We ask Mathieu Perreault why he chose to stop everything, and the answer is not long in coming: “I have a family life, three children, two dogs… I got there. »
Posted at 2:59 p.m.
In his case, “there” comes to mean that moment that players very often dread at the highest point: retirement. But at the end of the handset, we do not feel in Mathieu Perreault any form of doubt, regret, bitterness.
What we hear, rather, is the voice of a young father of 34 who did not feel like hanging on.
Listen, if a club that aspires to the Stanley Cup had made me an offer this summer, of course I would have thought about it. I had told my agent: I am ready to continue, but not ready to go anywhere. The dream of a little guy, the dream of winning the Cup, that’s what I miss, and I would have hesitated for that reason, and for that reason alone.
Mathieu Perreault
“But several teams have problems with the salary cap, and I haven’t received any offers, so that’s going to be it. Not everyone can leave with the Cup at arm’s length. It’s the dream conclusion, but it doesn’t happen to all players. »
And it won’t happen to him, the 13-year veteran of 353 points in 708 NHL games. Once drafted by the Washington Capitals with a sixth-round pick in 2006, the ex-striker also played with Anaheim, Winnipeg and the Canadiens last season. He is proud of the course, of course; sixth-round picks like him, who play that long, aren’t that many to get through, let alone last. Also, back problems had started to slow him down lately.
But he’s leaving with pride, and that’s a bit why he’ll retain excellent memories of his last season, his only one with the Canadiens, even if he only played 25 games there and it was perhaps only not the expected conclusion.
I can’t be bitter…I loved my season in Montreal. I will always remember my three goal game at the Bell Center [le 23 octobre 2021], the people who chanted my name. I already suspected that it was going to be my last season when I arrived with the Canadiens… I’m at peace with all that.
Mathieu Perreault
Now it’s family life that will take up all the space, or almost. He doesn’t rule out a return to the hockey world one day, maybe as an assistant, maybe as a consultant, but that day hasn’t arrived yet.
” Guillaume [Latendresse] called me to ask me to join the team of The blue pocket, and he didn’t even know that I was going to announce my retirement this week! So I’m going to do that with him, go talk hockey with his team occasionally, because I love hockey and I’m still going to continue to watch the games, and then we’ll see. Of course, one day I would like to return to work with a club in the National League, but that’s not badly further, in ten years and not before. I know how long it takes, working in this league, and I’m not ready for that right now…”
Until then, Mathieu Perreault will take his time. With the family, the children, and also the two dogs.