The Montreal Canadiens' forward Michael Pezzetta opened up on the biggest challenge of playing in Canada during a recent podcast interview. It has never been a secret that playing in Canada comes with its share of challenges. Most of them imply a lot of pressure from fans and media, but ask any NHL player; the biggest issue resolves around the taxes. While players in Canada get paid in US dollar, and pay everything in Canadian dollar, taxes are extremely high. Despite the advantageous rates (around 1.25-1.3 CAD for 1 USD), it's understandable that players can grow tired of it. That seems to be the case of Michael Pezzetta, a forward for the Montreal Canadiens. In a recent intervention on the Cam and Strick Podcast, Pezzetta opened up about that issue and shared his honest opinion on the matter. Here's what he had to say: <q>So in Montreal with the taxes, how much are they taxing your salary? We've got to do something about this, Michael. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. I think we're at like, 54% tax. Then you lose 40% to your agent and escrow, too. But I think escrow will actually get kicked back a little bit this year, so that'll be nice. But, I remember my first year. It was my first year making whatever. I got called up to the NHL. You're making 750 or whatever it was. You're like, wow, I'm going to have so much money. And then you get that first paycheck, and you're like, where's all the money? 54% tax. Escrow was at 14%. And you're just like, where did all the money go? I thought it was going to be some crazy. It was still a crazy paycheck compared to what I was getting in the minors, but it was not as crazy, not as big of a difference as I thought.</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/andystrickland/status/1815849942143144198'> </a></blockquote></div> In Montreal, players are scrutinized by fans and media at all times. Such a declaration is likely to send a shockwave among the most die-hard Habs fans. Pezzetta will enter the final year of his two-season, $812,500 AAV contract with the Montreal Canadiens. It wouldn't be surprising to sign with another organization next summer. Source: Markerzone <a href='https://www.markerzone.com/news/index.php?no=408851&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3d8OSMRx8V0wRD205hLO7CDV51HtCRWxWt1KlR51vB9bOSsmPO5Q34El4_aem_Lala7oiiyataxH0VrzeU6w' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Montreal Canadiens forward exposes the NHL's bias against Canadian teams</a>