What the Puck: Canadiens fans don't need to worry about American players wanting out of

It turns out Habs fans don’t need to worry about the team’s American players following Brady Tkachuk’s lead and fleeing south to their homeland. At least that’s what Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis suggested Sunday evening on the ultra-popular and super influential Radio-Canada TV talk show Tout le monde en parle.

There is a lot of talk that U.S. players on Canadian NHL teams are a little bit uneasy these days given the tense relations between the United States and Canada. Former Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was traded this summer to the Florida Panthers, where he joined his brother Matthew and he left because he made it clear he didn’t want to extend his contract with the Sens.

Brady Tkachuk never said the move had anything to do with wanting out of Canada, but there was much speculation that was the case given the antagonism between the two countries, a rift that burst into the open when Team USA and Team Canada battled it out in the Olympics and before that in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is also American and a key player on Team USA, and some Leafs fans didn’t like that he visited the White House to meet Donald Trump.

St. Louis and Habs general manager Kent Hughes were on Tout le monde en parle Sunday for the opening show of the 22nd season of the show, and host Guy A. Lepage asked them about the issues surrounding American players in Canada.

Lepage noted that some American players had asked to be traded to teams in the U.S., and he underlined that it was not the case with Canadiens stars Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler, who are American.

“They seem really happy in Montreal,” said Lepage.

Then, reminding us all that his original job was as a comic, he asked, “What did you guys put in their Gatorade?”

St. Louis and Hughes had a good laugh at that wisecrack. Then St. Louis looked over at Hughes and asked, “What did you put in there, Kent?”

Cue more laughter.

“I think the players here, and even players elsewhere, see the roadmap we’ve put in place,” said St. Louis, once the joking was done with. “They see that we’ve put together an environment to build a culture. You don’t just build a culture. You build an environment that allows a culture to grow. I think the players like coming to work, they like playing hockey, they like practising.”

“And they also spend the summer here in Quebec,” added Lepage, which is indeed a significant change from the past couple of decades, when Carey Price and Shea Weber were on the first plane out of town as soon as the season wrapped.

“The National Hockey League is a small world,” said St. Louis. “There’s lots of communication. People talk with each other. So I’m not surprised that players want to come here. And I tip my hat to the main players here who manage this world that we have here.”

So don’t lose any sleep over the notion that Caufield, Hutson or Fowler will demand trades to U.S. teams. They love it here for the reasons St. Louis outlined. The coach and the players often describe the team as a family and it’s true. These guys really love each other and they have fun together on and off the ice.

Another American, Chris Kreider, just joined the team and you can be sure he was very happy with his first game with the squad, a meaningless exhibition Saturday at the Bell Centre, which the Habs won 4-3 over a B-list Toronto Maple Leafs team. For years, Kreider has been booed at the Bell Centre because he had a collision with Price in the 2014 playoffs that injured the Canadiens goalie, and many fans believe it perhaps cost the Canadiens the Cup that year.

(I think that’s the usual Habs fans’ mythmaking. It was the conference final and I’m not sure they would’ve beat Kreider’s New York Rangers even with Price in nets for the Canadiens. And they most definitely would’ve been smoked by the Los Angeles Kings, who won the Cup that year.)

But on Saturday, Kreider was not booed when he was introduced by Bell Centre announcer Michel Lacroix and, at the end of the game, Nick Suzuki, Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky brought him in for the traditional game-ending group cheer. That’s the way this team rolls. All for one, one for all.

But just as significant is the one thing that matters the most to every NHL player from Connor McDavid to a fourth-liner on the Leafs — being on a team that has a legitimate chance at winning the Cup. And guess what? The Canadiens will be in that conversation for the next few years and players will want to come here, whether they’re American, Canadian or any other nationality. That’s certainly one of the main reasons Kreider agreed to join the Habs for relatively small money. Heck, what’s not to like? A warm family atmosphere and an elite team!