This part of the year is the part of the hockey calendar that always seems to drag, am I right? Most NHL rosters are almost entirely built for next season at this point, as the premium NHL free agents have signed in the past few weeks, and most general managers and players are either just returning to their markets or are still on extended vacations.
I set out to make it a bit more interesting. This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Columbus Blue Jackets winger Mathieu Olivier to discuss his time in Columbus so far, his thoughts on the city and its fans, and what drew him to the market in the long term.
This article's quotes have been edited for clarity.
Mike Stump: Well, Mathieu, you’ve had a pretty unique journey to get to Columbus. Obviously, you have when your father played in hockey for about 25 years over both in North America, over in Europe and you kind of followed him along after you were born. You’ve also been in seven on seven different clubs yourself since you were in junior, a major junior and then ultimately into the AHLand the NHL, and it’s been three years since you were traded to Columbus. So I’m curious, what was your initial reaction once you learned that you were getting traded here to Columbus? What was your, the kind of the first things you knew about the city and what was your reaction when you got into town initially?
Mathieu Olivier: Yeah. Well, first of all, when you say I’ve been on (seven) teams and you say it like that it seems like a lot, right? (Laughs) ... To answer your question, when I first got traded to Columbus, I had only been in Nashville organization and you know the first thing that that came to mind was growing up in Quebec, we don’t really hear much about Ohio and Columbus, so I didn’t know anything. (Laughs)
I had been here once during the COVID season where everything was locked down. So not a lot of experience in town, but right away everyone in the organization, you know, starting with our captain Boone Jenner, everyone was super welcoming and really just kind of made me feel part of the community and part of the organization right away. And I just felt like everyone had, you know, an idea of ‘wait till you get here, you’re going to love this.’ And I did. I was pleasantly surprised by everything. You know whether it’s Columbus, the city itself or just out in the suburbs or whatever, just the whole area is just really, really surprising and kind of a hidden gem, honestly.
"The whole Columbus area is kind of a hidden gem, honestly."Mathieu Olivier
Mike: That’s how my wife and I feel. I was born here in Columbus, but my wife’s from England originally, so she’s got that same kind of outsider’s perspective, so to speak, coming into town now. But she says a lot of the same things, so it’s interesting to hear that from you as well. Speaking of which, obviously your contract was due to expire on July 1st originally, but back in March, you decided to extend here to stay in Columbus for the next six seasons through 2031. You were honest throughout the entire negotiations process during the middle of the season that you wanted to stay here. I know both you and Don Waddell talked a lot about the fact that you were working on that to get that done. You’ve talked a little bit about it already, but what made the city feel right for you and your family—to want to commit here long term instead of trying to take your talents into unrestricted free agency?
Mathieu: Yeah, there’s a couple of different things. First of all, you know, when you go to free agency—which I haven’t been to yet (laughs) —but you know, preparing to go, the one thing that came back was, and that resonates with me as well, is sometimes the best fit money-wise won’t necessarily be the best fit for everything else.
And fortunately enough, for us, we felt like Columbus—the organization, the team—everything felt like the best fit, and we were able to make everything else work as well. So it’s kind of the best of both worlds. But for—you know, you talk about my family—well, the big thing for us is we’re in the Dublin area. And my oldest son is special needs. Not anything crazy, but still needs a little help, and the Dublin schools and the Dublin school system, they were so fantastic with him and with us. And part of the reason why we really wanted to stay was just the way they took care of us and took care of our son. It was really something special. So that was a big part of it.
Now everything else comes into play too, right? We love the neighbourhood. We love going to Columbus. We love being in Dublin. Like I said, the rink, everything—just coming to the games, it’s fun, it’s accessible. Obviously the team, my teammates, the wives—they all get along great. So everything just kind of fell into place where we felt like it was a good fit. But you know, those are all things that you take into consideration when you want to sign into a market and establish your family for the foreseeable future. And those are just examples of why it was important for us to stay here.
On the next slide, Mathieu talks about what the 5th Line means to him!