![\"Montreal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1009-spt-habs_305659453.jpg\")
Montreal Canadiens Chris Kreider lines up for a faceoff during first period of National Hockey League game against the Nashville Predators in Montreal Thursday October 8, 2026. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nChris Kreider is known for his speed and his scoring ability.<\/p>\n
But what has impressed me most about the 35-year-old winger through his first seven games with the Canadiens is his ability to make so many smart, little plays, both with and without the puck, and how he doesn\u2019t waste a lot of energy on the ice because of his ability to read the play so well.<\/p>\n
Kreider reminds me of Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki with those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh wow!\u201d Kreider said with a chuckle when I told him that after the Canadiens practised Friday morning at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard. \u201cI\u2019m not the same (as Suzuki) with the puck, though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kreider is still adjusting to a new team and the Canadiens\u2019 structure with a goal and three assists heading into Saturday\u2019s game at the Bell Centre against the Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m., SNE, TVA Sports). This is Kreider\u2019s 15th season in the NHL after spending 13 years with the New York Rangers and last season with the Anaheim Ducks. The 6-foot-3, 232-pound winger \u2014 he\u2019s \u201ca house\u201d as former Canadiens defenceman Jayden Struble put it \u2014 has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last eight seasons, including 22 goals last season with the Ducks.<\/p>\n
Montreal Canadiens Chris Kreider lines up for a faceoff during first period of National Hockey League game against the Nashville Predators in Montreal Thursday October 8, 2026. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
The Canadiens signed Kreider to a one-year, US$2.15-million contract<\/a> \u2014 with another US$3.25 million in potential performance bonuses \u2014 on Sept. 12 as a free agent.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you play long enough, you pick up some little \u2014 I don\u2019t know \u2014 nuances, dirty tricks to try to create a little space for your linemates, whether it\u2019s picking a stick or getting a little skin here or there,\u201d Kreider said. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m a lot older than Nick, but he\u2019s got that and more. I think those are just the details a player like that has. Might go unnoticed by most people, but really appreciated when you play with him and don\u2019t appreciate when you play against him.\u201d<\/p>\n While Suzuki doesn\u2019t waste energy on the ice, he has become one of the best two-way centres in the NHL, posting 29-72-101 totals last season while winning the Selke Trophy as the league\u2019s top defensive forward.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s really smooth,\u201d Kreider said about Suzuki. \u201cI think some guys look like they\u2019re working hard when they\u2019re working hard. I mean, I\u2019ve played with guys who from afar they look really smooth and almost like they\u2019re conserving energy when, in reality, they\u2019re just efficient skaters, good skaters. They maintain their level. <\/p>\n \u201cUp close, you can tell (Suzuki\u2019s) working his ass off every single shift,\u201d Kreider added. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously thinking the game and anticipating the game as well. With the amount he plays (averaging 22:01 of ice time this season) he can\u2019t just run around. But he\u2019s not going half speed. He\u2019s pretty much red-lining the whole game. He\u2019s in great shape and he\u2019s a very good skater to boot. He\u2019s also incredibly smart.\u201d<\/p>\n Kreider sits beside the 27-year-old Suzuki in the Canadiens\u2019 Brossard locker room and at the Bell Centre. The team captain has impressed Kreider as much off the ice as on the ice.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s just consistent in the way he shows up, his professionalism,\u201d Kreider said. \u201cThose are some of the things that have impressed me about the entire group. I think attitude reflects leadership and it starts with him in terms of the way he shows up and the way that he mentally approaches the game, the way he treats people. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic leader,\u201d Kreider added. \u201cHe comes off as a lot older and wiser than he actually is. They\u2019re lucky to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n Trying to fit in<\/p>\n Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis knows what it\u2019s like to be a veteran player trying to fit in with a new team.<\/p>\n St. Louis was 38 when he joined the New York Rangers near the end of the 2013-14 season after spending the previous 13 years with the Tampa Bay Lightning. One of his new teammates with the Rangers was Kreider, who was a rookie.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the most difficult thing when you change teams is just going into a new environment and being yourself,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cThat\u2019s the hardest thing. I feel like the environment we have here, I think the guys have smooth transitions because I think they\u2019re allowed to \u2014 we want them to be themselves. We have different guys, but we go about it with the same values and just come in here with some enthusiasm, respect and I think that\u2019s very easy for Kreids, the type of human that he is.