There is the intense scrutiny on the Canadiens’ performance, such as Carey Price’s uneven goal tending, about which Geoff Molson gets an earful at the amateur hockey rinks where he accompanies his three sons when they play hockey.

And there was the controversy over temporarily replacing head coach Jacques Martin by the unilingual Randy Cunneyworth – which became an “affaire d’État” or national crisis in Quebec. (The Montreal Gazette even lamented the team had given a Christmas gift to the separatist Parti Québécois.)

“I learned that our relationship with the fans is fragile. You always have to have your fan hat on,” Mr. Molson says. He has since won back the affection of Montrealers, who applauded spontaneously when he appeared on a giant screen at the men’s final of the Rogers Cup.

The Habs president believes that with the team being put together by general manager Marc Bergevin, the Canadiens now stand “in a good place.”

Continued