Roberto Luongo is a Montreal native who played 19 NHL seasons, including 11 with the Panthers, before retiring on June 26. He made a name for himself by helping Acadie-Bathurst of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League win the President's Cup here in 1998-99. Yet he, too, couldn't deny how popular the Canadiens are.
"It's widespread for sure," said Luongo, who walked the red carpet with his former Panthers teammates. "Even when I was playing in Vancouver, there were a ton of Montreal Canadiens fans. They're everywhere. That's great. They have a great fanbase. I was saying that I've never signed so many Montreal Canadiens jerseys in my life. It's kind of weird."
A pro-Canadiens crowd is expected for the game, but the Hockeyville brand is formidable, too. The experience is new to the Panthers organization, but it's the third one for forward Mike Hoffman, who participated with the Ottawa Senators in 2010 (Dundas, Ontario) and 2017 (O'Leary, Prince Edward Island).
"And as a player, we really enjoy these games," Hoffman said. "They're fun ones to take part in. It's just a nice atmosphere for us to be around. It's a good day."
Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said the red carpet was his favorite experience. He was impressed by the energy of the small communities including Renous, Bathurst and Miramichi.
Of course, there is also the business of playing a preseason game and preparing for the regular season, one with higher expectations for Florida and the chance for Montreal to build off a 96-point season that wasn't enough to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
"Obviously we were so close," Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin said. "It's just one game. one of these games that slipped out. If it's Game 20, maybe we lost a game in November that people think it doesn't matter, but they do matter. For us it's just being consistent. We were last year but there's still another step we can take, and we know that."
For Julien, that next step is playoffs or bust.
"Every year, teams prepare not for the Stanley Cup, they prepare for the playoffs," Julien said. "They need to get there first and that's a tough task in itself. Once you're there, it's obviously anybody's opportunity, so we got to get ourselves in the playoffs this year. That's what our focus is on right now. Once we're there, we'll certainly be talking about our chances."