Not in This Lifetime. That was the Guns N’ Roses tour slogan when Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan reunited in 2016 after not taking the stage together in nearly three decades. As a longtime fan, I never thought I’d witness it.

That slogan now applies to Chris Kreider after he signed with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday for a year at $2.15 million. The contract includes $3.25 million in performance bonuses.

A dozen years removed from the incidental collision that knocked Carey Price out of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, which drew the ire of Montreal fans and the Canadian media up north, the 35-year-old Kreider has joined up with the Canadiens. He’ll be reunited with former teammate Martin St. Louis, who signed a contract extension as the Habs head coach earlier on Monday. It also reunites him with current Montreal general manager Jeff Gorton and former Rangers trainer Jim Ramsay, who he remains close with.

When the news broke yesterday while I was enjoying the men’s US Open Final won by Alex Zverev over Ben Shelton, I couldn’t believe it. I never would have imagined that Kreider would end up in Montreal. To this day, some Habs fans still haven’t gotten over what happened in Game 1 of that memorable Conference Final series. I don’t blame them. Price was their meal ticket that season. He carried them past the Boston Bruins in the second round to reach that point.

It all came crashing down when a speeding Kreider got tripped by Alexei Emelin and lost control by banging into Price early in the third period. After he knocked Price out, the Rangers erupted for three power-play goals to win comfortably 7-2 at Bell Centre.

The Rangers took the series in six games to advance to the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. Kreider was instrumental leading all forwards in scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points. He was only 23 at the time with so much good hockey ahead of him. Despite playing on some good teams that he helped lead to three more Conference Finals, the Rangers never returned to the Stanley Cup Finals.

With his best years in the rear view mirror, including a 52-goal season on Broadway in 2021-22, the 35-year-old forward is hoping he can help add scoring help and leadership to a mostly younger Canadiens nucleus. They’re coming off a 48-win, 106-point season that saw them edge both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres in seven games before losing in five to the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Considering that he isn’t the player he once was, it looks like a good fit. On a talented roster that features Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Lane Hutson, he won’t have to do the heavy lifting. Very familiar with St. Louis, who he reached out to before to help him work on some things, Kreider can slide onto the second line with Demidov or even the third line to take advantage of favorable matchups. He doesn’t even need to be used on the number one power play. St. Louis can put Kreider on the second unit with Noah Dobson running it.

It’ll be interesting to see how St. Louis uses Kreider, who even now remains one of the game’s best at tipping in shots from in front. He hasn’t scored as many goals the past two seasons, topping out at 22 each with the Rangers and Ducks. However, his hands are as good as anyone. With the Habs boasting future Norris contender Hutson along with Dobson, they have a pair of defensemen who can get the puck to Kreider. Finding him shouldn’t be a problem.

As a big Kreider fan since his career began that spring in 2012 when he scored five goals in the postseason before ever playing a regular season game, I can’t picture him in a Canadiens jersey. It’s definitely going to be strange. Even more so with Kreider having to give up his trademark number 20 due to Slafkovsky already wearing it. Instead, Kreider took number 22.

Nothing against the Habs. They have some of the nicest threads in hockey. The traditional maroon and white is a nice combo. It will be very different from the old Blueshirts we were accustomed to seeing him skate in. It’s going to be Kreider playing for the Canadiens when they visit Madison Square Garden on November 16. Fortunately, the other two matchups are at Bell Center this season. That includes Valentine’s Day and April Fool’s Day. Perhaps the schedule makers had some special foresight.

For years, Kreider got booed whenever the Rangers visited Montreal. Now, the opposite might happen at MSG. Who ever would have predicted that.