MONTREAL — If the upside wasn’t obvious enough to Alexandre Texier, he wouldn’t have signed the $5-million contract he was offered by the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

But Texier surely realized — whether it was while he was toiling in misery in St. Louis, or right after he put an end to that situation in November by ripping up the remainder of his $2.1-million deal with the Blues to sign a prorated, $1-million contract to play the rest of this season with the Canadiens — that it’s best to capitalize on your success while you’re enjoying it.

If Texier’s previous experience hadn’t made him leery of how fleeting success can be, his agent would’ve reminded him as soon as Montreal’s offer to stay with them for two seasons beyond this one came across the table.

“We didn’t see a reason to wait,” Dan Milstein told Sportsnet shortly after announcing his client’s new pact with the Canadiens on social media.  “He loves playing in Montreal, and it hasn’t even been 60 days since the whole contract termination, waivers situation in St. Louis, so there was no reason to wait.”

The Canadiens could’ve taken their time before signing the 26-year-old, and it’s arguable they should’ve.

Texier’s sample with them is just 25 games, which is very short when compared to his 240-game sample with other teams. And that 240-game sample with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Blues, which was anything but as convincing as the one with the Canadiens, would’ve been enough to give the Canadiens pause on committing to him.

If it wasn’t, not knowing for sure if the bulk of the seven goals and 16 points Texier has produced with the Canadiens were fueled not only by his opportunity to play the last 10 games with top-liners Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, but also by the need to prove himself would’ve been.

But Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes knew waiting to sign Texier would’ve likely proven costlier, and they’d clearly seen enough from him to move forward with what they deemed to be the lesser of two risks.

Gorton and Hughes have seen that Texier’s skill and versatility have made him fit with the Canadiens from Game 1 through Game 25 in a way he never quite did with the Blue Jackets or Blues through the first 6.5 years of his career. They’ve seen that he’s fit in as well in their bottom six as he has on their top line. They have to like that he’s played effectively on the power play and even filled in admirably on the penalty kill, and they have to love that he wouldn’t even need to register another point this season to justify the first contract they gave him.

The feeling that Texier wouldn’t even need to produce at the same high clip as he has so far to justify the new contract would’ve only incentivized Gorton and Hughes to act now rather than wait for the player to produce plenty more en route to becoming an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent who’d be one year away from unrestricted free agency this summer.

Because the Canadiens acted now, they’ll pay close to bottom dollar for a player who can —and mostly likely will at different junctures — play well above their bottom line. With the salary cap spiking over each of the next two off-seasons, it’s a bet they’re poised to win after crushing the first one they made on Texier.

The player is understandably thrilled about it.

When Texier spoke with reporters in Washington shortly after the news broke on Wednesday, the native of Saint-Martin-d’Heres, France expressed his gratitude to the Canadiens for their faith in him, repeating several times that he knows there’s a long road ahead and a lot of pushing for him to continue doing.

“I’m really happy about the next two years, and I’m just going to keep playing my game,” said Texier.

“I think it’s the guys in the room, the organization, the city, it’s everything,” Texier continued. “I’m just having a good time, so I didn’t hesitate for one second when (the offer) came. I’ve been happy here since Day 1, so this is where I want to be.”

St. Louis clearly wasn’t that place.

If Texier was ever happy there (after being traded to the Blues from the Blue Jackets in June of 2024), it wasn’t apparent. And he was obviously very unhappy there towards the end, as a frequent scratch through the first six weeks of the season, over which he produced just one assist and appeared in only eight games.

“I think what happened (in St. Louis) made me mentally stronger, and stronger as a hockey player,” said Texier. “I’ve moved forward. I know it made me grow mentally, that’s for sure, and I’m stronger now.”

The Canadiens hoped Texier would be when they paid close to league minimum for him to achieve the bare minimum.

Texier’s mandate was to outperform mostly American Hockey League competition in the bid to fill some of the void left by Canadiens players nursing long-term injuries, and he’s delivered so much more to earn a commitment that’ll, at the very least, keep him playing even once all the injured players return.

It’s a commitment that’ll likely keep Texier where he’s happy for two more years beyond this one, and he was wise not to turn away from it.