It has been a long time since the Canadiens have made news during the month of May, but François Legault changed that on Thursday.
When the Quebec premier held his daily COVID-19 news conference at Place des Arts, he put on a bleu-blanc-rouge mask with the Canadiens logo on it that had been made by Longueuil company Image Folie.
Legault said the mask had been sent to him by Canadiens captain Shea Weber.
“In January, I had suggested that he be traded, and he still sent me a mask,” Legault said.
When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman decided to “pause” the NHL season on March 12 because of the coronavirus, the Canadiens had a 31-31-9 record with 11 games remaining and appeared certain to miss the playoffs for the third straight season and the fourth time in five years. Their final regular-season game was slated for April 4 in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
Bettman is still hoping to crown a Stanley Cup champion this season and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported Thursday that the NHL is awaiting word from the players’ association on its latest version of a return-to-play format that could be a 24-team playoff instead of the regular 16 teams. If that ends up being the case, the Canadiens would be in the playoffs and their first-round opponent could be the Pittsburgh Penguins .
But Legault delivered some bad news Thursday for Canadiens fans with dreams of a 25th Stanley Cup and the first since 1993.
“If the Canadiens make the playoffs, unfortunately we will not be able to have a parade this summer,” the premier said. “I just wanted to be clear about that.
“And we’re not working very hard on a Plan B either,” Legault added
The last time the Canadiens made the playoffs was 2017 when they were eliminated in the first round by the New York Rangers.
The last time the Canadiens won a playoff series and played a game in May was 2015 when they beat the Ottawa Senators in the first round before being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
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