The Montreal Canadiens had a day off recently, so Max Pacioretty took a nice, long nap.

"I needed it," he said in a phone interview with ESPN.com.

It's been another successful season for the team's leading goal scorer. The Canadiens are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and Pacioretty is having a career season, with 36 goals and 29 assists for 65 points in 76 games. With the Stanley Cup playoffs only a few weeks away, Montreal is poised for a deep run.

During a conversation about his season, career and future with the Canadiens, Pacioretty, 26, discussed the chemistry and leadership he has with the entire organization, specifically with his teammates.

If the Canadiens can learn and build off their success from last season's playoff run, it could be an interesting spring season in Montreal.

"It's flown by," Pacioretty said of this season. "The reason why I think our team has had success, and so many individuals on our team are having success, we haven't been worrying about the end result. We've been focused on process, and to have that approach you just work harder as a player. We have to go in with the mindset that we have to do exactly what we did last year."

For an American player from New Canaan, Connecticut, who grew up rooting for the New York Rangers and idolizing Mark Messier and Brian Leetch, Pacioretty finally feels like a true Montreal Canadien.

In the long history of the Canadiens organization, there have been only 74 U.S.-born players. Currently, there are six on the roster.

It's his seventh season in the organization since the Canadiens selected him in the first round (22nd overall) of the 2007 draft. It hasn't always been easy for him, but he's become, and should be considered, one of the best U.S.-born players of his generation to wear a Canadiens sweater.

He grew up where baseball, football and basketball are much more popular than hockey. In school, there weren't many kids playing or watching hockey.

"I felt like a bit of an outcast," Pacioretty said.

Canadiens fans have embraced Max Pacioretty regardless of what country he was born in. Francois Lacasse/NHLI/Getty Images

After a stint with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, Pacioretty played 2007-08 at the University of Michigan before he turned pro. When he first arrived in Montreal, he immediately learned it would be unlike anything else he had ever known in his hockey career.

"It was definitely a culture shock," Pacioretty said. "To come here and have everyone idolize and analyze everything that the Canadiens do was definitely a culture shock at first, but as the years have gone on I've grown to embrace it and really love it."

It loves him back.

Canadiens fans don't hear the New England accent when he speaks. They don't care where he's from. He scores goals -- big goals -- and he's a big reason the Canadiens win hockey games.

"He's obviously an underrated scorer," former Canadierns captain and current Buffalo Sabres captain Brian Gionta said. "Year after year, he's scoring a lot of big goals for that team. Offensively, he's very gifted, but over the last couple of years, he's rounded out his game defensively, too. He's that more all-around player. You look at his speed and power he brings to the game; he's a dynamic guy."

Pacioretty has finally found a comfort level this season. His play and success is evidence of that.

"I might not have been as comfortable playing with the pressure and dealing with the expectations [in the past], but once I had an open mind and realized that top players in this league are expected to be the best players every night, I found that comfort level," he said.

Pacioretty credited Montreal's upper management and the coaching staff for help along the way. He believes he's held to a higher standard and he expects perfection from himself every game.

"Obviously, that's impossible," he said, "but I expect myself to do that, and I think when the expectations are that high ... because you're so motivated to help your team win, moving forward, I'm going to keep having that mindset."

Another U.S.-born player who played for the Canadiens, Chris Chelios, has been impressed with Pacioretty's development on and off the ice.

"Obviously, at this point he's their top guy," Chelios said. "He's the [offensive] leader on that team with P.K. Subban on the back end. He was very noticeable before the [Sochi] Olympics, but after the Olympics, he must have gained a lot of confidence. He's finding himself and he's playing great."

Chelios is considered one of the best American players to have played in the NHL. He played 26 seasons after the Canadiens selected him in the second round (40th overall) of the 1981 draft. In only his second full season in Montreal, the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, in 1985-86. After seven seasons with the Canadiens, Chelios was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Players don't usually concern themselves with nationalities of teammates, but Montreal fans have traditionally felt the Canadiens roster should be filled with French-Canadians. But during his career in Montreal, Chelios said he never felt any animosity.

