Bob Gainey was Captain of The Montreal Canadiens and he spoke French. Agonizingly and painfully slow – yet French he spoke.
Mike Keane spoke French on occasion and probably would have spoken ‘plus’ yet he was traded before his iron – on ‘C’ had a chance to dry. Chelios ? Same thing.’Guy ! Guy! Guy!’ Carbonneau obviously spoke French and wait for it … English too! Imagine that!? Kirk Muller muttered some french words in interviews and did it in such an aw shucks manner – the French media treated his every ‘faux pas ‘ with a verbal ‘what a cute kid he is…’ response. In fact , all the English Captains for The Habs in the past fifteen years have all made an effort to speak French then along comes Saku Koivu and suddenly the language police in the Province of Quebec get phone calls at three A.M on a nightly basis.(Yes Quebec has language police people.)
The Canadiens de Montreal haven’t named a captain as of late and already a ‘war of mots’ is raging through the press.
I believe that if a captain is named and he is not of French origin then given the fact that the present day player’s pocket change is considerably larger than that of Chelios, Keane et al, an effort to learn a few words would not kill the chosen player. Even Gilligan can be heard muttering French words due to the fact that someone decided that The Skipper’s first mate’s words would be just as entertaining in both official languages. After all – a coconut on the head is funny regardless of the sound emanating from the receiver’s ‘tete’. Markov, the front runner for the vacant job due to his talent and longevity with the club should at least purchase a Berlitz book containing a few simple phrases such as ‘trade me now’ and ‘I cannot find my jockstrap’.It would not kill him to do so and at the same time it would free up the time for the french media and language police to attend to more important issues such as measuring Gionta’s heart or buying Don Cherry a visor.
If Markov, Gionta or Jean – Guy Laflamme is named Captain then he should have the option to talk to whoever he wants to in whatever language he prefers. Frankly , the guy with the ‘C’ on his sweater will be remembered for his photos with or without the Stanley Cup , not if he ordered Escargot in Spanish, Lithuanian or Portuguese. When I attend a game at Le Centre Bell and sit earshot to the language that spills from the mouth of the captain of ‘ my ‘ Montreal Canadiens – I could not care less if he calls Sean Avery a ‘pest ‘or an ‘animal nuisible’. I do care that he clobbers the son of a **** an we win the game!