When it comes to restaurants, atmosphere and just a great place to be, Montreal was one of my favorite cities to frequent on the road.

If you have time, you have to visit old Montreal. You'll feel like you're in Europe, not North America. That's one of my favorite sites, especially during the day time. Obviously the summer is better than the winter, but if you dress for it, you'll be fine.

As far as restaurants, for me, one of the best steakhouses in the League -- top three -- is La Queue de Cheval. It's unbelievable. Great food, sick atmosphere, cigar lounge, great bar -- all rolled into one. It's not your typical steakhouse. If you go there, ask for the owner -- his name is Peter.

There's no denying the skill of Jaromir Jagr. But something people either ignore or don't know about is the man's work ethic.

When we were teammates with the Rangers for two seasons, between 2005 and 2007, we also lived in the same building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We didn't commute to and from the rink every day (he carpooled a lot with Petr Prucha), but we drove to and from the practice facility in Greenburgh together sometimes. I got to know him pretty well. He's a different guy -- a somewhat spiritual guy -- but his willingness to work was unrivaled.

Going back to his days in Pittsburgh when he was a teenager, Jagr always was the first guy on the ice. It's easy to assume someone with his talent at that young age might be cocky and act as though he has everything figured out, but that wasn't the case then.

During practices with the Rangers, Jagr usually was the last guy to leave the ice. And even after he left the ice, he would just come back on the ice again after taking off his hockey gear and changing into a track suit. He'd spend hours taking shots on me. He'd ask me how his shot looked. If I told him the puck wasn't coming off his stick hot or the right way, he'd stay there and keep working.

A lot of times, even that wouldn't be the end of it.

There are some players who work out at the practice facility for show, but not only was Jagr a guy who stayed late and worked out and did his own thing, there were times he'd take the 45-minute drive back to the practice facility at night when no one was around and work out and practice some more. The guy is a special player.

When it comes to elite athletes in any sport, whether it's Jagr in hockey or Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Kobe Bryant in basketball, that's the reason why they stay where they are for so long. While Jagr was sneaking workouts in the middle of the night in Westchester County, a guy like Kobe will have a basketball court built in his mansion. Jordan and Bird were renowned for their willingness to stay late and work on their games. Jordan actually was the first guy to build a gym at his home, and he took the time to learn his patented fade-away jumper from Hakeem Olajuwon. Extra effort usually is a theme with great athletes.

That type of player can be infectious for younger players. They see a guy like Jagr busting his tail in practice after winning all his awards and Stanley Cups and they want to do the same thing. There's nothing bad about having a guy like that on your team, even at the age of 39.

Jagr currently is the ninth-leading scorer in NHL history, with 1,603 points. When he left the NHL three years ago to play in Russia, people on the outside might've thought Jagr was at his end after scoring just 71 points. But that had nothing to do with his desire and willingness to put in the extra work. He was all about that. Playing in Russia was something he felt he needed to do. He's a different cat, and some might think he's not team-oriented because he keeps to himself.

But that's absolutely not the case. I'm just glad I didn't have to be the one who drove him from Manhattan to Westchester when he got the itch to work out in the middle of the night.

During the first week of the season, we've seen a lot of goaltenders give up a lot of goals on shots that came from below or near the goal line.

Roberto Luongo had one bank off his skates in the opener against the Penguins on a shot from James Neal. In that same game, Vancouver's Maxim Lapierre beat Marc-Andre Fleury from an even worse angle. During the games in Europe, the Rangers' Ryan Callahan banked one home off of Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. In his first game as a Capital, Tomas Vokoun allowed two goals from sharp angles against the Tampa Bay Lightning, one to Teddy Purcell and one to Bruno Gervais.

At first blush, it's easy to see these bad goals and say to yourself, "I could've stopped that shot." But when it comes to shots from below the goal line, there's nothing easy about playing them for a goaltender.

NHL Network analyst and former NHL goalie Kevin Weekes will be blogging for NHL.com throughout the 2011-12 season. Look for "Weekes on the Web" video and text blog entries Tuesday through Friday on NHL.com home page. You can also find an archive of Weekes on the Web here.

For my Opening Day blog, I went deep to name my "undercover" teams in each conference as the puck is about to drop on the regular season:

Eastern Conference

Buffalo is my undercover candidate in the Eastern Conference. Oh sure, you say, they spent all that money. But it is more than the money that new owner Terry Pegula has spent. I like the way this team was built this summer.

It is a high skills team that is good at transition, skating the puck or passing the puck out of the defensive zone. This team has a high level of hockey sense, especially adding Christian Ehrhoff to the blue line.

I think the Sabres still need a legitimate power forward to compete for a Cup, but they are more gritty now. There will be a willingness among the Sabres to play a physical game, particularly in the playoffs. When I talk about "gritty," I mean that willingness. There is not a lot of room on the ice to make plays in the postseason. That's why you see bottom-six forwards often succeed and raise their visibility among fans. Those third- and fourth-line guys are accustomed to making plays in traffic. Buffalo will be good in that respect this season.

And listen, Ryan Miller is the best in the business as a goalie. One important factor is he has a proven backup this season to keep him more rested for the playoff grind. Jhonas Enroth played some big games down the stretch for Buffalo last season. I like his game a lot.

The Sabres won't be undercover by April.

Western Conference

In the West, I'm going further off the grid. I like what St. Louis has assembled. They are my undercover team in the Western Conference. They have a ton of skill among the top-six forwards. Chris Stewart is going to be a star in this League; he will score 40 to 45 goals this year.

Add all-star David Backes and the Blues have a double threat at power forward. That will be a nightmare for opposing teams. I honestly think that was a big reason why Boston beat Vancouver for the Cup. The Canucks struggled to handle Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic on the same line. Add Jason Arnott for the Blues and those are some big bodies.

I like Alex Pietrangelo a lot. He is another player who is going to be a big star. St. Louis can make some big noise in the playoffs if Halak plays the way in goal that he did for Montreal during the 2009 postseason. If Halak plays that well, the Blues will be a scary team that no one in the West will want to face.

Question: What could be better than popular NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes returning to the fold as a regular analyst on NHL Net's "On the Fly" and at all major League-wide events? Answer: Setting up Weekes to blog four times a week–both video and text–for NHL.com. Look for Kevin's insightful and always enthusiastic brand of hockey blogging beginning Tuesday, Oct. 4.

In a special sneak peak of "Weekes on the Web," here are Kevin's video views on Monday's 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic announcement that the game will be Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Kevin's take on the Winter Classic: