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Former Hab finds a great fit as a player development consultant with Montreal after being forced to retire because of a hip injury.
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Paul Byron is excited about what he calls “a new chapter” in his life.
Byron met with the media Friday at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, two days after officially retiring as a player and accepting a new job as a player development consultant with the Canadiens.
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“It’s very fresh for me still,” Byron said about his new role after coaching one of the teams in a morning training-camp scrimmage and also helping out with on-ice drills. “I’m still kind of learning. I feel like first day of high school right now trying to learn all these new places in the rink and tunnels I didn’t know existed. It’s been a lot of fun so far.”
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Keeping Byron with the Canadiens was a smart move by management after he spent the last seven seasons of a 12-year NHL career in Montreal. Byron didn’t play at all last season because of a hip injury that forced him to retire at age 34. While he didn’t play, Byron was still around the team last season and watched some games in a private box at the Bell Centre with Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, and GM Kent Hughes.
Byron told Gorton and Hughes at the end of the season he was hoping to stay in the game and be able to share his experience with younger players. Now, he has that chance. Byron joins Rob Ramage and Francis Bouillon — both former NHL defencemen — in the player-development department, adding a forward’s point of view as well as someone who has played recently. Marie-Philip Poulin, the captain of the Canadian women’s team and a member of the new Montreal team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, is also a player development consultant with the Canadiens.
Byron said his hip still hurts, but he has been able to adapt and it doesn’t really affect his day-to-day life. If he tries to skate hard, the hip really hurts the next day, but he’s comfortable helping out on the ice during practices at training camp.
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At 5-foot-9 and 164 pounds, Byron beat the odds just getting to the NHL after being selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round (179th overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. He played 521 regular-season games, posting 98-110-208 totals. Only 30 players drafted in 2007 have played more NHL games than Byron, who earned almost US$20 million during his career, according to CapFriendly.com.
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A turning point in Byron’s hockey life came in 2006 when Gatineau Olympiques GM Charlie Henry and head coach Benoît Groulx visited his family’s home in Ottawa. The previous season, Byron had posted 20-23-43 totals in 33 games as a small 16-year-old with the Ottawa-West Golden Knights in a tough Junior B league. Byron was passed over at the OHL junior draft, but Henry and Groulx offered him a chance to play in the QMJHL.
At that time, Byron had his sights on playing NCAA hockey at the University of Maine, where his favourite player — Paul Kariya — played before being selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round (fourth overall) of the 1993 NHL Draft.
“It was a big decision for me,” Byron recalled. “But when you talk with the coach and you talk to someone like Charlie with his experience and the belief in you, it was a hard offer to turn down.”
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Byron would score 91 goals during his three seasons with the Olympiques and then played two seasons with the AHL’s Portland Pirates before making his NHL debut with Buffalo. Byron only played eight games with the Sabres before being traded to the Calgary Flames and he spent parts of three seasons with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat before becoming an NHL regular. The Canadiens claimed him off waivers from the Flames the day before the start of the 2015-16 season.
Byron’s story should be an inspiration to young players in the Canadiens organization. One of them, Logan Mailloux, lived with Byron and his family for a month this summer as he got ready for training camp, while fellow top prospects David Reinbacher and Emil Heineman lived with two of Byron’s neighbours on the South Shore of Montreal.
“It was a big year for them, big training camp,” Byron said. “I wanted to offer the opportunity for them to work out, train and skate here.
“I learned a lot about Logan,” Byron added. “He’s a really nice young man. My kids loved him. We loved the experience with him in our house. I kind of miss him. The house feels a little bit lonely already.”
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Apart from his new job with the Canadiens, Byron will also help coach the hockey teams his two children — 10-year-old Elianna and 9-year-old Brysen — play for.
“Last year, I was helping my daughter’s team. This year, I’m helping my son,” Byron said. “He’s first-year atom, double-A, so trying to help out them a little bit. Bring some stuff from here to there. My daughter, too, I plan to get on the ice and help her (atom) team as much as possible.
“Trying to balance the best of both worlds right now.”
scowan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/StuCowan1
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