Canadiens centre Nick Suzuki made news recently when he did his first interview in French with Félix Seguin of TVA Sports.
It marked the first time a Canadiens captain had been interviewed in French since Vincent Damphousse was traded to the San Jose Sharks in 1999. Despite making the effort, Suzuki received some criticism for not learning to speak French earlier.
In this Hockey Inside/Out Show bonus episode, former Canadiens teammates and 1986 Stanley Cup champions Chris Nilan and Rick Green join The Gazette’s Stu Cowan to weigh in on Suzuki learning to speak French. Nilan also speaks a few words of French himself.
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28 Comments
Go Habs go
I'll tell you what irritates me as a French Canadian.. the overwhelming majority of the time people may complain about a player/captain of the Habs not speaking French, it's someone from the French media and when the English media talks about putting pressure on the players to speak French, they make it sound like it's coming from the public. The MEDIA is doing that.
Does it flatter me when an English player throws a few words in French when he feels like it? Of course… Do I pressure them to do so? No. Absolutely not. The media does. Not making the distinction is only fueling this age old divide that still makes us angry at each other for stupid reasons like a professional hockey player speaking or not speaking the language of a people that doesn't ASK a player to speak that language. Again. The media does that.
Literally no one is complaining about Suzuki's French. Typical Gazette behaviour.
No one complained about Suzuki's French. All I hear is the opposite. Everyone loves the guy.
Suzuki has been growing into the iob, and succeeding. I can't imagine becoming bilingual in 3 years without being completely 100% immersed. Both Hughes and MSL have their struggles.
La puck = la rondelle. Enough franglais to go around. I haven't been in a French environment for 55 years.
He's a great captain and he makes the effort to speak French. He's super
I'll say this, the Habs traded Chris Chelios for Dennis Savard mainly for French & it backfired {"BIG TIME"}. The French language is {"IMPORTANT"} but it doesn't always solve Hockey, {"GET IT"}? I'm English & I'm a Habs {"FAN"} & I learned some French & I don't shy away from speaking what I know in French when the opportunity presents itself.
This is off topic but Dobes for #1, Montembeault #2, Fowler in later, like Gazette mentions.
gotta love the french who take part in destroying the franchise year after year. This includes Kent, who only targets French players for trades and signings. Gotta love the frenchies destroying their own franchise, because.. French lol. losers
"I am proud of him." Thank you, Rick Green. Enough that needs to be said by this Stanley Cup Winner.
Knuckles was right on! Shut up!
On the contrary everyone is thrilled that our captain is making such an effort. Have not heard one single complaint all be it there is always one frustrated loser in every group. Just more typical yellow journalism BS and gaslighting by the rag called The Gazette.
Click bait.First I heard of this.
Also, no wonder I kind of stop listening to that podcast. Stue ALWAYS try to complain and put oil on fire.
Lets see what would Toronto peoples would say if the Leafs had a french only speaking capt what they would say…
Très bon point les gars. Il ne faut pas oublier que pour le 5% de téteux qui critiquent Suzuki, on est 95% qui apprécient et respectent le geste et ses efforts.
"Some People" keeps popping up in media and I wish Media would simply ignore S.P.
S.P. is desperate for attention and its time we shut him/her down for good. Not just in sports, but everywhere!
Great show guys, never stop!!
IDC one iota about French if people want to speak it it's their right but I couldn't care less if I ever heard anyone speaking French same for any language other than what I can understand which is English.
I want to start by saying I was skeptical of Suzuki I never thought he could be a first line player second line yes but not first line.IMo Nick carries that first line he is the only complete player on that line Cole is one dimensional and Slafkovsky is Mr.Dopey.Now of course Hutson had a HUGE impact as well that line is not a PLUS line w/o Hutson.
The one drawback of course is faceoffs but what is MSL doing behind the bench besides wearing a suit?
MSL can have someone else take the faceoff and if neither Cole or Slaf can why is that line together?There are going to be times Nick is booted out of the faceoff anyhow so you need a backup plan especially on the first line playing against the other teams best.
As a 60+ yr old hockey fan I only care about hockey I despise any form of drama around a team.I would never judge any player based on language like seriously c'mon.
There are people who, if he scored 73 goals with 150 assists, would still complain that he isn't a first line centre.
Those people can all go fornicate with themselves.
He's a great first line center.
Any effort with French is above and beyond.
Fans should have nothing but love for the guy.
Faire l'effort, absolutely… simply making the effort has a lot of weight in our heart. Merci.
The puck doesn't care what language he speaks, he's a hockey player not spokesman. If I were the captain of the Habs and told I should learn french I'd demand a trade.
Who cares. If you francophones don't like it, go cheer for another team. It's not on anyone to appease your superiority complex.
Hearing him in his interview was surprising,his level of French is really good!Good on him for deciding to learn the language so as to be able to communicate with the fans.
And always remember that there are a-holes out there who like to complain about everything.
Canadians aren't required to be bilingual. It's nice, but not necessary. He's an athelete, not a politician.
no one is complaining about Suzuki's french, so how about you guys shut up…
Saying a few words is fine by me! PERIOD! Chris is right! I’m bilingual from Mtl, all good! There are more important things to do!
Montreal's media needs to cool it.