Montreal Canadiens Habs rookie dinner Vancouver 2022

The Habs rookie dinner and associated shenanigans in Vancouver last night

The high-end Blue Water Café was the site of the traditional bonding/hazing event.

The Habs reportedly had their rookie dinner at Vancouver’s Blue Water Café last night, according to a lobster specialist employed by the establishment. The lobster guy shared a photo of two long dining tables arranged with his lobsters and seafood towers prior to the team’s arrival.

Joel Edmundson confirmed rumours that the event was indeed happening yesterday (a day off for the team), sharing a photo of the Habs rookies in wet suits, goggles, snorkels, flippers and children’s water wings.

Montreal Canadiens Habs rookie dinner 2022
The Habs newbs ahead of the traditional rookie dinner.

From left to right, the photo above features Cayden Primeau, Jake Evans, Alexander Romanov (bottom), Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Corey Schueneman and Michael Pezzeta.

As per NHL tradition, the rookie dinner is a team bonding/hazing event wherein the newbs with the lowest salaries pay for expensive dinners for themselves and the entire team, with other outings or events tacked on before and/or after the meal.

So far there is no intel on what else went down yesterday, how much the bill cost — though Caufield said in a press conference this evening that the number was “eye-opening” — or where the rookies actually went swimming in that gear. Regardless, the team has some time to recover before playing the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

“I’ll remember the whole night, just being with the guys and getting to experience that with them, and kind of relax and get away from hockey a little bit. I know the guys enjoyed themselves, and I think that was really good for us.”

—Cole Caufield

For more on the Montreal Canadiens, please visit the Habs website.


For more Montreal sports coverage, please visit our Sports section.