The Montreal Canadiens have allowed several Quebec players to wear their colors over the past five years.
Some are still in the current squad, like David Savard or Samuel Montembeault. Others went to continue their careers elsewhere in the NHL with some success, like Phillip Danault or Jonathan Drouin.
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There are, however, several whose time in the organization has been less noted, even if fans remember most of them. They spent some time in Montreal, sometimes only for a handful of games, and then left to pursue their careers elsewhere.
What happened to these local players who lived the dream for a brief moment? It can be seen below:
Charles Hudon, left winger
One of the best known on this list, Hudon was heartbroken when he had to leave the Canadiens in 2020 after accumulating 41 points in 125 games with the team. The native of Alma, however, quickly rolled up his sleeves by going to play a season in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2020-2021. A great campaign in fact, where he accumulated 15 goals and 17 assists in 32 games. This convinced him to come back and try his luck in North America, first playing a solid season with the Syracuse Crunch in the American League, before having the opportunity, the following year, to play nine games in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche. To this day, Hudon is still in the American League, with the Ontario Reign, farm club of the Los Angeles Kings. And he continues to produce.
Photo d’archives, Martin Chevalier
Xavier Ouellet, defender
The former second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings played 37 games with the Habs, spread over three seasons. A good soldier of the organization, captain of the Laval Rocket for a time, Ouellet left for other lands at the end of the 2021-2022 season. After spending two campaigns with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, in the American League, the Quebecer, who is now 31 years old, has been a player for the Minsk Dynamo, in the KHL, since the start of this season.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
Cédric Paquette, center
After seven full seasons in the NHL, most of them played with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the tough Quebec striker spent the 2021-2022 campaign in the CH organization. It was not memorable for Paquette, who ended up playing games in the American League. It was his only season with the Habs and his last in the NHL. The following year, he was in the KHL, also with Minsk Dynamo. Since last season, he has been a member of Dynamo Moscow. And he has good offensive statistics in the KHL. Author of 22 goals in 57 games last year, he has 26 points in 44 games this season.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
Mathieu Perreault, center
The Drummondville native had a nice 12-season NHL career under his belt when he signed a one-year contract with the Habs in the summer of 2021. Unfortunately, Perreault was slowed by injuries this year – there, and was limited to four goals and five assists in 25 games. Once the season ended, Mathieu Perreault simply chose to retire. The former general manager of the Trois-Rivières Lions, Marc-André Bergeron, tried to bring Perreault out of retirement the following year, and the latter admitted to having considered it, but he chose to pass.
- Martin Chevalier / JdeM
Laurent Dauphin, center
Dauphin had the opportunity to play 38 games with the Habs during the 2021-2022 season, amassing four goals and eight assists along the way. He had been a member of the organization since the 2019-2020 campaign. The following season, however, he returned to the Arizona Coyotes organization, the one that drafted him in 2013, even playing 21 games in the NHL. Then, he spent the 2023-2024 campaign in Switzerland, amassing 38 points in 44 games with the Ambri-Piotta team. Dauphin, who is now 29 years old, is back in North America this season as a player… for the Laval Rocket, of which he is once again an important cog.
Pierre-Paul Poulin / Le Journal de Montréal / Agence QMI
Alex Belzile, right winger
Belzile won the public’s sympathy in 2020 by having the chance to play his first games in the NHL at almost 30 years old. The native of Saint-Éloi ultimately played 44 regular season games with the Habs, also occupying an important role with the Laval Rocket before leaving for the New York Rangers organization at the dawn of the last season. At 33, Belzile is in his second year with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American League, where he continues to be an excellent player. However, he has not seen the NHL since his time with the Canadian.
Belzile scores his first NHL goal at age 31! –
Frédéric Allard, defender
Former star of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, Allard, an honest defender, played three games with the Habs in 2022-2023 having been acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in return for the not particularly memorable Nate Schnarr. The following season, Allard was gone. He is now in his second season with Lulea, in Sweden. Allard has accumulated 13 points in 34 games this season, while his team ranks fourth in the general standings.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
Joël Teasdale, left winger
Memorial Cup champion with Rouyn-Noranda in 2019 (alongside a certain Rafael Harvey-Pinard), Teasdale missed the entire following season due to a serious knee injury. The sturdy forward nevertheless got his chance in the Montreal organization in 2020-2021 and was a very good player for the Laval Rocket until he donned the Habs uniform for two games in 2022-2023. . Teasdale left the organization at the end of that season. Since then, he has returned to the American League, wearing the colors of the Iowa Wild last year before signing with the Syracuse Crunch this season.
Martin Chevalier / JdeM
Anthony Richard, centre
A fast skater with obvious offensive skills, Anthony Richard played 13 games with the Canadian in 2022-2023, scoring some great goals. He nevertheless spent the majority of the season with the Laval Rocket, collecting 30 goals and 37 assists in 60 games. Richard, a player too strong for the American League, but who never had the opportunity to establish himself permanently in the NHL, left the following season, in front of a member of the Boston Bruins organization, with whom he played nine games. He signed with the Philadelphia Flyers last summer. The native of Trois-Rivières, who is now 28 years old, shone during his recall by the Flyers last November. After collecting six points in seven games… we returned him to the American League. Where he continues to be too good.
Anthony Richard scores his 2nd NHL goal –
