Good news, bad news morning for pair of Canadiens
At the end of each Canadiens practice or morning skate, one player is picked to lead the team stretch at centre ice. But after the morning stretch in Brossard ahead of Monday night’s game against the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre, Nicolas Deslauriers and Karl Alzner were both in the middle of the centre-ice faceoff circle leading the stretch. They were face to face and both players were smiling. What’s up with that? “Well, Karl used to play there (in Washington) so he has to kind of jump in there,” Deslauriers explained in the locker-room. “And I was lucky enough to have a newborn yesterday. So that’s why two guys leading the stretch was something new.” It was a good-news day for Deslauriers and a bad-news day for Alzner, who was a healthy scratch for Monday’s game against his former team. It marked the 15th time in 21 games this season that the veteran defenceman has been a healthy scratch. Deslauriers is the proud father of a third child with his wife, Joanie — a girl named Payton Blayke. She joins sister Madison Rose and brother Jaxon. Deslauriers, 27, started dating Joanie when he was playing junior for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They got married when he was 21 and had their first child two years later. Deslauriers missed the first six games this season after suffering a facial fracture during a pre-season fight. Heading into Monday night’s game, the six-foot-one, 221-pounder had one goal, one assist and a minus-2 rating. He ranked third on the team in hits with 40, trailing defencemen Noah Juulsen (54) and Jeff Petry (49). After signing a two-year contract extension last February worth US$1.9 million that kicked in this season, Deslauriers talked about how much it means for him to play for the Canadiens. “I think every day I put the jersey on, I always think about when I was younger,” said Deslauriers, who grew up in St-Anicet. “It’s not just for me — it’s for the family, the friends that I used to play with. We all watched the Canadiens. It’s a big dream for me, but at the same time, it’s for everybody that was connected to me when I was younger.” Deslauriers said it was easy coming up with a name for the baby. “Our first daughter was supposed to be Payton, but we ended up going with Madison,” he said. “So when we had another, it wasn’t too hard to give her that name.” Payton was born at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Deslauriers caught a late flight home from Vancouver after the Canadiens’ 3-2 win over the Canucks Saturday, while the rest of the team didn’t fly back to Montreal until Sunday morning. Deslauriers was back home in time to see his baby girl born. Did he get any sleep Sunday night? “A little bit … enough,” a beaming Deslauriers said. “The pre-game nap’s going to feel pretty good.” The pre-game nap probably didn’t feel too good for Alzner — if he took one. The 30-year-old defenceman played in 622 consecutive games before being a healthy scratch for the Canadiens’ season opener. It’s obviously not what Alzner — or Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin — was expecting when he signed a five-year, US$23.125-million contract as a free agent on July 1, 2017, after spending nine seasons with the Capitals. Alzner, one of the nicest guys in pro sports, has handled being a healthy scratch with class and has maintained a great attitude around his teammates. He had a huge smile when he went into the locker-room after watching Saturday’s comeback 3-2 win over the Canucks from the press box. “You know what, I’m going to be honest,” head coach Claude Julien said after Monday’s morning skate when asked about Alzner’s attitude. “I don’t think I can give him more credit than he deserves because he’s been unbelievably awesome in that role. And what I want people to understand is — don’t get me wrong — he’s not satisfied. He’s one of those guys that really wants to play. But as a veteran player who’s been in the league a long time, I couldn’t give him more compliments than I am right now because he’s been unbelievable, he’s been nothing short than a great teammate. “Those are things that you don’t see often from a veteran player, but he’s got an unbelievable attitude,” the coach added. “I know that he doesn’t want to be disruptive and, by far, he’s not. If anything, he’s very supportive of what we’re doing right now. So all you can do as a coach ... you make decisions that you have to make. But at the same time, there’s always a side of you that hopes for the best for a guy like that because he deserves it.”