Pat Hickey: Canadiens followers ought to have been rooting for the Leafs

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Canadiens followers ought to be cautious what they want for.

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A lot of these followers who stay engaged within the NHL playoffs — and that’s not a given in Montreal the place ardour for the sport doesn’t lengthen far past the fortunes of the Canadiens — had been delighted when the Florida Panthers upset the hated Boston Bruins.

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Personally, I felt unhappy that we’d have seen final of Patrice Bergeron, who has set the usual for two-way forwards all through his Corridor of Fame-worthy profession. And I used to be rooting for Boston coach Jim Montgomery, a Rosemont native whose profession is again on observe after a battle with alcohol abuse.

However the followers who cheered for the Panthers within the first spherical, and proceed to cheer for them as they vanquished the much more hated Toronto Maple Leafs, have overlooked the massive image.

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Over the previous season, the main focus in Montreal had been on the upcoming NHL entry draft. The grand prize for the draft-lottery successful Chicago Blackhawks is Connor Bedard, who’s projected as a generational participant within the mould of Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid. The Canadiens completed the season with the fifth-worst report within the NHL and so they didn’t transfer within the lottery.

The information is that this yr’s expertise pool is taken into account a deep one and there is a wonderful probability the Canadiens will discover a good prospect who can hurry the rebuilding course of even when his title isn’t Connor Bedard.

Which brings us to the rationale why it’s counterproductive to root for the Florida Panthers. The Canadiens obtained the Panthers’ first-round decide in a 2022 commerce for defenceman Ben Chiarot and, the farther Florida goes within the playoffs, the decrease the decide.

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If the Panthers had misplaced to the Bruins or Leafs, Montreal would have acquired the No. 17 decide. When Florida, the final workforce to qualify for the Jap Convention playoffs, added to the Maple Leafs’ playoff woes, the very best Montreal might hope for was No. 29. If the Panthers proceed their Cinderella run and win the Stanley Cup, the Canadiens would decide thirty second.

It makes Canadiens followers want they’d held their noses and rooted for the groups they hate.

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The opposite a part of the Chiarot commerce concerned Tyler Smilanic, a ahead who performed for america on the world juniors and put up good numbers in his first two years at Quinnipiac College.

Basic supervisor Kent Hughes had seen Smilanic play within the U.S. Nationwide Group Growth Program and felt his scoring means and pace would match into the Canadiens’ fashion of play

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However Smilanic hit a roadblock after he transferred from Quinnipiac to the College of Wisconsin. He struggled to satisfy expectations and determined to take a break to handle his mental-health challenges.

“I knew I bought to some extent the place I wanted to choose whether or not to maintain going daily, struggling, or step again and alter my life to make it higher,” Smilanic instructed Faculty Hockey Information.

Smilanic was away from the sport for greater than two months and continues to work by means of remedy, which incorporates leaning on the Canadiens for assist. The workforce has made psychological well being a pillar of its wellness program and Rob Ramage, the workforce’s director of participant growth, is a part of Smilanic’s assist system.

“Once I’m struggling mentally, (the Canadiens) attain out,” Smilanic stated. “Rob reaches out lots and has loads of good insights and optimistic phrases to assist me after I’m struggling. They’ve been nothing however respectful.”

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