Despit not being in attendance at Michel Therrien’s golf tournament last week, there was quite a bit of talk regarding the impact that Alexander Radulov can make on the Montreal Canadiens this season. It is likely that Radulov would have already made an appearance in Montreal this Summer for the team to formally introduce him but he is experiencing in a delay in receiving his visa.

Alex Radulov has problems with his visa. Will practice in Moscow until it's sorted

— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) August 12, 2016

Radulov also recently gave an interview to the Russian outlet www.sports-express.ru:

Full Radulov Q&A can be found here https://t.co/fCLHRunFsJ It's in Russian

— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) August 15, 2016

Of note, it seems that he came away impressed by Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin after meeting and dining with him in New York City. Bergevin was able to sell Radulov that last season’s failures was a one off and that this season will be different. In turn Radulov was able to convince Bergevin that he has matured and is ready to come back to the NHL and prove that he still has a lot of skill and hockey in him.

Another factor in Radulov’s decision to sign with Montreal was having Carey Price and Shea Weber on the roster:

More Radulov: 'Look at the #Habs now. We have the best goalie in the world and also we've got the world's best defender this summer'

— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) August 15, 2016

He obviously holds Weber to the highest esteem and is looking forward to renewing acquaintances. Radulov was arguably the free agent this Summer with the greatest offensive skill and it certainly says something that he chose Montreal. In the interview, he went on to say that money was never the issue as he could have earned more had he stayed in the KHL. Radulov would have liked a longer term contract for stability but understands that he must prove himself all over again in the NHL.

I would have liked the reporter to have asked him if the current Russians on the Canadiens roster had any influence on his decision to sign with Montreal, or had he spoken with Andrei Markov or Alexei Emelin prior to July 1st. As well, I would have been interested to hear his thoughts on potentially playing with Alex Galchenyuk on the Canadiens first line.

In other news, the Canadiens are perhaps a long shot to sign soon to be unrestricted free agent Jimmy Vesey:

This is not a scoop! But I still think the #Habs are a legit dark horse for #JimmyVesey. Chris Nilan very close to Vesey family & Habs.

— Jimmy Murphy (@MurphysLaw74) August 13, 2016

Cheers & follow along!
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