It all goes back to an early November morning in 2006 when RDS’s Yvon Pednault walked to the press box that overlooks Bell Center ice.
The ice had it’s sprinkling of Habs players and noticeable among them was Craig Rivet and a few members of the Canadiens well garnered press corp. The night was going to be a big one for the Habs defence celebrating the Jersey Retirement of ex-GM and Hall of famer Serge Savard.
‘’ He’s one of those guys who’s probably gonna be on TV once his career is over ‘’
Craig Rivet would of course be traded that year for a young unknown by the name of Josh Gorges, followed closely by Yvon Pednault the following year who would leave the RDS broadcast throne to a more modest role with CKAC Radio.
And like Pednault, Rivet’s career didn’t end with the Canadiens, after a brief stint with San Jose, Craig Rivet’s leadership quality saw him a natural fit at the time with Lindy Ruff’s Sabre squad as captain.
‘’ It was a surprise pick for some fans, he was new to the organization and with Luongo named Canucks captain at the time, they were expecting Ryan Miller to be the guy ‘’
Easy to say it hasn’t been an easy ride for the aging Rivet as observers see his career winding down, a brash of injuries in recent years have made him an expendable part of the team on the ice and Sabres management will mull trade options prior to deadline day if you are to believe the rumors following a Sabres team some have say is seriously underachieving this year.
Interestingly enough Craig Rivet’s ascension to the NHL was similar to PK Subban’s if you look at Junior career highs. Rivet although now considered by many as a defensive defenceman topped 75 points ( 19 goals and 55 assists ) with Kingston in the OHL while PK Subban had a junior career high 76 points ( 14 goals and 62 assists ) with Belleville.
Rivet would be called up due to injury at the start of the 1995 season ( a 3-2 loss to Boston ) to save the Canadiens catastrophic season start.
A start that would end Jacques Demers’s reign with the Habs and inevitably a miserable decade for the Canadiens.
At the start of the 1996 season the Canadiens had 3 defenceman aged under 22 in their lineup.
Craig Rivet, David Wilkie and Rory Fitzpatrick.
This year Weber and Subban are the ‘’under 23 ‘’ Habs rookies on Defence, a first since 1996 .
Rivet who was asked if he has a message for Subban on the night prior to facing him said :
‘’ Change your ways ‘’
For many Habs fans the message will sound more like
‘’ Please stay the same ‘’
