MONTREAL-- Twenty-four Stanley Cup championship banners hang above Bell Centre ice, amongst 15 retired-number banners celebrating the 18 Montreal Canadiens Hall of Famers who wore them with terrific distinction. On Saturday, the Canadiens played their 106th NHL home opener, a 3-2 success against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks. They adhered to that with a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and end a three-game homestand Saturday versus the Washington Capitals. The entertaining home opener adhered to a curtain-raising ceremony that, by Canadiens requirements, was underrated and much more simmer than sizzle. The reasonably moderate discussion of staff and gamers and a toned-down concentrate on the past was additional illustration of this group's adjustment in society Brooks Orpik Jersey. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesMontreal Canadiens gamers aligned on Bell Centre ice complying with intros before the Oct. 14, 2023 home opener, the Chicago Blackhawks just getting here on the ice. "I grew up here, I completely value the Canadiens' history," general supervisor Kent Hughes informed NHL. com on Tuesday. "I matured in the 1970s and '80s. It practically became an initiation rite to see them win a Stanley Mug here. "I grew up having fun with Larry Robinson's child and I assume my sibling had fun with Jacques Lemaire's boy. The history was always around us. I believe there's the equilibrium below: the past and the expectations of the here and now and enabling this group to chart their own course. "There was no appearance on Saturday of the group's flaming torch, often shared by gamers in previous ceremonies. The ice was not electronically set ablaze, there were no special results, players did not skate onto a rink shrouded by dry ice. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesMontreal Canadiens gamers salute Bell Centre followers following their 3-2 home-opener win on Oct. 14, 2023. The historic past was not neglected, group tale Yvan Cournoyer opening up a video mosaic. Yet this event had to do with the existing group, players skating out by setting for their introductions-- goalies, defensemen and forwards adhered to by captain Nick Suzuki and alternating captains Brendan Gallagher and Mike Matheson. Saluted in the stands and a collection throughout television timeouts were Paul Byron, the prominent onward that introduced his retired life in September, his occupation ended too soon by injury, then Carey Price, the winningest goalie in franchise business background that is incapable to play because of a surgically repaired knee. But this game, the intro to fans of the 2023-24 team, was practically all concerning the present and the future. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesCoach Martin St. Louis behind the Canadiens bench during the group's home opener. "It's great to have the background around us," Hughes stated. "We have actually attempted to unlock much more to our alumni. I really hope that a player or more will certainly connect with an alumnus and that they can find out more. Our gamers recognize this group has actually been extremely effective, but they do not necessarily appreciate the history. "We think that piece is essential however it's not mosting likely to supersede what these people require to do Joe Snively Jersey. We require to concentrate on what we're attempting to construct here. "In fact, Gallagher and Tanner Pearson are the only players on the current roster who were active in 1993, the last time the Canadiens won the Stanley Mug. Lost in the mists is the press release notoriously issued by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau during the team's run of 4 successive champions from 1976-79: "The Canadiens' Stanley Cup parade will certainly follow the normal course. " Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty ImagesBrendan Gallagher takes the team's lantern from captain Shea Weber throughout 2019-20 home-opener events. The lantern, figuratively and essentially, has belonged to this group's history for decades. "To you from failing hands we toss the lantern be your own to hold it high.. "The passage showed in Bell Centre and the Canadiens' suburban training center clothing areas is from the World war rhyme "In Flanders Fields," written in Might 1915 by Canadian military police officer, physician and poet John McCrae, a lieutenant colonel who dealt with, composed and died in the Great Battle, yielding to pneumonia in France in 1918. Given that 1952, the words have actually been displayed above the Canadiens' dressing area stalls. They were placed there by then-general supervisor Frank Selke Sr. , who saw a profound meaning in McCrae's words for his club, after that coached by Dick Irvin Sr. Francois Lacasse, Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images Sporting Activity ClassicMontreal Canadiens Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur with the group's torch during 2013-14 home-opener events. "In Flanders Area" has actually been virtually stitched right into the Canadiens textile for greater than 7 years; it will continue to be there relocating ahead. But the torch was nowhere to be seen on Saturday in a ceremony that was produced by the group's marketing division and accepted without alteration by the hockey operations team. "We get memoranda from the League in terms of timing of pregame events, begin times for video games, and consideration for the going to group," Hughes claimed. "You're balancing a lot of different things. We were in arrangement that the focus should be on this group and this group of players and the training course they're trying to chart. " Canadiens exec vice-president Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes throughout the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville Beck Malenstyn Jersey. There will certainly constantly be reminders of and respect for Canadiens history, Hughes said, players strolling past a display of 24 mini Stanley Mug replicas on their means into the Bell Centre clothing room. "There is no disrespect to what's been completed or our background, far from it," he stated. "It is very important. "He indicated events the group arranges a few times per season, the concept of instructor Martin St. Louis to have small teams of gamers welcomed to join graduates. "Marty has a wonderful concept, doing this," Hughes stated. "If we brought the entire team in, the people would stay amongst themselves. But bring 3 or four men in and sprinkle them among the alumni, they have the opportunity to link, to learn their tales and learn who they are. Dave Stubbs/NHL. comBell Centre ice is established digitally ablaze throughout 2019-20 home-opener ceremonies. "Marty claims a whole lot, speaking with the group, 'They're your expectations for this team, they're not mine. I'm here to assist you create them yet ultimately it has to originate from within. It will certainly be worthless if it does not come from within. ' "It's up to the existing Canadiens, Hughes claims, "to take ownership of that way of reasoning and run with it. "We wish that they aim to get to those elevations and take it tip by action to win the Stanley Mug. It's their background currently. "