Most players in the NHL right now weren't even born the last time this team won the Cup so stuff like "tradition" and seeing banners in the rafters isn't going to convince anyone with options to sign with the Habs. This team will only attract and keep good players if it wins. Players will overlook a lot of other things in order to play for a winner and a perennial Cup contender. But they won't put up with the challenges of living in that market for anything less than that if they don't have to. I'm from there and even I couldn't blame a player for not wanting the aggravation because I got fed up and left too. I miss it sometimes, but not enough to ever move back.
It was a huge mistake for the Habs to build their practice facility in Brossard rather than somewhere on the West Island and it's another mistake in steering players, especially those with wives and children who don't speak French, to buy houses near the practice facility. That's just dumb and it leads to the kind of unfortunate incidents like when Petry's wife got harangued for not speaking French when she was grocery shopping. Every Anglo Quebecker knows where the no fly zones are. If you're an American player like Petry, with an American wife and 3 kids, you don't live in fucking Brossard unless you first invent a time machine and go back to 1967. In 2022 it's a ludicrous proposition. Downtown condo, Westmount, Hampstead, gated community on Nun's Island or somewhere on the West Island. That's your lane unless you want to be made to feel like a foreign exchange student.
If the Habs want to attract more top end talent they're going to need to hire some Anglos who know how things in Montreal work for linguistic minorities and have them liaise with the players and advise them on how to navigate their way around town. Lesson #1 should be not to live anywhere that you have to take a bridge to get to.