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing I think is the hardest is probably smooth for Kreids, just because of the environment we have here and the type of human he is,\u201d St. Louis added. \u201cBut, of course, on technicality and stuff, the structure, the style of play, that\u2019s an adjustment for everybody and I feel like Kreids is starting to mould himself here and I think the transition is always smoother when guys come in, feel comfortable, be themselves \u2014 the non-hockey stuff. I\u2019ve liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n When I asked Kreider if he\u2019s enjoying life in Montreal, he smiled and said: \u201cI am. So far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n Doing their homework<\/p>\n St. Louis said at the beginning of this week he and his coaching staff did homework over the summer on certain aspects of the game they wanted the team to get better at and brought that to training camp after the Canadiens lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the Eastern Conference final last season. <\/p>\n The head coach added he was encouraged by what he has seen early this season, but didn\u2019t want to go into the specifics of what that summer homework involved. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I would tell you it\u2019s not in the offensive zone,\u201d St. Louis said.<\/p>\n So it was interesting to hear Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery\u2019s comments about the Canadiens ahead of Wednesday\u2019s game in Washington, which the Capitals won 5-4.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom looking just surface level \u2014 and this is just my take on it from watching a little bit of the pre-scouts, from watching them play, from looking at some of the underlying analytics \u2014 it looks like they\u2019re same team, same personnel,\u201d Carbery told reporters in Washington. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to be a more aggressive defensive team. What I mean by that is really, I noticed on the film, D extremely aggressive down the walls. Trying to pressure you in the neutral zone. So it looks to me like they\u2019re trying to use their skating and their defensive metrics are all up defensively. So it seems like to me Marty\u2019s looking at it: OK, how are we going to get over the hump here? How are we going to beat the Carolinas, the Floridas of the world and we\u2019ve got to become an elite defensive team.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no secret, that\u2019s the recipe in sports in this league,\u201d Carbery added. \u201cIf you want to win a championship, you better be an elite defensive team and it feels like that\u2019s what they\u2019ve really tried to address. Now, they\u2019re not going to do it the same way that necessarily Carolina does it or Florida does it. But it looks like they\u2019re using their team speed to defend. So closing quick, D aggressive because all their D can skate. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s still a work in progress with the Canadiens ranking 27th in the NHL in defence heading into Saturday night\u2019s game, allowing an average of 3.86 goals per game.<\/p>\n The Brew Crew<\/p>\n The Canadiens\u2019 Cole Caufield grew up in Stevens Point, Wisc., as a huge Milwaukee Brewers fan. Two summers ago, Caufield threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers game<\/a> against the Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee\u2019s American Family Field.<\/p>\n When Caufield scored his 50th goal on April 9 last season at the Bell Centre, a video captured his father, Paul, in the stands wiping tears from his eyes while wearing a Brewers baseball cap.<\/p>\n A couple of weeks later, Caufield had a first-person article published in The Player\u2019s Tribune under the headline: Can Someone Get My Old Man a Canadiens Hat?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think most people have probably seen the clip of my dad crying in the stands,\u201d Caufield wrote. \u201cMe and my brother were cracking up, because of course he\u2019s wearing a Brewers cap. The guy\u2019s son plays for the Habs and he\u2019s weeping on camera in the quarter-zip and the Brew Crew hat. I guess he had Opening Day fever. Classic. (Security, don\u2019t let him in the building tomorrow without a Habs hat on.)\u201d<\/p>\n It will be hard to take that Brewers cap off the head of Caufield\u2019s father now that the team is in the World Series after sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. <\/p>\n This is the first time the Brewers have been in the World Series since 1982, when they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals. The franchise, which entered MLB for the 1969 season as the Seattle Pilots before relocating to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers the next year, has never won the World Series.<\/p>\n Caufield played baseball until he was 14 and was a left-handed pitcher.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fun to see a market like that get recognition and beat a pretty legendary team in four games,\u201d Caufield said after practice Friday. \u201cSo hopefully they can keep it going.<\/p>\n \u201cGrew up going to a lot of the games,\u201d Caufield added. \u201cMy dad\u2019s a huge fan. It\u2019s just fun to see how they\u2019ve changed kind of baseball. They play the right way. Steal bases, play small ball. Don\u2019t always hit the long ball. The bullpen\u2019s been great. It\u2019s actually been really fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n Caufield added it\u2019s fine now if his father wants to wear his Brewers cap to the Bell Centre.<\/p>\n The Brewers will play either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.<\/p>\n Three\u2019s company<\/p>\n So, a president of hockey operations, a general manager and a head coach walk into a bar \u2026<\/p>\n That\u2019s not the start of a joke. It\u2019s what actually happens often with the Canadiens\u2019 Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and St. Louis, who all live in the same downtown Montreal condo building.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all live in the same building \u2026 we call it\u2019s like a little fraternity for 50-something year olds,\u201d Hughes said when he was a guest during the second intermission of Amazon Prime\u2019s coverage of Wednesday\u2019s game in Washington. \u201cAnd we have a little pub we go to and we break down games and solve the world\u2019s problems.\u201d<\/p>\n It would certainly be fun to be a fly on the wall in that pub.<\/p>\n Three\u2019s a crowd?