It’s not just the fans who wonder why an NHL team doesn’t yet have a storefront in Quebec, the players too!
Asked about this dream of the people of Quebec which seems more and more unattainable, Kings forward Phillip Danault assured he was asking the same questions as the population. The difference? He was able to ask them directly to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman!
“The only question I asked him was why there is no team in Quebec, and his answer was not very clear, anyway,” he said with a laugh. These are things we cannot control.”
So even when we ask the real questions, we don’t always get the real answers!
For Danault, a native of Victoriaville who wore the colors of the Canadian and therefore was at the forefront of the inexhaustible passion of Quebecers for hockey, a return of the NHL to Quebec would be larger than life.
“I was born in 1993 so I didn’t have the chance to live [la rivalité entre le Canadien et les Nordiques]. I still hear about it today. It would be really cool to be able to see it. Maybe in my post-career!”
NHL facilities
It’s not the Nordiques but, for the moment of a week, the NHL is installed in Quebec thanks to the visit of the Kings. If the people of the Old Capital will be able to vibrate for a few days to the rhythm of the NHL, the Kings players will not feel too out of place in their neighborhoods at the Videotron Center.
“It’s an NHL amphitheater and I’m sure the Remparts love being here,” said Anze Kopitar, who came to Quebec in 2016 as part of the World Cup of Hockey. It’s very modern, and to arrive here and enjoy world-class facilities, it makes it easier. This is the case for the players, but also for everyone who works behind the scenes.
