Author of the article: Stu Cowan  •  Montreal Gazette
Publishing date: Jul 18, 2022  •  11 hours ago  •  4 minute read  •  23 Comments Julie Petry wraps gifts for underprivileged youngsters as part of the Canadiens’ annual Opération Père Noël program at the Bell Centre in Montreal Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. Photo by John Kenney /Montreal Gazette files

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Julie Petry’s love affair with Montreal ended last season, which led to her husband, Jeff, being traded by the Canadiens to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

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Julie didn’t want to live in Montreal anymore, but she leaves the city with fond memories of the seven years Jeff spent playing for the Canadiens and expressed them Monday in an Instagram post. “Little did we know in March 2015, it would be the start of something very special … we were filled with much anticipation & excitement to be part of an organization that was filled with such history, richness, pride, passion that we had only been told about … but really had no clue about the city!” Julie wrote on Instagram. “I will never forget my first game at the Bell Centre. Everyone talks a big talk about it, but they are right! It’s something special. Something I’ll never forget. Something I’ll never take for granted. The lights are different, the energy is different, the sound is different, the air is different. … It’s really indescribable until you feel it for yourself.”

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Julie became frustrated with the strict COVID-19 restrictions in Quebec last season and decided to go back to the family home in Michigan with their three young sons, while also pregnant with a fourth boy who was born last Monday. That left Jeff alone in Montreal and he asked to be traded for family reasons. Julie is a native of Houston, Tex, while Jeff is from Michigan. Jeff also struggled on the ice last season, posting 6-21-27 totals in 68 games. Julie was also a vocal critic on social media of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier François Legault’s handling of the pandemic and showed support for the trucker Freedom Convoy protests in Canada. “The past couple of years with COVID hasn’t been easy on anybody,” Jeff said during a video conference on Sunday. “But living in Canada, far away from my family and my wife’s family’s from Houston — so even farther from them. It was very difficult for them to come up and to help with the boys and to come see us. It had its negative effects. But, at the same time, there were a lot of great things (about Montreal) that we really enjoyed. But it is nice now that that’s all in the past and we’re closer to home and we can all be together again.”

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GM Kent Hughes said he would try to trade Petry, but would only make a deal if it was one that would help the Canadiens moving forward and he was also unwilling to eat any of the defenceman’s contract, which has three seasons remaining with an annual salary-cap hit of $6.25 million. On Saturday, Hughes was finally able to make a deal, sending Petry and forward Ryan Poehling to the Penguins in exchange for defenceman Mike Matheson, a Montreal native, and a fourth-round pick at the 2023 NHL Draft. The Canadiens acquired Petry from the Edmonton Oilers on March 2, 2015, in exchange for a second-round pick (defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler) and a fourth-round pick (defenceman Caleb Jones) at the 2015 NHL Draft. It was one of the best trades former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin made.

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During their time in Montreal, the Petrys lived on the South Shore, near the team’s practice facility in Brossard, and later moved to Westmount. “After that short taste of what Montreal had to offer, choosing to stay a member of this storied hockey club was something we felt strongly about,” Julie wrote on Instagram. “Over the next 7 years, we grew our family & continued to grow our love for Montréal! We embraced the heartbeat of the city & made it our home away from home. We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

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“Everything from playoff runs, to team parties, to some of the most incredible meals I will ever have in my life, to strolling the areas of Westmount & Old Port like they were our backyard, to making lifelong friendships & connections, will never be lost on us. “I can’t wait to bring the boys back for visits to show them where we lived, to see & hug the people who were such integral parts of their young lives, to go to a game at the Bell Centre where we spent many of late nights and ate too many chien-chauds, to go eat at all of our favourite restaurants, to visit their schools which we so adored, to walk Mount Royal for the um-teenth thousandth time. To do all the things we loved to do in the beautiful city we got to call home for a chapter of our lives.

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“It’s a bittersweet goodbye for our family. We will go out with gratitude and love for the time we had. We will cherish the excitement, the opportunities, and the personal connections we got to foster during our time in MTL. And a piece of our hearts will always remain in this city and with the Canadiens. “Thank you for taking in our family and making our time even more special than we ever could have imagined. Merci merci merci!” [email protected] twitter.com/StuCowan1

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