Montreal Canadiens

The Canadian: as transparent as a concrete wall
Maxime Truman
The Canadian: as transparent as a concrete wall
Credit: X

When I watch the Canadiens and CF Montréal, I often get the impression that, in the minds of their executives, they're operating in the military, nuclear, espionage, or pharmaceutical industries—that's how opaque they are about information that's actually quite basic.

It's been 12 days already since rumors of a sale and/or relocation have been swirling around CF Montréal, and no one in the organization has bothered to deny or explain them. By failing to control the narrative, the Montreal club is leaving the door open to all sorts of theories—some true, others not.

And I haven't even mentioned their closed-door practices and their lack of information regarding player injuries (mostly minor ones).

The Canadiens, for their part, had promised to be more transparent when they hired Chantal Machabée. That was evident during the first few years, but I think that since the start of the season, the Habs have been even less transparent than they were during Marc Bergevin's tenure. That's saying a lot.

Oliver Kapanen was injured (we're not quite sure where) and listed as day-to-day… for about 30 days at the start of the season.

Mike Matheson was listed as day-to-day… but we all knew he had traveled to get a second medical opinion for an injury that apparently required surgery and six months of rehab. He returned to action, then quickly went back on the injured list. We're told he'll be out for two weeks and that this injury isn't the same as the previous one. But we don't know what these two injuries are!

Samuel Montembeault has been out for a month, even though he was supposed to be out for 10 to 14 days.

And the worst part is Ivan Demidov. He got injured at the end of September but still played in the first two games of the season (while injured). He canceled two autograph sessions, and the Canadiens finally, after all that, told us that Demidov would miss two to four weeks of action due to a lower-body injury.

We then spotted Demidov wearing a cast…

But no one with the Canadiens could confirm whether Demidov had injured his foot or his ankle.

Tomorrow marks one month since Demidov has been out. And the Habs haven't released any official information regarding Demidov's rehab.

That's not all! The Canadiens had Demidov (wearing a tracksuit) skate early Tuesday morning at the Bell Centre, before the Temple opened its doors to the media. An employee on site filmed Demidov with his cell phone and then shared the footage on Instagram. He was confronted, and it's likely he was reprimanded or fired.

Yesterday, the Canadiens barred the media and fans from entering the CN Complex before 10:00 a.m., without offering any explanation. We understood that this was due to a skating session by Ivan Demidov.

When I mentioned in my introduction communications worthy of a military or pharmaceutical regime…

I don't hold it against Chantal and her team; from what I understand, those instructions come directly from Jeff Gorton. Chantal has covered the Canadiens for decades; she knows how difficult it is to do her job without the necessary information.

Why has Jeff Gorton become so paranoid? Several NHL teams—including his former New York organization—operate this way. I imagine he tells himself it's okay to act this way…

Right now, what we know about Demidov, we know thanks to his agent, Dan Milstein. Milstein revealed yesterday that his client still has a few weeks to go before playing his next game.

Except that Milstein said more than that on the podcast he appeared on! He admitted that Demidov had played two games while in pain… but no MRI was performed to determine the cause of that pain. In short, the Canadiens played Demidov while he was injured without knowing he was actually injured. The Habs probably thought Demidov just had a simple bruise, but they didn't look into it any further.

And now, even though the news is out, the Canadiens want to wait until tomorrow to provide an update.

Furthermore, when the Canadiens learned that Demidov had a broken ankle, they told us he would be out for two to four weeks, whereas according to medical literature, a broken ankle takes between four weeks and four months to heal, depending on the treatment (surgery or simple immobilization).

A fracture never heals in two weeks! Even when it's stable and doesn't require surgery, we're talking about four to eight weeks, not two.

That reminds me of Montembeault, who's been out for a month with an injury that the Canadiens said would take 10 to 14 days to heal.

Someone close to the Canadiens even went so far as to tell me, two weeks after Demidov's injury was disclosed, that he was healing well and could return to play in about ten days. Why let that information slip to me?

I'll say it again: I'm not criticizing the communications department or the medical staff here. I'm just wondering why Jeff Gorton thinks it's important not to share the real information with reporters and fans. Maybe he figures people will just forget about it?

Want the real scoop on Demidov? Here it is, courtesy of Dan Milstein (his agent) and Renaud Lavoie (media): Demidov still has a few more days to go before rejoining the team, and he could be back in action in about two weeks.

That means he'll have missed six to seven weeks of action. Not two!

So this is just nonsense! And it comes across as more amateurish than anything else…

Overtime

I often say this: human beings are full of contradictions (and that fascinates me).

It's interesting to read so many people hoping for Ivan Demidov's return to the Habs' uniform as soon as possible…

But at the same time, hoping that Alexander Zharovsky, Gleb Pugashyov, and the Russian athletes won't be present at the World Junior Championships in December.

The reasoning for Demidov is that he's young and has nothing to do with the decisions made by Vladimir Putin and his government.

Yet Alex Ovechkin continues to support Vladimir Putin's party, and he's welcome at the Bell Centre!

There would certainly be a way to have the Russian athletes compete under a generic name like “Russian athletes,” rather than under Russia's official colors.

But human beings are full of contradictions, as I wrote a few lines above…