Montreal Canadiens: Why a Player’s Birthplace Shouldn’t Matter in Hockey

I’m sure you have seen it a bit everywhere now: the Montreal Canadiens only have one player from Quebec in their lineup, while the Vegas Golden Knights have four.

It’s Phillip Danault vs. Marc-André Fleury, Jonathan Marchessault, Nic Roy, and William Carrier.

Let me start off by saying that I agree that there is a lot of talent in Quebec and it’s nice to see players from here on the team or its affiliates. However, I do not think decisions should be based solely on where a player is from.

There are players from all over the world who are extremely talented, and while it is nice to see some of the city or province’s culture in the lineup, it’s far from being necessary.

An NHL team does well because of so many components, skilled players, coaches, scouts, trainers, systems, plays, etc. I could go on and on. But culture is not of those components.

Could there be more Quebecers in the Canadiens’ lineup? Maybe. Should it matter that there is only one playing in this series? In my opinion, no, it really shouldn’t.

What matters is a player’s skills, ability to produce or defend, or stop pucks, whatever it is his position requires him to do. Where he comes from should not matter, and I don’t understand why it is such a big topic of discussion in Quebec.

I wonder, do British Colombians say “I wish there were more people from the province on the Canucks,” or do Nevadans say “the Vegas Golden Knights’ roster needs to represent Nevada’s culture more?”

While I don’t have the answers, I highly doubt it’s the case. So, why should it be a thing in Quebec?

The Knights and Canadiens both have zero players from Nevada, and although I know that Nevada might not be as popular when it comes to hockey as Canada, or Quebec is, no one mentions it, and that’s the way it should be for every team.

If we were to look at all the players in the NHL, who they play for and where they were born, and say that’s where they should play, we would be looking at entirely different teams right now. And again, what matters most is a player’s skill set and not where he was born.

So why should we focus on where players are from and which team has more Quebecers in their lineup, when there are more important storylines.

Not only is it the Stanley Cup Semifinals, but there’s the fact that the Habs will be facing their former captain Max Pacioretty. And that’s not all of it.

Canadiens left-winger Tyler Toffoli and Golden Knights defenceman Alec Martinez will be facing each other starting Monday, after being teammates for eight years on the Los Angeles Kings, winning a Stanley Cup together, and most importantly, scoring the Stanley Cup 2OT-winning goal together. Martinez scored the goal off a rebound by a shot from Toffoli, and that won them the Cup.

There are going to be quite a few interesting things to observe during the series, and I’m willing to say it’s also going to be intriguing for the players.

For Pacioretty, it’s his old team against his new team, a team he played with for 10 years, against the new team he has been playing with for three years. And for Toffoli and Martinez, it’s the story of two old teammates who literally won the Cup together, as in scored the winning goal together. Now, that has to be a more compelling storyline than who has more Quebecers in their lineups.