Former Montreal Canadiens players Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Phillip Danault and Corey Perry are having respectable seasons in their first year away from the Habs.
They aren’t the only recent Habs playing a pivotal role for a new team this season.
Eric Staal was just named captain of Team Canada at the upcoming Olympic Games.
Staal was traded to the Canadiens last season for third and fifth round draft picks. He didn’t really find his footing during the regular season, but formed a terrific fourth line with Perry and Joel Armia on his wings in the postseason. The three were a big reason the Canadiens were able to come back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of last year’s postseason.
That propelled them on a run to the Stanley Cup Final, and Staal finished the playoffs with eight points in 21 games as the team’s fourth centre.
The 37 year old pivot hasn’t played in the NHL this season, but he did sign a PTO with the Iowa Wild to play a few AHL games before heading to Beijing to play in his second Olympics. He had five points in four games during his first AHL stint since 2004-05.
Staal won a gold medal with Canada in 2010 on home ice in Vancouver, scoring six points in seven games at that tournament.
He isn’t the only former Canadiens player suiting up for Canada. While Staal will be wearing the C on his chest, long time Habs centre David Desharnais will be one of the team’s two assistants.
Desharnais played eight seasons with the Canadiens, scoring 79 goals and 171 assists for 250 points in 435 games. The 35 year old has played the past three seasons in Switzerland.
In addition to Staal and Desharnais, former Canadians players Daniel Carr, Jordan Weal, and Mark Barberio will be playing for Canada.
Claude Julien, who was the head coach of the Canadiens until last season, was supposed to be behind the bench as the team’s coach. However, he slipped on ice and cracked ribs while training last week in preparation for the Olympics and was not able to fly to Beijing.
Team Canada will play its first game on Thursday, February 10th at 8:10 AM EST against Germany.