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“After 5 years with the Habs, Nick Suzuki should speak French”

 Sarah Jones
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“After 5 years with the Habs, Nick Suzuki should speak French”
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
French among members of the Habs organization is a hotly debated topic. Should Nick Suzuki make more of an effort to speak French? Cole Caufield? Jeff Gorton himself?

None of these three important Habs personalities has done even a semblance of a full interview in French, and that’s something incomprehensible, according to Brendan Kelly, author of a brand-new book : Le CH et son peuple.

Who is Brendan Kelly? He’s a journalist from The Gazette who’s originally from Scotland. He moved to Quebec at a young age and learned the French language to better understand the people and their culture.

Today, as he expresses himself very well in French, he’s promoting his book and took the opportunity to send a message to the Habs players, especially captain Nick Suzuki.

I can’t understand why Nick Suzuki, the captain, hasn’t learned French in five years! – Brendan Kelly

These words were collected by Mylène Richard of the Journal de Montréal.

In the article, we discover Kelly’s theory on the importance of French. According to him, if the players don’t understand it, they can’t understand the culture here.

He didn’t spare anyone, even criticizing Jeff Gorton, who promised to take French lessons, but who still hasn’t given an interview or even answered a few questions in French.

It’s definitely a delicate subject, and it’s hard to impose something like a language in 2024 on NHL players. On the other hand, could there be a better effort on the part of the players to communicate in French? Certainly. The Habs could draw inspiration from Jason Maas, head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, who pushes his players to understand the history of football in Quebec and encourages them to learn French words and expressions. After victories, for example, they keep score in French. These kinds of small gestures welded the team together en route to a first Grey Cup in thirteen years.

The biggest problem in Montreal is that everything takes on exponential proportions. Any time a player makes a faux pas in a French-language interview, it’s going to make the front page of every newspaper in town. Could this be part of the reason for caution? Maybe, and we need to be aware of that too.

It takes the right balance in all this, and Kelly makes that clear in his point of view. He doesn’t expect all players to be bilingual either.


Overtime

– It’s all going to come down to the ice.

– Ouch.

– He’ll have to be better, that’s for sure.

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