"Martin St-Louis, for him, the team is important and that everyone is part of that team, that everyone makes decisions together, he's not a 'loner'," the VP of Communications says.
"The first win he signed Martin, I'm waiting for
Nick Suzuki (in the hallway leading to the locker room) because he's being interviewed on RDS because he's the first star, he comes out of the locker room and he asks me: "Chantal, where is Nick? I tell him he's finishing up with RDS. "Perfect" he says, "take him to the dressing room! After that, he comes out and says: "No, you go to the locker room! We? Me? He says, "Yes." But why? "Are you part of the team or not?" Yes, but "Yes and yes, come to the locker room!"
"So I wait for Nick and I tell him we have to go to the locker room and I have to go with him. He bursts out laughing and says, "Come on in! And then we get to the locker room and he (Martin) gives his first speech because it was his first win and I was there with the players.
"I'm telling you about it and I still get chills. It was amazing! It's unbelievable this guy how he knows how to talk to the players, how much of a leader he is and how much he says the right things."
"Look, I came out of there and went to him in his office. I said, 'Martin, I'm never going to forget that moment!' And Martin said, 'Chantal, if you want to build a winning culture on a team, you have to let everyone know that they're part of that team. Knowing that you're part of the team is a lot more fun than thinking that you're just the 'comm', that you're on the side. "Well that's it! I want everyone to push together and make decisions together!" " - Chantal Machabée
Wow, imagine how big this is for Chantal. She says she'll never forget this moment and we can understand her. You can guess that after that story, she never doubted for a second that she was an integral part of the Montreal Canadiens organization.
We repeat it, but it says a lot about the kind of impact Martin St-Louis has on the whole organization. The team really seems to be going in the right direction and we love it!