Stephane Richer is convinced this is the Montreal Canadiens year.
After a 9-0-0 start to the season, he may be right.
Richer, a two-time 50-goal scorer who helped the Habs capture hockey’s Holy Grail with a magical 1986 playoff run, said this year’s squad aren’t far off from a true championship run, their first since taking it all in 1993.
“I think it’s a matter of maybe one or two players,” said Richer on Thursday night, joined at Fort William Gardens for a charity game in support of diabetes awareness by a slew of former Canadiens, including hall-of-famer Steve Shutt, tough guy Chris Nilan and defenceman Rick Green, the No. 1 pick in the 1976 NHL draft.
“It’s always nice to hear they’re one game away from the Stanley Cup, two games away from the Stanley Cup. But it’s time to move on now. I think we’ve got a full deal – (Max) Pacioretty, P.K. (Subban), (Andrei) Markov – a lot of young guys with more experience.”
There’s no doubt, nearly four decades removed from the team’s last dynasty in the late 1970s, the Habs are still revered in Montreal.
Fans bleed red, white and blue and are dying for another Stanley Cup win, to add to their record 24 total.
They’ve come close, losing in the conference finals as recently as 2014.
Shutt, the first Canadiens player to hit the 60-goal mark, a feat he accomplished in 1976-77 as the team won its second of four straight Cups, said Montreal’s return to glory has been a long time coming.
“I’ve watched them throughout the years and it’s not just this year. (General manager) Marc Bergevin and the whole staff have been building up to this team for the last three years. It just didn’t happen this year. Right now they’ve got a strong team throughout their whole lineup and the only thing I’m going to say is the NHL, with the parity that it is right now, if you get to the final four teams, that’s a real accomplishment,” Shutt said.
“After that it’s who gets lucky, who gets hurt and who gets hot.”
Nilan, who promised to be on his best behaviour when he took on the Superior North EMS team Thursday night – after all, he is one of nine NHLers to collect more than 3,000 penalty minutes in his career – said the difference is last year the Canadiens had one line that could score.
“This year they’ve got four balanced lines,” said Nilan, his Boston accent still evident.
Guys like Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais and Torey Mitchell have all filled valuable holes on the team and seem to be contributing every night.
“They’ve been playing awesome hockey. It’s a different team, a lot of speed and the puck movement is incredible,” Nilan said. “It’s a pretty good hockey team.”