"The people there were very accepting. I loved it there. I had a great time. People were great to me. The fans were awesome. The organization was great. I have a lot of respect for the people in the way they treated myself and my family," said Chelios, who added he's not surprised the fans appreciate and accept Pacioretty as a player and a person.

"The way [Pacioretty] plays, it doesn't matter if he's American or European. He does his talking on the ice, and he's earned the respect of the fans."

"French-Canadians are proud of their heritage and the tradition and history of the Canadiens, so they like to always see their own succeed, but Pacioretty, again, the way he plays, it doesn't matter if he's American or European. He does his talking on the ice, and he's earned the respect of the fans. He's a great player. It's a tough nut to crack when you're up there."

After Gionta's exit from Montreal following the 2013-14 season, the Canadiens decided to hold off on naming their next captain. Given Pacioretty's success on the ice, and his ability to lead off of it, he was named one of four assistant captains before this season, joining Subban, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Markov to wear the "A." There's been a lot of discussion this season that Pacioretty should next wear the "C." Gionta and Chelios, who both served as captain during their careers in Montreal, agreed Pacioretty has what it takes.

"Absolutely," Chelios said. "He's got perfect demeanor. I got to spend some time with him over in Sochi, and he has those types of qualities, for sure. I don't know how he is in the room, but just by speaking with and meeting his family, he seems like a professional and eventually, he can fall into that role."

Gionta concurred.

"In the next few years, for sure," he said. "He's going to be in that group of veterans right now, and he's going to emerge as a standout in the next few years."

As humbling as those comments are for Pacioretty, he's you're prototypical team-first player. The leadership division has worked well this season, and Pacioretty believes that's one of the reasons the Canadiens have had success.

"I'm flattered and it's a tremendous honor to even be mentioned in that same category [as Gionta and Chelios]," Pacioretty said. "We have a good system right now with four assistants, and this year it's worked out well. Where we go from here is obviously out of my hands, but this system, to do it this way, has really paid off, and going into the playoffs it will pay off as well."

Added Pacioretty: "I'm at the stage where just being considered from the four [assistants] is obviously a great feeling. Like I said, it's out of my control what happens next, but every year my role with this team has become more and more important, both on and off the ice, and I'm just looking to expand my role as a leader and as a player. If I can keep contributing in other areas, then that's what motivates me."

Pacioretty has already experienced so much in his career. He dealt with the expectations of a top prospect and learned the disappointments of being sent back to the minors on more than one occasion. His name used to be thrown around in trade rumors. He suffered a major injury when he broke his neck and suffered a severe concussion during a game against the Boston Bruins on March 8, 2011.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara checked Pacioretty into the stanchion between the benches at Bell Centre in Montreal. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and missed the remainder of the season. Canadiens fans had always loathed Chara before that incident, and they despised him even more afterward.

Even though there's a history between the players, both have moved on, and Chara recently said he would take Pacioretty on his team any day.

"He's a great player," Chara told ESPN.com. "He's been so dominant for Montreal. He's such an offensive threat. His ability to skate, shoot the puck, and he's stepped up as a leader. I think he's really getting better and really maturing as a leader. You can always wonder what it would be like [to have him as a teammate], and I'm sure it would be great to have that type of caliber player."

Pacioretty has become a true Canadien. He wears the team's sweater with pride and he exhibits that respect with the way he plays every game for Montreal. As an American playing for the Montreal Canadiens, he has earned the respect from the fans.

When his normal work day is over, he returns home to his wife, Katia, and his son, Lorenzo, both of whom Pacioretty credits for helping him reach his potential.

"They helped me overcome all those adversities and spin them into a positive," Pacioretty said. "That's what has made me the player I am today."