“It wasn’t intentional”: Chris Kreider reflects on the Carey Price incident

Félix Forget
“It wasn’t intentional”: Chris Kreider reflects on the Carey Price incident
Credit: Capture d'écran/YouTube

Chris Kreider is now a member of the Montreal Canadiens. And this morning, on the sidelines of the golf tournament, he spoke to the Montreal media for the first time.

And of course, he was quite the popular guy… for many reasons.

Kreider, who was pretty funny during his press conference, mentioned in particular that he's happy to be here. He's impressed by how close-knit the team is, and he knows (all too well) that the fans are passionate. In fact, he's expecting that kind of reaction when he's on the ice.

But of course, we wondered if he would address the 2014 incident, when he ended Carey Price's playoff run by crashing into him. And Kreider, when asked about it, insisted that it wasn't intentional.

He noted that at the time, he was “a bad skater trying to score a goal.” He wants to put all that behind him and enjoy his fresh start in Montreal.

The forward also mentioned that, from both his perspective and that of management, the possibility of a negative reaction from fans didn't give anyone pause. He really wanted to come to Montreal—especially since he has a ton of connections in the city—and he appreciated seeing the Habs take an aggressive approach right from the start of the process.

And we know that it was Kreider who reached out to the Canadiens first, too.

So it seems that despite what happened in 2014, Kreider is eager to play for the Canadiens. It might feel a little strange at first, but he could make everyone forget all that if he performs well on the ice.

It's up to him to take charge, then.


Extended Coverage

– Kreider explained that Martin St. Louis was a major factor in drawing him to Montreal. The two were teammates with the Rangers (and St. Louis, Kreider notes, was already something of a player-coach back then), and the veteran says he never learned as much as he did when he played with St. Louis.

– Kreider noted that, given the quality of the Habs' power play, he's willing to play a bit more on the penalty kill. It's likely he'll get some ice time on the second power-play unit, but it's interesting to hear him talk about a penalty-kill role.

– In a funny moment, Kreider mentioned that he hasn't run into Carey Price since the incident. Except that what he actually said in English was that he hadn't “bump into Price”… and as he said it, he realized how ironic that was, hehe.

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