Schneider doesn’t miss a beat
Sean Gordon
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
February 17, 2009 at 9:28 PM EST
MONTREAL — It turns out power-play specialist Mathieu Schneider, who rejoined the Montreal Canadiens yesterday, was on the NHL team’s “needs list” as far back as last November, but his acquisition was temporarily sidetracked by talks with the Tampa Bay Lightning for star centre Vincent Lecavalier.
Habs general manager Bob Gainey unwittingly confirmed the Tampa negotiations when describing his initial approach for Schneider, saying “the discussion on Lecavalier that came along for a short period of time threw everything sideways and backwards.”
Asked to expand on the comment, Gainey said: “[The Lightning] were talking about him [Lecavalier]” and that the names bandied about in trade rumours — forward Christopher Higgins, defenceman Josh Gorges and prospect P.K. Subban — were “their names.”
Schneider, who was paired with Andrei Markov at practice yesterday, will sport No. 24, formerly worn by his pal and former teammate Chris Chelios, now of the Detroit Red Wings.
“I called him this morning, and told him I was taking his number. He said, ‘You stole my job 15 years ago, you might as well take my number too,’ ” Schneider said with a laugh.
