Hal Gill Makes Shocking Allegations Against Former Canadien Sergei Kostitsyn

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Elias Edmonson
December 11, 2023 (7:14 PM)

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Everyone remembers Sergei Kostitsyn's rather chaotic stint in the Montreal Canadiens uniform.

Andrei's brother played for the tricolore from 2007 to 2010, and it can be said that he too often made headlines for his antics off the ice.

We recall that famous story in the winter of 2009 when the Kostitsyn brothers and defenseman Roman Hamrlik were linked to an individual who was then involved in Montreal's organized crime.

But Sergei Kostitsyn was not just a source of distraction off the ice but also within the team, and one of his former teammates with the CH has not been kind to him in recent days.

While he was a guest on the podcast The Spittin Chiclets, former Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill mentioned that the younger Kostitsyn brother was not a very popular player within the team.

"He was a horrible person in Montreal. He was a bad teammate, a bad person. When I met him again in Nashville, I didn't want to be around this guy."

These are quite direct words, and let's just say Gill must have been happy when the Canadiens shipped Kostitsyn off to Nashville in the summer of 2010. However, less than two years later, the giant defenseman was himself traded to the Predators, thus reuniting with his former teammate. But when the two met, Gill quickly realized that the young man had drastically changed.

"He comes up to me: Hello! How are you? How are you doing?" I immediately thought: "Ok, it can't be him." We had a conversation. And he was really playing well in Nashville."

Surprised by this drastic change and wanting to get to the bottom of this story, Gill sought answers from head coach Barry Trotz.

"He explained to me: I ate cereal with him every morning." [Trotz] would show up at the arena, wait for him, and sit next to him with a bowl of cereal to talk to him."

It must be admitted that these famous meetings with the head coach paid off because Sergei Kostitsyn had his best moments in the NHL in Nashville, with seasons of 50 and 43 points, from 2010 to 2012.

But for Canadiens fans, let's just say there are not many fond memories of the younger Kostitsyn brother, and his tenure did not leave a mark on the franchise's history, at least not on the ice.