Habs forward met the media after touring the team’s practice facilities on Saturday

by Dan Braverman @CanadiensMTL / canadiens.com

BROSSARD – Max Domi held court at his new stall at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard as part of his whirlwind visit to Montreal on Saturday and took questions from reporters. Here are some of the highlights.

On his impressions of Montreal so far:

It’s awesome, it’s great. Every single person I’ve met has been nothing but first-class. I’m super excited to be here, it’s been great. A short little trip, but I just wanted to come down and meet everyone and put names to faces and voices to faces so come camp, it’s a little easier to make the transition. I haven’t been able to stop smiling the whole time. I’m really, really pumped.

On his meeting with Claude Julien:

We didn’t really get into details, we just talked about what I was doing here, catching up on summer plans and training stuff. Just going over basic stuff in life. I talked to him a little bit on the phone, but that was the first time I met him in person. It was pretty cool to see him, and I’m definitely excited to get to work with him.

On wearing No. 13 with the Canadiens:

[Paying tribute to Mats Sundin] is 100% why I’m wearing No. 13. It’s a little bit weird to see 13 and the last name Domi on the back of a Habs jersey, but I think it looks great. It’s a great number; I wore it my whole childhood. I switched to 16 back when I was 12 years old when I was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes as a tribute to Bobby Clarke. Obviously, 16 is retired here.

Max Domi - Bobby Clarke

On looking up to Bobby Clarke as an inspiration:

As a Type-1 Diabetic, every single day is a battle, to a certain extent, and there’s a lot of adversity that goes with that. But when you think of a person of that calibre who was doing it before all the technology we have now, it’s like, « How the heck did you do that? » So you have that much respect. And when you’re living it every day, you know what that grind is like. The first question I asked [when diagnosed] was if I could still play hockey. As soon as they said yes, nothing else really fazed me. Just do whatever I have to do to make sure I can get to the NHL. When you have a guy who’s done it before, before your time, and you have someone to look up to, a guy who paved the path for you, it makes it that much smoother to get to.

On the possibility of seeing his dad, former Maple Leaf Tie Domi, in a Habs jersey:

I’m going to try to get him to at least pose for a picture with one in the first game here in Montreal. If you would’ve told anyone in their right mind five or 10 years ago that Tie Domi was going to be a Montreal Canadiens fan, they would’ve looked at you and laughed and said you were crazy. But I’m his son, and I’m representing one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, and he’s the biggest Habs fan in the world now.

On getting his dad’s sticks from the Maple Leafs’ supply growing up:

He was a righty, so I didn’t get to use his sticks. His curve was terrible, anyway. That thing was like a shovel. It was more of like a dump-and-chase stick!