Kreider Comes to Montreal Carrying Twelve Years of Baggage

Chris Kreider has been booed at the Bell Centre since 2014, when he slid into Carey Price during a playoff series and knocked the Canadiens' franchise goaltender out of the postseason. That collision lived in Montreal's memory the way these things do — not forgotten, not quite forgiven. Now he's wearing the sweater.

The Canadiens signed him Saturday to a one-year deal at $2.15 million, and the hockey case is straightforward enough. Kreider is 35, six-foot-three, 232 pounds, with 348 career goals and north of a thousand NHL games behind him. The offense that carried Montreal through most of 2026 fell apart late — the team averaged nearly a goal less per game over its final stretch than it had in the weeks prior — and the secondary scoring simply wasn't there when it mattered. Dach, Berard, and now Kreider are the front office's answer to that problem.

Whether the crowd warms to him is a separate question, and probably a slower one. Montreal fans have long memories, and the Price era still carries weight in this city even after the rebuild has moved well past it. Kreider will have to produce his way out of that history, which is the only way anyone ever does.

The bet here is modest and specific: a veteran body on a short contract, bought cheap, asked to fill minutes that went unfilled last spring. The baggage is real. So is the need.