Byron: 'There's nowhere else I'd rather play in the League'

BROSSARD - Before the 20-goal seasons, before the job security, Paul Byron was facing a tough decision about his hockey future.

"I can't even tell you how close I was to taking a deal over in Russia. You start making calls, I knew a couple of players on the team," recounted Byron, who admits he had misgivings about living in Moscow, a completely foreign city, unable to go grocery shopping or get around town with ease. "You start making decisions - is my family going to come, are they going to visit?"
Byron ended up staying the course and continued his career in Calgary until he was picked up off waivers by the Canadiens just prior to the start of the 2015-16 season and the rest - for Habs fans, anyway - is history.

On Sunday, the Canadiens announced that they had signed Byron to a four-year contract extension with an average annual value of $3.4 million, and so gone are the days when the Ottawa native will have to worry about how often he'll get to see his wife and two young kids.
"Incredibly happy. My daughter is five, my son is four. They started going to preschool in Candiac. All my daughter's friends are in her class now in kindergarten. We're starting to get pretty rooted here in Montreal," described Byron. "To be able to have that contract, that security, the stability in life, is an amazing feeling."
Of course, the 5-foot-9, 162-pound forward had to deal with one more bout of uncertainty, as his recovery from off-season shoulder surgery was the last remaining obstacle to getting a deal done, but he has removed any question marks with a strong preseason thus far.

"I wanted to test out my shoulder for sure. I wanted to hit and get hit, make sure I had no doubts in my mind before the season," explained Byron. "I wasn't looking to go out and fight, but it was a good way to test it out. I actually did an arm wrestle with Andrew Shaw and I beat him, so I knew it was good."
Coming off a pair of 20-plus goal seasons, the 29-year-old is increasingly being counted on to be a mentor for the young talent coming through the Canadiens' pipeline. With 363 games of NHL experience to his name, Byron believes he has plenty of good hockey left to offer, and says he'll attempt to pass on his work ethic and dedication to getting better to the club's up-and-comers.
"I'm going to try to make that improvement again this year. I want to be someone who's not just good every couple of games; I want to be good every game, every shift, making sure that I'm contributing as much as I can," shared Byron, who's recorded 70 goals and 74 assists in the NHL. "As long as you have that attitude of not being satisfied with what you did last year, and trying to reset and keep pushing, I don't think there's any reason why I can't get better."
Knowing he had to come to practice this morning, Byron didn't indulge in too much celebrating on Sunday after the contract was announced, marking the occasion with dinner with his wife, Sarah, Shaw, and his wife, Chaunette.
Inside his head, however, the festivities were well underway.
"We're all really happy about what's happened here in Montreal," concluded Byron. "There's nowhere else I'd rather play in the League."