I asked a friend of mine (who happens to be a police detective) to take a look at the video clip, and he told me that if he was interrogating a suspect and he/she reacted that way, he’d assume he/she was lying, “without an ounce of a doubt… or not telling the entire truth”. Interesting to say the least, although I’m not willing to dive into that any further. Make of it what you will.


Elsewhere, Andrew Shaw discussed his settling into Montreal as soon as possible in order to focus and ready himself for the upcoming season. When asked to define character, he said that it was important for players to be fun to be around and make everyone feel comfortable by keeping things light. Of course, it’s important to be serious when needed but to do what he can to make everyone feel welcomed, which translates into better results for everyone on the ice. He spoke about Pacioretty perfectly defining “character” and “leadership”, referring to how the captain invited newcomer Shea Weber and himself out to dinner to get to know each other.

“You’ll find out who I am soon,” was his response to how he describes himself.



Brendan Gallagher also fielded questions earlier and the comments that stood out the most to me were related to how the organization identified key areas that were lacking and addressed them during the offseason. While Habs fans might not always agree, Gallagher and the rest of his teammates have publicly declared that they’re happy with the changes made and believe that the team has improved overall.


With the World Cup of Hockey underway, it’s a shame that we did not get to hear Pacioretty, Weber, Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Tomas Plekanec and Carey Price speak today. While they would have certainly maintained the status quo in their discourse, the golf tournament could have offered all of the players face time in order to get to know each other more profoundly.


Training camp will begin in two short days and will run until October 11th. Check back soon for a preview.

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