Major statement regarding Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens
We will never forget December 2, 1995, when Patrick Roy played his last game in a Habs uniform.
For some fans of the team, it is from this date that the Montreal organization has dramatically fallen and has never been the same afterwards.
The Habs suffered an 11-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings and Roy conceded nine goals before head coach Mario Tremblay removed him from the net.
Afterwards, it was a humiliated Patrick Roy who addressed team president Ronald Corey, sitting behind the Canadiens' bench in the old Montreal Forum, and told him that he had played his last game in Montreal.
A few days later, Réjean Houle traded number 33 to the Colorado Avalanche, but as Marc-Olivier Cook of Danslescoulisses.com reports, the divorce between the star goalie and the Habs could have been avoided at that point.
That's according to former Habs equipment manager Pierre Gervais during his appearance on Tony Marinaro's podcast The Sick Podcast. According to Gervais, Roy was ready to apologize and he was even ready to move on from the events that took place just days before. Wow, that's a big revelation.
Unfortunately for him and more importantly for Habs fans, the organization saw things differently and decided to let him go.
You can hear Gervais' comments on this below:
Obviously it's very difficult to speculate on what would have happened if Roy had stayed with the organization, but this deal was sort of the starting point of the Habs' downfall that continued into the early 2000s.
In the years that followed, Roy added two more Stanley Cups to his record and the Habs had to wait until the 2020-2021 season before making another Final, which they lost in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Although the arrival of Kent Hughes as general manager of the Canadiens gives hope to some fans for the years to come, for others that fateful date of December 2, 1995 is still firmly anchored in their memories as a breaking point in the glorious history of the Montreal Canadiens.
| POLL | ||
Would Patrick Roy have helped the CH win a 25th Stanley Cup if he had stayed in Montreal? | ||
| Yes | 530 | 77 % |
| No | 158 | 23 % |
| List of polls | ||
