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Habs sign Ilya Kovalchuk


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Just saw a clip of Kovalchuk stating he’s happy to be here to the fan base in French 👌 Could be the future coach of the franchise 

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16 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

Just saw a clip of Kovalchuk stating he’s happy to be here to the fan base in French 👌 Could be the future coach of the franchise 

 

🤣

 

Good for him, though. I never quite understood what was so all-fire hard about learning a few words of French. The 1970s Habs took it for granted that they ought to try to do so. Guys like Gainey and Dryden became functional. But since then, NHL players have gotten the idea that it is somehow beyond them - or maybe beneath them, which is even worse - to learn a little bit of a second language. It reflects poorly on them. And frankly, I think it would take only one guy like Carey Price or Shea Weber to become even semi-fluent in order to set an example that at least a few would follow. Very disappointing, really.

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Quite right. French is not that difficult a language, coming from English, and NHL players do have spare time -- especially so in the summer. Learning conversational French would not be that onerous.

 

Let's hope that one of the kids (Suzuki, for example) will be more willing to build on the high-school French skills to be able to communicate with the fans and the media. That could set the right example, as you say.

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22 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Let's hope that one of the kids (Suzuki, for example) will be more willing to build on the high-school French skills to be able to communicate with the fans and the media. That could set the right example, as you say.

Disagree, that it is the right example. Is all well and good if they do, but Molson already tried to promote it a few years ago with little success (as far as i know).

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Just now, DON said:

Disagree, that it is the right example. Is all well and good if they do, but Molson already tried to promote it a few years ago with little success (as far as i know).

 

A bit confused here. What do you mean?

  • It would not be setting the right example? What would set the right example, then?
  • The players are unwilling to learn, regardless of the example?
  • The players are willing to learn but have no spare time in their busy schedules?
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An (as of yet unconfirmed) claim on Twitter that Kovalchuk is actually 38, not 36. Not that I really think it makes any difference to his performance at this point. He can either still play, or he cannot, whether he's 36 or 38.

 

https://twitter.com/SlavaMalamud/status/1206989566357516289?s=20

 

 

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23 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Let's hope that one of the kids (Suzuki, for example) will be more willing to build on the high-school French skills to be able to communicate with the fans and the media.

 

Your mandatory french classes that you take from grade school until at least grade 9 give you basic conversational French, but if you go even a few years without the opportunity to practice those skills, they fade.  If I look at my own example: I took one extra French credit in high school (gr. 10) and my spoken French wasn't bad, ut growing up in a 99% anglo town with 100% anglo friends, I didn't use it at all after grade 10.  By the time I found myself in a situation where I had a bilingual friend in my mid 20's (his family moved to my town and opened up the gym I trained at), I had lost most of it.  It frustrated me because his mother was 100% francophone and we couldn't communicate much past smiling and saying hello, and I often found myself wishing I could have a conversation with her, but at that point my French was so weak I was embarrassed to even try.  I think that this is a common occurence for people outside of Quebec.

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48 minutes ago, sbhatt said:

Your mandatory french classes that you take from grade school until at least grade 9 give you basic conversational French, but if you go even a few years without the opportunity to practice those skills, they fade.  If I look at my own example: I took one extra French credit in high school (gr. 10) and my spoken French wasn't bad, ut growing up in a 99% anglo town with 100% anglo friends, I didn't use it at all after grade 10.  By the time I found myself in a situation where I had a bilingual friend in my mid 20's (his family moved to my town and opened up the gym I trained at), I had lost most of it.  It frustrated me because his mother was 100% francophone and we couldn't communicate much past smiling and saying hello, and I often found myself wishing I could have a conversation with her, but at that point my French was so weak I was embarrassed to even try.  I think that this is a common occurence for people outside of Quebec.

 

Absolutely! I am in the same boat, my French classes were decades ago, and I don't know that I was really keen on them back in high school anyway. :) But it's amazing how much of it is still retained, once you start digging for it. Visiting France, I got back to survival level pretty quickly, although getting to the point of being able to have conversations would have taken much more work.

 

But Suzuki, Mete and Fleury, for example, are only a few years away from his French classes, and living in a bilingual city. It's not a stretch to use French when you have the opportunity, and to gain enough of a comfort level to be able to do basic interviews in French -- full fluency is really not a requirement. Even guys like Gallagher, Chiarot and Weal are only 10 years away from high school (and French classes). It just takes a commitment from a small group of players to do it.

 

I don't see this as a requirement, but I do see it as leadership and commitment to the community. And it doesn't even cost anything.

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2 hours ago, tomh009 said:

 

A bit confused here. What do you mean?

  • It would not be setting the right example? What would set the right example, then?
  • The players are unwilling to learn, regardless of the example?
  • The players are willing to learn but have no spare time in their busy schedules?

This basically says it all, it shouldn't be an issue at all for players to worry about. Especially when most players don't stay with any one team for very long anymore.

"Koivu defends his lack of French"

 Whether a Habs captain wants to learn or not, shouldn't have any impact as to being a "right example" or not.
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59 minutes ago, DON said:
Whether a Habs captain wants to learn or not, shouldn't have any impact as to being a "right example" or not.

