Habs Nation by Brendan Kelly

Reviewed by Timothy Niedermann

The subtitle to Habs Nation reads: “A People’s History of the Montreal Canadiens.” But while the book is indeed a history of sorts, it would be more accurate to describe it as a meditation on the relationship between the team (colloquially known in French as “les Habitants”, or simply “the Habs”) and the people of Quebec, particularly francophones.

Author Brendan Kelly starts by describing the heyday of the Habs, the years roughly from 1950 to 1980, when they won a total of sixteen Stanley Cup Championships. This tally included series of five in a row (1955 to 1960) and one of four in a row (1976 to 1979). But since 1980, they have only won twice, in 1986 and 1993. Kelly attributes this decline to one thing primarily: the reduced number of native Quebeckers on the team, especially French-speaking ones. He backs this conclusion up with convincing statistics.

How could this be the case?

Kelly makes clear that it isn’t that Quebec hockey players are intrinsically more talented than others, it’s that they put more into their game. And the reason for that is that they see themselves not merely as players on a team, but as representatives of their province, with its own history, French language, and distinct culture. They see the Canadiens as an icon of this uniqueness, and themselves as its standard-bearers. Formerly, this sense of purpose was shared by all on the team, even non-Quebeckers, who often felt compelled to learn French to communicate with fans and the francophone media.

Sadly, this is no longer the case. Kelly attributes this to a change of mindset among the owners and management, from nurturing Quebec talent to pursuing a more global, more commercial approach to the game, seeking out the best players wherever they are from. Expansion hasn’t helped. The NHL now has thirty-two teams, up from just six in the “Original Six” era (1942 to 1967), the decades when the Habs were most dominant.

Mainly, though, Kelly focusses on the errors that were made in applying this new mindset: Coaches were hired who proved to be bad fits; trades for players were mismanaged; and one huge mistake in Kelly’s opinion was the move from the old Montreal Forum to the Molson (now Bell) Centre. The reason? To add lucrative corporate sky boxes, something that the Forum couldn’t accommodate. The Forum was viewed by fans as practically a shrine to the glory days of the Canadiens, as it held innumerable memories of the hockey mastery displayed by Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, and others—things that could never be simply dug up and transferred.

To give substance to his presentation, Kelly interviewed a good number of people with personal connections to the Canadiens: former players and management as well as journalists and historians. Many are quoted at length. What comes across is an often touching paean to the special relationship between the Canadiens and their fans, a relationship that in many ways is both unique and inspiring.

Habs Nation is published by Baraka Books.