MONTREAL — Alain Vigneault jokes he gives all his best answers in French, his native tongue. And it wasn’t even an answer that was his best line after Thursday’s practice, stopping on his way out of the press conference room to make an announcement.
As translated by friendly French-speaking media members, Vigneault stopped to say that there were about 100 people watching the Rangers practice Thursday at Bell Centre, and not one of them worked for the Canadiens. It was a tongue-in-cheek joke, sarcastically doubting that no one there worked for the opposition and was relaying information back to Montreal’s coaching staff.
This was a reference to the agreement made between the two general managers before the series started that opposing coaches could watch morning skates, but not full practices. And that agreement goes back to the 2014 Eastern Conference final between these two clubs, when then-Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien threw some of Vigneault’s assistants out of a practice, citing an ambiguous “gentleman’s agreement.”
Having won Game 1 by a score of 2-0, and with Vigneault seemingly planning no major changes to his lineup or otherwise for Friday night’s Game 2, he didn’t seem overly concerned who was watching practice.
Defenseman Steven Kampfer was close to completing a two-year contract extension, a two-way deal that would be worth $650,000 in the NHL and $300,000 in the AHL, with $350,000 guaranteed each year.
Kampfer was obtained as part of an early season trade that sent the Rangers’ first-round pick from 2010, Dylan McIlrath, to the Panthers. He was recalled from AHL Hartford in early March and played 10 games for the Rangers down the stretch.
He was seemingly the eighth defenseman on the current roster, behind Kevin Klein, but that might not be the case. With the struggles of Nick Holden and with the experienced Klein in waiting, Vigneault was asked if any defenseman currently in the lineup is on a short leash. Unprompted, he then lauded Kampfer.
“I’m not sure I would want to call that a short leash,” Vigneault said. “But I would say that because we have seven experienced defensemen — and I would say to you to some extent, Kampfer coming in and playing as strong as he did with his skating ability — it gives us options.”
The Rangers biggest trade-deadline acquisition, defenseman Brendan Smith, made his team postseason debut in Game 1 and impressed Vigneault.
“I thought he played a real good game,” the coach said. “I thought he was under control, he moved the puck as good as I’ve seen him since he’s been with us. That’s the type of hockey we need from him.”
Smith seemed rather pleased with his own performance, as well, and explained how he tries not to focus on the noise level at Bell Centre that can be deafening.
“In professional sports, you kind of close that out,” Smith said. “You’re so in tune to the game. There are times when, trust me, you hear them because of momentum swings and stuff. We’ve done it for so long, we get it. But it’s exciting.”