 

Koivu was a leader, no doubt. But he did not set an example as far as French skills. One of his challenges was that English was not his first language, and he still had a lot of work to do on that when he first arrived in Montreal.

 

In my view, there is no reason why one of the current players couldn't show leadership on being able to communicate in French. Whether it'll actually happen is a whole different thing, though. But if Kovalchuk can do it ...

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43 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

 

Koivu was a leader, no doubt. But he did not set an example as far as French skills. He kinda did set an example and was screw learning french BS!

 

In my view, there is no reason why one of the current players couldn't show leadership on being able to communicate in French. In your view, sorry but means nothing, as results are that 90-99% of Habs players dont bother, or actually might think concentrating on hockey is lot more important than adult education, so seems most Habs dont agree with your view.

 

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36 minutes ago, Trizzak said:

Kovalchuk debuts on the top line tonight.

Exactly where he should be... we cannot afford to ease him in. He needs to hit the ground running. It's probably critical to his mental mindset as well to show and play well on the top line and on the PP.  Couple points right away could do wonders for confidence. He was lining up at the left circle on the PP as well.

 

At the end of the day, we signed him as cover for losing Gallagher so he should start there and play on the PP.

Cousins should drop to the 4th line and Weise to the press box.

 

If this turns out to be a success even for the immediate short term, imagine the line up implications when Gallagher returns.

 

Cross your fingers

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13 minutes ago, IN THE HEARTS OF MEN said:

Exactly where he should be... we cannot afford to ease him in. He needs to hit the ground running. It's probably critical to his mental mindset as well to show and play well on the top line and on the PP.  Couple points right away could do wonders for confidence. He was lining up at the left circle on the PP as well.

 

At the end of the day, we signed him as cover for losing Gallagher so he should start there and play on the PP.

Cousins should drop to the 4th line and Weise to the press box.

 

If this turns out to be a success even for the immediate short term, imagine the line up implications when Gallagher returns.

 

Cross your fingers

Being that he hasn't played hockey in awhile, I figured he'd do a couple of games on the 3rd line and top powerplay to get the rust off. I am also not sure if he'll fit matching up against other 1st lines with Tatar and Danault.

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4 hours ago, DON said:

 

 

Clearly you're right. Habs players do not think learning French is a priority, or even at all important.

 

The point is, that's a shame. It's even faintly offensive - speaking either to a sniffy attitude that says "I don't have to bother engaging with the community I'm representing in its own language," or else "I'm just a dumb jock who can't possibly perform higher-level cognitive functions like learning the basics of a second language."

 

The 1970s Habs were better human beings in this respect.

 

 

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7 hours ago, sbhatt said:

Your mandatory french classes that you take from grade school until at least grade 9 give you basic conversational French, but if you go even a few years without the opportunity to practice those skills, they fade.  If I look at my own example: I took one extra French credit in high school (gr. 10) and my spoken French wasn't bad, ut growing up in a 99% anglo town with 100% anglo friends, I didn't use it at all after grade 10. 

 

They do?  My last couple of years of elementary school, the French teachers were temps who covered for someone's maternity the year before and teaching that class gave them a full-time job for another year.  Their ability to speak the language was not one of the job requirements...

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12 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Clearly you're right. Habs players do not think learning French is a priority, or even at all important.

 

The point is, that's a shame. It's even faintly offensive - speaking either to a sniffy attitude that says "I don't have to bother engaging with the community I'm representing in its own language," or else "I'm just a dumb jock who can't possibly perform higher-level cognitive functions like learning the basics of a second language."

 

The 1970s Habs were better human beings in this respect.

 

Thank you for putting it more eloquently! The reality is that a clear majority of the local Habs fans are francophone. Making the effort to learn some basic conversational French (really not hugely onerous if you were educated in Canada and already took some French classes) shows commitment to the city, and that you value all the fans, not only the ones that speak English.

 

I've never been much of a Kovalchuk fan, but kudos to him for making the effort to use at least some basic French when coming to Montreal.

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15 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Clearly you're right. Habs players do not think learning French is a priority, or even at all important.

 

The point is, that's a shame. It's even faintly offensive - speaking either to a sniffy attitude that says "I don't have to bother engaging with the community I'm representing in its own language," or else "I'm just a dumb jock who can't possibly perform higher-level cognitive functions like learning the basics of a second language."

 

The 1970s Habs were better human beings in this respect.

 

 

I would say the 70s have had a lot more time on their hands. No deep south trips. Few west trips. When practice or the game was over, it was free time, not like today with meetings, video review, pr events... etc...

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On 1/3/2020 at 3:42 PM, Commandant said:

 

He very well might be finished.

 

That said we have so little money invested.  Nhl minimum plus its a two way contract.  And we have so many forwards hurt right now, that its worth a shot.

Well, I retract what I wrote: he is not finished. Definitely an improvement over the Miller Barbers of this world. Scandella is not a scandalously wrong acquisition either. 😆 Both additions won’t probably be enough to salvage the season, but they haven’t cost much. We’ll have to wait another year, I am afraid...

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55 minutes ago, Chris said:

Just give it a few games, 

 

having a couple of points doesn't mean he turned it around, there is a reason know one else in the league wanted him for months 

That reason was the 6+ million dollar cap hit that had another season attached to it.

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