Agent: Canadiens ‘Checked A Lot Of Boxes’ For Chris Kreider

According to new Montreal Canadiens winger Chris Kreider’s agent Matt Keator, the Montreal Canadiens were just too perfect of a fit for his client to pass up

Keator, who is the Owner and president of Win Hockey, joined co-hosts Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy on The Eye Test Podcast on Wednesday and took the viewers and listeners inside the negotiations that made his client a Montreal Canadien.

“We looked at all options,” Keator replied when asked by Murphy if it was just the Canadiens no matter what.

“I gotta give a shoutout to, again, Pat Verbeek, my buddy. Pat basically worked with us over a 2-3 week period, and we talked about different trades. He was very communicative with us and he talked about where does Chris want to go? What makes sense for him and his family? He handled it very well and in the end we were like ‘Listen, let’s just terminate the contract. You get your space; we get our freedom.

We messaged to teams not to pick him and they were good, and when he became free, everybody called. The top contenders. So, we whittled it down and I just think in the end – I know people are like ‘Americans don’t wanna go up to Canada!’ But what’s the number one thing, besides a good contract, what’s the number one thing everyone wants to do? Win!

So, for Chris, he’s got Marty St. Louis, a former teammate; he’s got Jeff Gorton, who has been involved. …Jeff, myself and Chris have been involved in every contract he’s [Kreider] signed. He’s felt comfort there and it checked a lot of boxes. It’s a five-hour drive for his family to come up and see him in Boston and it worked out really well.”

Murphy asked Keator if the Montreal Canadiens are coming up a lot in conversations with his clients, fellow NHL agents and NHL general managers?

“Montreal? Oh yeah!” Keator exclaimed. “They’re up-and-coming!”

When addressing the Montreal media for the first time as a Canadien this past Monday, Chris Kreider described his attraction to the Canadiens and how they’re viewed by opponents.

“The skill, the speed, especially watching them in the playoffs as well, how connected (they are),” Kreider said. “As well, I think the pack mentality, a really tight group. You could tell it was a team … I think that’s a special thing, that’s a hard thing to create and that’s something they’ve cultivated here.”