Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare decided to better know his new city last Friday. The 29-year-old free-agent forward, who signed with the Flyers in June, met up with one of his best friends in town and boy did he have culture shock.

Bellemare is a native of Paris, so he’s used to big city life. He quickly found out that means very different things in America and France.

“For me, it’s kind of another world,” said Bellemare, who played the last eight seasons in Sweden and the prior five in France. “The cars are not the same. The streets are not the same. In France, there’s a little bit of dogs, but it’s so much more narrow. You do don’t see people just running. We have places where people go running. Here it can be 8 o’clock and people just coming every way and running. It’s a change.”

In Bellemare’s hometown the streets wind in and out, spiraling from the city’s center. The grid layout of Philadelphia and a “block” as a unit of measurement perplexed him at first.

“What’s a block?” he remembered asking when someone gave him directions.

He’s hoping the on-ice adjustment comes a little easier, although it’s generally a difficult one for players who skate on the smaller, North American ice surface for the first time.

“I can feel the difference in my eyes,” said Bellemare, who chose to sign with the Flyers over the Montreal Canadiens because he thought he’d have a better opportunity to play.

His fiancé is half American and half Swedish. Her background had him leaning toward the American team, even though Montreal has a heavy French influence. Once he met with the Flyers, he was sold.

“That’s obviously a part of how you make a decision,” he said. “I’m going to live here. You want to feel like the guys and the organization want you here. Otherwise it’s hard from the start. That was the main choice, obviously. I watched a couple of the games and I like the really physical way the Flyers play.”

In the first day of training camp, Bellemare played center. The versatile forward can also play wing. He played both positions for Skellefteå in the Swedish Hockey League last season. In that regard he’s similar to Michael Raffl, who made the transition from the second-tier Swedish league to the NHL last season.

“It’s OK in practice and everything, but if it’s a game it’s totally different,” Raffl recalled of his transition last season. “You’ve got more space over there (overseas) to keep your speed. Here, it’s more stop and start and different routes. You play against the best players in the world, it doesn’t make it easier. It doesn’t help.”

So far, the Flyers are impressed with what Bellemare has been able to do.

“He’s a skilled guy,” coach Craig Berube said. “He’s got good hands. He’s got a real good release on his shot and he skates well. Those are the three things that jump out at me with him. Now, we’ve got to see him under pressure, got to see him in all those situations.”

The first preseason action is Monday, when the Flyers have split-squad action with one team playing the Toronto Maple Leafs up in London, Ontario and another team back in Philly facing off against the Washington Capitals.

Whichever game Bellemare plays, it will be a dream realized.

“To be honest, I would never bet some cash on myself to one day be here,” Bellemare said. “Hard work pays off. I’m really excited to get started, get going.”

As for assimilating to life in the locker room, the Frenchman speaks three languages: French, English and Swedish.

“So I can jump around with the conversations with the guys pretty easily,” Bellemare said. “That’s a really cool part. I’m happy that I learned Swedish.”

Reach Dave Isaac at disaac@courierpostonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.