<\/p>\n It looks like the Canadiens could find themselves in a three-goalie situation again after Samuel Montembeault recovers from a lower-body injury he suffered in practice last week that was expected to sideline him for 10-14 days and joins Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.<\/p>\n Dobes said he doesn\u2019t really mind having three goalies.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s around,\u201d Dobes said about Montembeault after practice last Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s doing great. It\u2019s kind of funny to have all the three goalies back together. I feel like we invest (in) each other a little too much. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to have the three goalies,\u201d Dobes added. \u201cI personally feel like it feels more fun, to be honest, because we have a good energy around us. I don\u2019t mind that we\u2019re all back together again.\u201d<\/p>\n No cup?<\/p>\n There was an RDS video making the rounds of social media this week of Canadiens players reacting to the fact Struble \u2014 who was traded to the Nashville Predators last weekend \u2014 doesn\u2019t wear a jockstrap with a protective cup during practices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of always what I\u2019ve done,\u201d the defenceman said in the video. \u201cLike practices, not wear it. I feel like it\u2019s a little more free.\u201d<\/p>\n Josh Anderson responded in the video: \u201cThat is insane. I didn\u2019t even know that.\u201d<\/p>\n Turns out Struble isn\u2019t the only one who has gone on the ice not wearing a protective cup.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t wear one in games and practices until this year, I think,\u201d Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj said about Struble. \u201cI mean, I didn\u2019t wear one until halfway through the first year (in the NHL). I didn\u2019t wear one all junior and then halfway through the first year in the NHL I got speared in the nuts and I was like: \u2018That\u2019s it. I\u2019m putting one one.\u2019 It\u2019s probably not the best idea to play without one.\u201d<\/p>\n Ya think?<\/p>\n Bizarre ritual<\/p>\n If you think not wearing a protective cup to play hockey is strange, Xhekaj and teammate Kaiden Guhle also have a very bizarre pre-game ritual at the end of their stretching routine. Xhekaj will whack Guhle on the butt a few times with the butt end of his stick.<\/p>\n How did the routine start?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even know,\u201d Guhle said. \u201cIt was like our second year together and he just did it and I think we both played good and just kept doing it. \u2026 My right ass cheek, sometimes he gets me where there\u2019s no padding and it\u2019s sore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was our first year,\u201d Xhekaj said about the origins of the pre-game routine. \u201cWe\u2019d always stretch beside each other and then one day I just kind of smacked him on the ass. I don\u2019t know, we just sort of kept doing it. When he was injured (earlier this season) I was doing it to the air \u2026 so I kept it alive. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just little things to get you locked in the game,\u201d Xhekaj added. \u201cIt\u2019s something to keep it light before the game. Don\u2019t be too stressed and just have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaining confidence<\/p>\n Xhekaj has been playing with more confidence this season \u2014 both offensively and defensively \u2014 and it really shows.<\/p>\n The 6-foot-4, 240-pound defenceman is also being used as a penalty-killer. Xhekaj has logged 14:12 of short-handed ice time through the first seven games this season after finishing last season with 20:06 of short-handed ice time in 65 games.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trusting my game and just making the easy plays and staying on the D side and kind of keeping it tight,\u201d Xhekaj said. \u201cI feel like being on the PK\u2019s helping a little bit, too. Keeping me involved in the game. I don\u2019t feel like I got to go run around and make a huge hit. I just kind of let it come to me. I think just kind of what I\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think me in general as a player, I think I fit a penalty-killing role,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m big, I take up a lot of ice, I got a long stick. I think that just helps in general.\u201d<\/p>\n I agree.<\/p>\n Nice ink<\/p>\n Guhle did more than just recover from adductor-muscle surgery this summer that resulted in him missing the first four games of the season.<\/p>\n![\"0918](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0918-spt-col-cowan_305266825.jpg\")
Chris Kreider, right, sits on the bench with linemates Cole Caufield, left, and Nick Suzuki during the first day of Montreal Canadiens training camp at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard on Thursday September 17, 2026. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n![\"0919](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792339936_963_0919-spt-habs_305284881.jpg\")
Head coach Martin St. Louis speaks with former teammate and newly-signed Chris Kreider during Montreal Canadiens training camp practice at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard on Friday September 18, 2026. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2211361241_295202056.jpg\")
Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals and Josh Anderson #17 of the Montreal Canadiens fight on the bench in the second period of Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on April 25, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Minas Panagiotakis \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"0211](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0211-spt-col-cowan-8146_97350817.jpg\")
VP of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, left to right, interim head coach Martin St. Louis and general manager Kent Hughes share a laugh after a press conference in Montreal on Thursday, February 10, 2022. Allen McInnis \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n