On Saturday, after another practice session, the Montreal media met via Zoom with head coach Claude Julien, Philip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Danault was the first of them to speak, and when asked for his thoughts on Montreal’s identity, he said of the construction of the roster over the offseason, “We added some big bodies, these guys have some speed and our defence is really big covering a lot of the ice. We’re going to be solid defensively, we added some goal scorers as well, so tougher as well too, so many new guys this year, so it’s tough to describe one word for our team, but speed and some big body as well. We are going to be a tough team to play against.”
Danault was very pleased that he’s back with his line of Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar.
“I’m happy to be back with my linees Gally and Tuna. The chemistry is there as always and we got pretty much everything on our team, we got some size, some good centres, good wingers, so there’s going to be some good matchups and everyone can chip in. Like you said, we got a lot of depth to play against the big lines out there, so I think everyone can chip in with the way they play on the ice.”
Next up to face the media was Finnish centreman Jesperi Kotkaniemi. To lead off, he got a hard-hitting question, had he set any goals for the upcoming season.
“I hope it will be my best one so far. I think the whole team looks pretty good this year and I think this team is ready to compete this year.”
Asked if he thought his performance in the bubble in Toronto gave him some extra confidence, Kotkaniemi said in response, “I think our whole team played pretty good and helped myself too a lot. I think the biggest step is the whole team game went forward in the bubble. I just felt really good over there.”
Once again, head coach Claude Julien ended Saturday’s session adding insight of his own. When asked about the positive cases that showed up in Dallas, Columbus and Pittsburgh, he said of the ongoing situation, “We can talk about this for a long, long time, but the one thing I can say is the laws in different states versus provinces and all that stuff sometimes can make a difference, and right now, I think the government of Quebec had some strict laws put down and we have to follow strict protocols that have been put in place, and right now, I knock on wood. Mostly, it’s been in the states, you cross your fingers that we can stay clean here in Canada.”
With the Montreal Canadiens set to play their first six games on the road, Julien gave his thoughts on travel through different provinces while asked if the empty arenas will be an advantage.
“I think it will resemble a lot like the bubble in Toronto. The one thing is we are moving from one city to another, but at the end of the day, the fact that we are together, I know that the hotels we have have protocols there as well. Basically, we have a floor to ourselves, we’re really taking a lot of precautions to stay as safe and away from COVID as we can.”
The Canadiens will resume on Sunday with a simulated game-day in Brossard, Quebec. This means they will have a morning skate and be back at the arena for a 7:00pm puck drop. This will be their second and final intra-squad game. The game can be seen on RDS while the Montreal Canadiens will be streaming it online.