No. 33

La Presse reports this morning that the Canadiens will retire No. 33 this year as part of their 100th anniversary celebrations. It’s not yet confirmed, but if it’s true, the move will stir controversy. No less a figure than Red Fisher, the legendary Gazette hockey writer, has advised against the move. Roy turned his back on the franchise forever, according to Fisher, that night in 1995 when he stormed across the bench and declared that he had played his last game as a Hab. Others point to Roy’s questionable conduct as a junior coach—scrapping with fans in Chicoutimi; dispatching his kid to lay a sh**-knocking on another goalie during a game. These incidents, they argue, make Roy an unsuitable candidate to occupy the Bell Centre rafters alongside the likes of Jean Beliveau and Maurice Richard.