Chris Kreider's stall in the Canadiens room sits directly beside Nick Suzuki, and the nameplates went up overnight.
That's the spot Brendan Gallagher used to occupy. Gallagher is in Vancouver these days.
Room geography is never an accident. Clubs decide who sits beside the captain, and they decide it on purpose.
He's wearing 22 in Montreal. Suzuki's 14 is on the plate directly next to it.
Kreider signed there over more money elsewhere and has praised the culture Martin St-Louis built since arriving.
He put up 50 points across 75 games last season, with 8 of those goals arriving on the power play.
Pierre LeBrun already told everybody to keep the expectations sensible. He's 35, and Anaheim ended his contract by mutual agreement.
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Chris Kreider's Montreal arrival comes with a notable Nick Suzuki connection
The Habs Reddit account reported Anderson has been named a new assistant captain, and that he opted to keep his existing stall.
That's a leadership group forming around Suzuki without anybody rearranging furniture to make the point.
Anderson scored 14 goals last season on a $5,500,000 cap hit. He's been skating with Phillip Danault through camp.
Danault scored twice in Toronto on Saturday, and one of those came while Montreal was down a man.
Florian Xhekaj has been on that line too, and he's spent the whole camp making himself impossible to overlook.
The crease is the file nobody has closed. Samuel Montembeault split Monday's 3-2 overtime win with Jakub Dobes.
Frank Seravalli has picked Montembeault as the first player traded anywhere in the league this season.
Renaud Lavoie reported Kirby Dach is still sitting in trade discussions. Kent Hughes is listening on that one.
Montreal is 3-0 through the exhibition schedule with Ottawa up on Saturday.
Then Toronto on September 29, on the road, to start the part that counts.
So does a nameplate mean anything at all? Sorting a dressing room works like a seating plan at a wedding. Nobody admits it matters and everybody checks the card.
Kreider inherited the seat Gallagher held for years. What he does with it stops being symbolic on the 29th.
Does Chris Kreider belong on the top line next to Nick Suzuki?
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