BROSSARD – Éric Raymond was only 15 years old when he met Benoît Allaire, a leading figure in the field of goaltending coaches. Today, 35 years later, Raymond has only good words for the man who was his trainer, his mentor, his boss and now his colleague.
Their destiny has been intertwined since the mid-1980s. After his time at goaltending school, Allaire supervised Raymond during his goaltending career in the QMJHL with the Laval Titan and the Collège-Français de Verdun.
Thereafter, Raymond accomplished a professional career of about fifteen years with an interesting stability of nine seasons in France.
At the end of it, Raymond joined Allaire in the brotherhood of goalkeeper coaches first with the Junior of Montreal and then with the Mooseheads of Halifax.
Unsurprisingly, it was with Allaire that he was able to break down the doors of the NHL by becoming his assistant in the New York Rangers organization. Raymond then mainly supervised the succession of the Rangers school club, the Wolf Pack of Hartford.
“I learned a lot from him, he is a whole person, a super human, a professor from the greatest universities. I can never give him enough compliments, he always believed in me,” Raymond said gratefully.
“He was telling me things that were going to happen. Even though I hadn’t seen it yet, he had seen it,” he added.
It was in Hartford that Raymond supported the excellent Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Giorgiev in their adaptation to North American hockey. He taught them the philosophy of Allaire so well that they were quick to shine with the Rangers.
Giorgiev was the first of two European gems to land in Hartford. Never drafted, he crossed the Atlantic with his wealth of knowledge and his habits acquired from his previous coaches.
“In the first two months, it happened that I heard ‘I don’t agree coach‘ even though we had a great relationship from the start. Not everyone is going to trust you immediately. You have to take it easy and sometimes wait for it to lead to goals against him,” said Raymond.
‘The transition happened over time and it wasn’t long before he changed to’I agree coach‘”, laughed the coach who now leads the Canadiens’ goalies.
Two years later, it was Shesterkin’s turn to end up in Hartford, where his stay was rather brief.
“He had success in Russia, but we felt he had to adjust things for the NHL so that he didn’t pay the price. He was already good smarthe understood that some things would not pass in the National League, ”explained Raymond.
The best version of Shesterkin was so promising that Raymond and the Rangers couldn’t settle for what he was doing. No doubt the approach was successful.
“For both of them, it went really well, we still have a close relationship. We built trust as they went far in their semi-circle and geographically speaking,” he added with a smile.
Very close to his daughters despite the distance
With this conclusive proof of the quality of his coaching, Raymond felt more than ready for an NHL team to entrust his goalies to him on a daily basis.
This opening was obtained at the Canadian thanks to Dominique Ducharme, his friend. The adventure, which he had been waiting for for several years, could have ended a few months later, when Martin St-Louis took control of the CH.
“I tried not to think about it in the sense that you don’t control what happens next. Martin arrived with a great attitude, we formed a team with the other assistants (Alex Burrows, Trevor Letowski and Luke Richardson who left this season), I was not the only one to stay. In hockey, these are things that always happen. You need to adjust quickly. We have fun together and it will be even more fun when we earn more,” commented Raymond.
We deduce that Jeff Gorton, executive vice-president of hockey operations, had good words for him having observed his work in the Rangers organization when he was the general manager.
During the 10-day break that the Canadian has just begun, Raymond did not go to Florida to practice his golf or bask on the beach. He rather hastened to leave for Europe to join his two grown daughters, 14 and 16 years old.
Separated from their mother, Raymond grew up far from the two most precious beings in his heart.
“I could say that it is my greatest accomplishment, that of having remained very close to them despite the distance. It doesn’t happen without effort. It went through trips that didn’t always make sense, but you do it anyway, ”said Raymond.
“For a father, it’s an episode in your life that you don’t let go of,” he added with a devoted look.
From childhood to that prestigious role with the Canadiens, Raymond agrees that life has given him nothing. He often had to roll up his sleeves and work harder to achieve his goals. He transmits this message to his daughters and to the guardians he supervises so that work is part of their values.
Eventually, his daughters will realize the scope of his accomplishment. It will be even easier when they can come and experience the atmosphere of hockey in Montreal.
“I can’t wait for them to see a bit of the scale. But, at the same time, I prefer that they are proud of the fact that I take care of them”, concluded Raymond.