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CH culture: Mailloux and Engström stayed with Paul Byron last summer
Marc-Olivier Cook
CH culture: Mailloux and Engström stayed with Paul Byron last summer
Credit: Getty Images

Since the arrival of new management at the Canadiens, we’ve been trying to install a new culture in Montreal.

A culture that unites players outside hockey – and on the ice.

We saw it this year: the guys pushed hard in the final stretch of the season because they wanted to play for their teammates. Many of them said it a few times during the season, but they want to give their all together to achieve better results.

But it all starts with management. Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton are able to see what kind of player is capable of fitting in with the current group, and that helps move things forward.

On the other hand, we mustn’t forget the work of the Habs’ employees, who go a little under the radar. Of the lot?

Paul Byron… who hosted Adam Engström and Logan Mailloux for a few weeks last summer. He talked about it on Tony Marinaro’s Sick Podcast:

The man nicknamed “Tit-Paul” also arranged for David Reinbacher and Emil Heineman to move in with his neighbors.

So Engström, Heineman, Reinbacher and Mailloux lived really close to each other, and off the ice, that can help create a certain chemistry between the guys.

All four are young, after all, and they all dream of the same thing: settling down for good in the National League, with the Montreal Canadiens.

Heineman seems to have succeeded in that mission, but the same cannot be said for the other three.

All in all, it’s really interesting to see the Canadiens get involved in youth development in this way.

It changes the approach that was a bit old school (?) before the arrival of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, and it’s funny, but I really feel it played a role in the club’s success this season.

And if the culture can develop further to the point where it can entice guys to come and play in Montreal, Hughes and Gorton will really have succeeded in their mission.


Overtime

– See you soon!

– Oops.

– It’s true that Bill Zito is doing an exceptional job.

– It’s changed!

– Well done.

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