MONTREAL — For the first time in years, Montreal Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia is entering a season where he can focus on football, and nothing else.
The Alouettes open their season at home on Saturday against the Ottawa Redblacks with many new faces — including owner Pierre Karl Peladeau, who takes over after years of instability.
"This is the first year since I've taken this job that I can honestly say it's football 24/7 and there's no other distractions," Maciocia said. "That's huge. Not only for me personally but for the football team.
"They need to be in that type of environment where the focus is on the players, on the coaches … and trying to eliminate all those exterior distractions, because they're consuming. They just drain you."
The CFL was forced to take over operations of the Alouettes for the second time in roughly four years on the first day of free agency in February.
Last time around, the CFL sold the Alouettes to Ontario businessmen Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern, but Spiegel died in July 2021 and Stern announced he was stepping away from day-to-day operations with the team last August.
Although Maciocia can put his full attention toward the product on the field, that doesn't mean the Alouettes aren't still facing an uphill climb this season as they look to return to their past glory.
Peladeau, a billionaire with local roots, came in on March 10 and by then much of the damage from the ownership uncertainty was done. Montreal lost starting quarterback Trevor Harris, top wide receiver Eugene Lewis and top defensive player Adarius Pickett, among others, in free agency.
Now the Alouettes have a new starting quarterback in Cody Fajardo and a new wide receiver in Greg Ellingson to go with head coach Jason Maas, who was hired in December. The significant change in personnel has the team ranked last in the CFL.ca power rankings to kick off the season.
Montreal starting running back William Stanback, who's looking to bounce back after missing most of 2022 due to injury, says he pays that no mind.
"I didn't even look at (the rankings) … and that doesn't mean anything, that's just what people's opinions are," Stanback told reporters on Tuesday. "Didn't we make it to the Eastern finals last year? So why are we at the bottom?
"If (other teams) wanna come into the nest thinking it's going to be an easy win, it's not. So they better be ready."
One of Montreal's biggest question marks is at the receiver's position.
Ellingson and Canada Tyson Philpot look like they'll miss at least Week 1 and Reggie White Jr. is on the six-game injury list. Montreal could roll out a starting unit of Kaion Julien-Grant, Hergy Mayala, Cole Spieker, Austin Mack and Keshunn Abram — two of which have never started in the CFL and one who's done so once.
"It's definitely an inexperienced group, but we knew that going in," said Maas. "I think they've done a very good job of picking up the offence … it's just gonna be a matter of them getting their experience as the year goes on now."
Fajardo acknowledges that the receivers he has to work with lack some experience, but says that's not all bad.
"The good thing about young and rookie receivers is nobody around the league knows anything about them, right?" he said. "There's not much tape on them, which I like that, I like to keep my hands close to my chest because we're gonna unleash them here on Saturday, and I think they're going to put a lot of people on notice."
Fajardo is a 2019 CFL outstanding player nominee who's getting a second chance after losing his starting job in Saskatchewan last season.
Despite the team facing some doubts with so many new faces having to come together so quickly, he says they're ready to face the obstacles.
"There's going to be ups and downs on Saturday night, there's going to be some good there's going to be some bad with every football game," he said. "How we handle adversity ... I think is going to speak to the character of the players we have.
"We have a lot of guys who have fought through a lot of adversity and we're really excited just to show this new product to these fans."
Veteran offensive lineman Kristian Matte is the longest-serving Alouette, having played with the team since 2010.
Entering his 12th season in the CFL, the 37-year-old says he's rarely seen a team build chemistry so quickly.
"I don't think I've ever seen in a camp where the coaches and players have come together so quickly before," he said. "There's no separation, other than titles of coach and player, but we're just one big family right now ... all I see is good stuff happening."
Many of the changes, Matte adds, are for the best. And he believes Montreal has steadily built enough of a foundation over the last few years to sustain the turnover.
"Having a local owner makes a huge difference I think in this league, so that's only positive for us," he said. "And then I think we've slowly been building over the last few years with the group of guys that we have.
"Honestly I think we're in a good place right now and we're just looking forward to showcase that."
Fajardo is especially eager to get out onto the field at Molson Stadium to kick off the season.
"I think there always are jitters," he said. "There's always going to be that pre-game atmosphere that you get a little bit of butterflies in your stomach just because you care.
"The second pre-season game in front of our home fans in an atmosphere like that kind of helped me get my feet wet, but now since they're starting to count the wins and losses, it's going to mean a little bit more."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
