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Attracting free agents to Montreal hasn’t been easy in recent years, but Chiarot jumped at the chance to play here. The Hamilton native still remembers his first visit to the Bell Centre as a 9-year-old with his minor hockey team, getting a chance to watch the Canadiens’ morning skate and a game against the New York Rangers. While with the Jets, the Bell Centre was Chiarot’s favourite arena to play in.
He called the chance to sign with the Canadiens as a free agent “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Canadiens are thrilled to have him.
“I don’t know to what extent they used Ben in Winnipeg,” coach Claude Julien said. “I mean, he was in a regular position for them. But I think the fact that he came here, we put him with Shea Weber — kind of made those two our first pair — and he just seemed to embrace it. What I’ve seen is that they seem to have built a pretty good chemistry those two guys together. They take pride in their game and being a tough pair to play against and all those kind of things. I think Benny’s just taken that over and really is enjoying that role.
“Is he a better player?” the coach added. “I think he’s being utilized different than he was in Winnipeg and I think he’s appreciating the fact that we gave him a really important role here. Even if he’s not necessarily on the power play, he’s a big penalty-killer for us and five-on-five he’s got a good shot and he utilizes that as well offensively. So I think the appreciation for his game, or us, has been good and I think he feels it as well.”
Matthew Tkachuk felt it Thursday night.
