The Canadiens mentioned right away that this was not an end of season post mortem kind of deal but rather a chance to catch up with the coach and discuss the current situation. We learnt that Julien is currently at his summer residence in Ontario with his family and clearly enjoying the family time even though he is still working at least a little bit every day. Of course, he doesn't mean that he spends 8 to 12 hours on the laptop every day but he does watch video, speak to some players and his coaching team. Interestingly enough, he also said that the coaches are holding conference calls and discussing about things that happen in the room or outside, day to day stuff of the coaching life. Which coach you say? Well, thankfully one journalist did ask to satisfy our curiosity he named Barry Trotz, Mike Babcock, John Cooper and Peter DeBoer amongst others.
As for when and how the league may resume its activities, Julien is in the dark just like us but what he did say right away was that right now, priority one is health and safety and any return to action is still far off in the future. He says that should the league decide to hold some sort of March Madness like tournament he would be very excited about the opportunity to take part in this new kind of playoffs should it come to that. In his mind, if and when the league returns, the teams will need a bit of time to be ready, sort of a mini camp if you will. He is not concerned about his players staying in shape since they are well equipped at home to do so. He was also asked about Tatar and Mete's health and said that both would be ready to return (keeping in mind that a return to action could be something like 2 months in the future). He has yet to speak directly with Jesperi Kotkaniemi though.
While sports are not the priority right now, the coach said that people are missing it and you can tell but that things might be a bit different when pro leagues are back. How do you go from being in a confinement as we are from being comfortable sitting next to a stranger in an arena? He does have a point here and the time when things will be back to "normal" sure seems to be rather far away. He thinks that it's possible that at first, the games will just be televised with no fans in attendance. While that possibility sounded weird when the Sharks announced that their next games would be played without an audience last March, right about now it sounds perfectly acceptable if it means that we can get some new hockey on the TV and have a way to take our mind off of things.
When he was asked if he worried about the position the team might be put in financially after next season when his whole first line will have to be signed to a new contract, he replied that if the Habs were to feel some financial pressure, many teams would have it worst. While we all would have liked to see Bergevin spend more money to make this team more competitive, the cap space he kept might actually make it easier for him to navigate this crisis. Teams that have given big contracts to players might kick themselves if the cap doesn't raise and they are pushed against it. Should that happen, chances are that Bergevin might offer a helping hand to some teams...if he can do more deals like the Mason-Armia deal, no one will complain.
In a nutshell, that's what was discussed with the coach yesterday. The Canadiens have said that this kind of chat would be held twice a week with a member of the team, be it a player or a member of the direction. Clearly, the Habs are trying to do whatever they can to keep the fans invested and interested and at this stage, any kind of entertainment is more than welcome. Kudos to the team as well for starting a stick tap mouvement to thank the healthcare heroes who are taking care of us all in these though times:
In other news, Jake Evans has been nominated for the American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award which is given in recognition for a player's outstanding contribution to their community. Each team names a player and they become a nominee for the league wide award. Evans took part in all of the Rocket's community efforts this season taking part in the Leucan shaved head challenge, raising awareness with the Hockey Fights Cancer night and attending local schools to promote reading and healthy lifestyles in the Rocket's Fun to Read program.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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