Alexandre Texier: a Blues player thought he was “lucky” to leave

Pablo Herrera-Vergara
Alexandre Texier: a Blues player thought he was “lucky” to leave
Credit: YouTube

Alexandre Texier has become a crowd favorite in Montreal in a very short time. After a one-goal, one-assist game on Wednesday night, he repeated the feat with a hat trick last night.

He was named first star of the game in both games, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Beyond his offensive contribution, he's playing the right way at the moment. He has the speed and talent to keep up with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and he's showing it. All he needed was a change of scenery to blossom.

This was made clear by Jean-François Chaumont, NHL.com journalist and contributor to Le Retour de Martin Lemay.

He was in New York and the Blues were the visitors. He spoke with Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and another player he didn't want to identify. Thomas didn't mince his words.

“Robert Thomas tells you he may be the most talented player I've played with since I started in the NHL(…) but the marriage wasn't a good one. There's another player from St. Louis—I won't identify him—who told me he's lucky to be leaving here.” – Jean-François Chaumont

Jordan Kyrou also praised Texier for his high quality in terms of talent and puck control.

The comments are interesting for two reasons. The first is that it reveals just how bad things are in St. Louis. Just the day before yesterday, head coach Jim Montgomery wanted to make a goaltending change, and he couldn't find Joel Hofer, the backup goaltender.

The magic no longer seems to be working in the dressing room and the Blues are heading for the wall

The second is that, if players like Kyrou and Thomas, who are among the NHL's best, have focused on Texier's bad “match” with the Blues, it's because attitude wasn't necessarily the problem.

We heard a lot when he first arrived that he wasn't a hard-working player. His record in Montreal so far proves otherwise.

The words “so far” are important in this context. There's still a lot of hockey to be played between now and the end of the year, and the more physical games are about to start. I still have my doubts about how well he'll play under such circumstances on the first line, but we'll see. It's a good start for Montreal, but we mustn't get too carried away.

For now, we can shout “Vive la France!


Overtime

– He's really charmed Montreal.

– What a start for the Rocket!

– What a season for MacKinnon!

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