The former equipment manager of the Canadian Pierre Gervais did not hesitate to skin former members of the Montreal formation in a book which was published on Monday.
In some passages published in the media during the weekend, Gervais presents the former captain of the Habs Max Pacioretty as someone selfish. He also maintains that ex-coach Dominique Ducharme never had the respect of his players.
Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki seemed to be walking on eggshells when they were asked about the words of the man who was the accomplice of the Canadiens players for decades.
“I don’t know what his intentions were behind each story, but I’m a little surprised,” Suzuki admitted after practice with the Canadian on Monday.
Gallagher admitted to feeling some discomfort seeing people look bad in the book. “I don’t know if there is a code,” he said. When I found out that “Gerv” was writing a book, I thought that was great. I loved showing up at the arena and chatting with him. »
“You hope everyone looks good [dans le livre], but unfortunately that is not what happened. I have respect for everyone. I hope it will just deflate and ultimately everyone will look and feel good. That’s what we’re trying to do here. We have a culture, a responsibility towards each other. »
As for the criticism against Ducharme, Gallagher and Suzuki repeated what had been said over the past few months. They recalled how nothing worked from the start last season, due to the many injuries.
“With Dom, we experienced both ends of the spectrum. The top of the mountain and the base,” recalled Brendan Gallagher.
Ducharme guided the Canadian to the Stanley Cup final, after taking over from Claude Julien during the winter of 2021. It was not until the following fall that everything went off the rails.
“He was an assistant, so it’s not like he was a new voice,” Suzuki said. We knew him, but he brought new ideas, things that we weren’t doing under Claude Julien. We had a good run until the final. »
“Then we lost Carey [Price]Shea [Weber], [Corey] Perry, [Eric] Staal, all those ringleaders. “Edy” [Joel Edmundson] and “Gally” [Gallagher] missed a lot of time due to injuries,” Suzuki recalled.
Gallagher added that it was unfair to single out one person for the 2021-22 season debacle.
Gervais retired at the end of the last campaign. Players gave him a two-seater off-road vehicle as a gift.
He therefore briefly rubbed shoulders with Martin St-Louis after the latter’s appointment as head coach, replacing Ducharme, on February 9.
St-Louis wanted to put things in perspective when questioned in turn about Gervais’s comments.
“That book is the perception of ‘Gerv,'” he noted. Everyone can have a different perception of the same situation. When you write a book, it’s your perception. [C’est] what he thought. »
“Is that the whole truth?” I do not think so. It is his perception,” he concluded.