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Nick Suzuki is able to speak French (away from the cameras)
The place of the French language will always be the talk of Montreal. Always will be.

In recent weeks, it’s been a hot topic. When Marc-Antoine Dequoy held his Propos (with a capital P) a few days after the death of Karl Tremblay, the wave was big.

Meanwhile, the CH teamed up with Air Canada. But hey.

All this to say that there are times when Quebecers take a stand to protect the French language, but there are also times when it’s quieter.

But even in those moments, there’s a groundswell.

There’s always a moment when the Habs are compared to another sports team elsewhere in the world, which forces us to ask ourselves where the French language fits in with the Habs.

Let’s not forget that the CH has a vice-president (presumably) in charge of the club’s hockey department who hails from Boston and is unable to speak to fans in the language of Molière.

It makes some people angry… especially when we learn that he’s not progressing at the speed of light in the process of learning French.

But it’s also important to point out when good news surfaces in the file. And this morning, on X, Alexandre Pratt brought us an interesting piece of news that needs to be mentioned.

He reports that this summer, one of his relatives met the Canadiens’ captain at a private event. He chatted with #14, who was able to say a few sentences in French.

For a while now, I’ve had the feeling that Suzuki understands French well. Why is that? Because the year-round Montrealer took part in a round-table discussion at last year’s golf tournament. That was the day he was named club captain.

And when Martin St-Louis said something in French, Suzuki seemed to have understood what he was saying, and then followed it up – in English.

We all agree that there’s a nuance between understanding a language and speaking it. There’s also a nuance between speaking it in private and doing so with the cameras rolling. Will Suzuki ever get there?

Let’s not forget that it was Sidney Crosby who encouraged Suzuki to learn French. Crosby speaks French, but hasn’t done so on camera for many years.


Round-up

– Shawn Lemon staying… Cody Fajardo staying at a discount… things are going well in Montreal.

– Cam Talbot tonight.

– Travis Kelce must face Connor Bedard. That would be sick.

– He needs to give more.

– Calling all interested parties.

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