Montreal - The Tampa Bay Lightning represent a whole lot of "what ifs" when it comes to the Montreal Canadiens.

The visitors for tonight's Habs home opener have a GM in Steve Yzerman that could very well have had the top job here, if only he spoke some French.

They have a coach in Guy Boucher that could easily have been behind the bench in Montreal, if only he weren't a year too late.

And they have a big, francophone centre in Vincent Lecavalier that came within a whisker of being traded here, only to have an internal ownership squabble nix the deal.

So it will be interesting to see what transpires in tonight's game, and not only because the Canadiens are raising the curtain on another 41-game Bell Centre schedule.

Boucher is an eloquent man whose extensive education shines through every time he opens his mouth, and he has clearly caught the attention of his players.

Lightning train like they're in AAA

Steven Stamkos was gushing praise for his new coach this morning in a visiting Bell Centre locker room jammed with local media trying to get a word with Boucher or one of the three Quebec-born Lightning players: Lecavalier, Simon Gagne and Martin St. Louis (that's three times the number Montreal will have in the lineup tonight, in case you haven't heard).

"Everything we do in practice, everything we do in the morning skate, (Boucher) has thought about how they relate to a game situation," Stamkos said. "We don't do drills just for the hell of it."

A statement like that would lead you to believe that the players have bought into Boucher's methods, which many people assumed would never work on millionaire professionals the way they did in Midget AAA, Major Junior or the AHL.

"Whenever there are new ideas, especially in hockey, people are going to say that it's not going to work," said former Hab Dominic Moore. "But that's the nature of change."

Moore spoke pretty openly about his summer of free agency which ended when Yzerman signed him to a two-year, $2.2 million contract, undoubtedly on the recommendation of former Canadiens assistant GM Julien Brisebois.

"Obviously, Montreal was in the front of my mind, especially after what I experienced here last year," Moore said. "I spoke to Pierre (Gauthier) a couple of times, just trying to reach out to make sure they knew how eager I was to come back, and I think they knew that."

Weird market these days

Moore said Gauthier was always up front with him and never led him on.

The message that the Canadiens were going in another direction was clear from the very beginning, and Moore said he appreciated the honest approach.

"When they made the (Jaroslav) Halak trade, I think it was clear they would go with what they got back in the trade," Moore said.

This summer, there were a lot of free agents that fit into Moore's category of player that are still without jobs or had to take a significant pay cut, so in that sense he feels lucky to have landed in a good situation in Tampa, especially after waiting until after the season started last year before signing on with the Florida Panthers.

"It's a weird market these days," he said. "So I feel good about not only signing a contract, but the team I signed with."

Essentially, when you break it down in dollars and cents, Gauthier got Dustin Boyd ($650,000) and Jeff Halpern ($600,000) by spending an extra $150,000 on what Moore alone will be paid this season.

In that sense, it's hard to argue with his logic even though Moore was a vital part of last season's playoff run.

Here are the Lightning's lines for tonight's game:

Forwards

Downie – Stamkos – St. Louis

Malone – Lecavalier – Gagne

Bergenheim – Moore – Purcell

Thompson – Tyrell – Hall

Defence

 Lundin – Kubina

 Hedman – Clark

 Vernace – Jones

Goal

 Smith

 Ellis