Ask Gerv! No. 17

In his three decades as a member of the Canadiens' organization, head equipment manager Pierre Gervais has picked up his share of insider info from within the Bell Centre's walls. In this week's edition of Ask Gerv!, read about what happens to a player's equipment after he gets traded.

To read the previous edition, click
here
.
1. Question from GallyftShaw, via Twitter.
Who changes their skates the most often?
Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec. Pretty much those two guys.
2. Question from Vanessa (Darkou31), via Twitter.
Does Phillip Danault have any particular requests for his sticks and/or his equipment?
No, Phillip has the same sticks he had when he came over from Chicago. He changed the size of his skates this summer, but generally, he's not difficult. We rarely hear from him. He's relaxed. He noticed his skates were maybe a bit too big, so this summer, he texted me and asked me to buy a pair of skates because he saw someone who told him it would be better for him to go smaller. I bought him a pair and I haven't heard him talk about it since.

3. Question from J.D. Mbængle, via Facebook.
How do you coordinate getting equipment in Habs colors for players acquired in trades? Do you have to send and receive equipment between teams through the equipment managers?
Yes. When a player leaves a team, let's say it's during the season and we're playing the next day, we always have spare equipment on us. It's going to happen that a guy will play a game with stuff he's not really used to because in the end, the guy will come with all his undergarments. I'll make the jersey, so all that's missing are gloves, a white helmet on the road - everyone wears white on the road, so that makes it easier - and at home we have extra helmets. As for pants, the guys generally arrive with the ones from the other team. If the player isn't comfortable with a new pair, we can just put a shell over his old ones in Canadiens colors. So it's not that noticeable, the pants might be a little more thick that way, but that's ok for a game or two. And usually, the companies learn [about the trade] as soon as we do and trust me, if a guy plays with Warrior gloves and we're playing in New York the next day, the Warrior representative will do everything, he'll fly down with a pair of gloves if he has to rather than seeing the guy wear a pair of Bauers. They're really quick. We bring a bit of everything, but there are so many companies, so many kinds of things, but the guys understand. It's never been a problem.