Somewhere across the Atlantic, Sami Kapanen likely smiled if he heard those comments. It was Kapanen, working in his role as the head coach at KalPa Kuopio when Texier played there from 2017-19, who knew the young forward had talent but also had to learn what it would take to play at the highest level.
By all accounts, the former NHLer Kapanen was fair but tough on Texier in his two seasons in Finland's Liiga, teaching him to play a 200-foot game and leave everything on the ice. Two years later, Texier still says he's applying those lessons as he begins to assert himself on the NHL stage.
"I always learned these kinds of things when I was in Finland," Texier says now. "When you don't play hard, if you don't put everything on the ice every shift, you're not going to play. It's exactly the same thing.
"Every shift, I want to be the best. Every game, I put everything I have on the ice. After the game, I don't want to think, 'You could have done something else,' or, 'I didn't do that.' I just want to put everything (out there) and after the game be happy with myself."
It's worked so far this year, and Blue Jackets fans and management have been intrigued with Texier since the team traded up to snag him 45th overall in the second round of the 2017 draft. He had shown plenty of offensive upside in his native France, dominating the junior levels and making to the country's top league at age 17 in his native Grenoble.
The move to Finland came after the draft, and Texier showed his skills played against better competition, and in just his second season of 2018-19 he was KalPa's leading scorer with 14 goals and 41 points in 55 games.
Columbus brought to North America at the end of the Finnish season that year, and after five goals in seven AHL games with Cleveland, he was NHL-bound. Texier quickly scored his first NHL goal in his second game, the season finale that year against Ottawa, and tallied twice in Game 4 of the team's Stanley Cup Playoffs sweep of Tampa Bay.
It took some time for Texier to settle into the grind of an NHL season last year at age 20, but he was just starting to heat up -- nine points in his last 13 games -- when he suffered a regular season-ending back injury on New Year's Eve, leaving him with six goals and seven assists in 13 games. He returned for the playoff bubble and looked good, leading to high expectations for this season now that he has experience under his belt.
Still, he said he felt no pressure in training camp despite alternating roles as a top-line winger and one of the team's centermen.
"That's exactly where I want to be," he said of his high-profile roles. "I don't put pressure. When I put pressure on me, I'm not playing my game. I don't like to have pressure. I just have fun on the ice."
It's been fun so far this year, with Texier contributing on the offensive end and starting to look more and more comfortable as a center. While most of his NHL experience to this point has been on the wing, he projects long-term as a center, and Texier said he enjoys playing with the puck on his stick more in the middle of the ice. He's also been working with CBJ veterans like Mikko Koivu to up his faceoff game.
"I feel good over there," he said of playing the pivot. "I have to learn. I'm going to make some mistakes, but that's a good thing. Right now I feel good, just play my game and having fun out there."
Fun is good, but it's Texier's ability to put his head down and get the most out of every game that makes his head coach happiest.
"You can see how he is wired," Tortorella said. "He is so businesslike."
