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I admittedly have watched and followed just about zero hockey this season --- but the amount of panic on this board seems incredibly inflated. We're what, 8 games in and there's already talk of the season being over and of firing the coach? Chill out. When team records don't match with statistics monitoring their actual play, we must assume that the numbers will eventually balance out. It isn't rational to predict that they will continue to lose 7 out of every 8 games if nothing changes. A hockey game is the simultaneous tossing of a million dice over and over for 60 minutes. A team as talented as this will not finish at the bottom of the league. They took a worse roster to 6th in the East last year. Before the season starts, people says things like, "I hope they give X at least 20 games on the top line so that he can earn his spot there and have a chance to develop chemistry." Four losses into the season people are outraged when changes aren't made. You should all be glad Martin and Gauthier aren't so ruled by emotion and insecurity or the team would really be in trouble.

Its not just gill and spacek its all the ufas. For gorges and akost, You do what ottawa did with phillips last year, and what toronto did with antropov before that. Sure they might be part of the future, but they are still ufa in july. Either re-sign before the deadline (phillips) or be traded on deadline day (antropov). We'll search for ufa replacements if we have to. But if we're out of the hunt I don't want to lose them for nothing when both could fetch a good return and this draft is deep.

In response to some of the above posts: 1) I don't expect Gautier or Martin to chill. They have jobs on the line and are in a position to actually make changes to the organization. We are not. The chilling refers to us. No need to get all up in arms less than 10 games in. 2) This notion that something radical needs to happen is true...if we miss the playoffs. That means getting to the point where it's mathematically impossible make the post season. We might know that in March, not October. It's only been 8 games. When the Habs turn this around ( and they will ) all the fire Martin rhetoric will seem just as ridiculous as it did last year. When I watch the games it appears that we have lots of scoring chances but no luck. This team is solid.

I believe that the season is probably going to be lost if Patches is out for an extended period. He was the only guy on the team playing with confidence. Without him, there's every reason to think the losing streak will continue until whenever Markov/Campoli come back and the veterans find their games. This being said, at that point we will be a good team; it's just likely to be too little, too late. I don't really subscribe to the 'blow it up' model. When Gainey reconstructed the team in 2009, I suggested this edition was a rebuild in disguise: a collection of signings who would allow us to be competitive while the next generation of young players were brought along. The team performed well enough that I came to think we could contend with this core. (I still think that in principle, but damn, it ain't happening so far). Nevertheless, if you look at what's going on with this team, we see a TON of young players emerging from within this framework: -Subban (projects to be an elite, #1 defenceman); -Price (projects to be a top-5 NHL goalie); -Pacioretty (projects to be a top-line power forward); -Eller (#1A centreman); -White (solid third-liner); -Desharnais (likely a marginal player, but some potential as secondary playmaker); -Weber (#4-5 defenceman, secondary PP quarterback); -Diaz (hard to say...potential top-4 I'd speculate; see Weber above); -Emelin (potential primary or secondary shutdown defenceman). There are also a number of players whose primes can be expected to last for another 3-5 years, such as Plekanec (#1A centreman), Cammalleri (top-3 scoring winger), Gorges (#5 defenceman) and (if he stays) Kostitsyn (prototypical second-line winger). The absence of Ryan McDonagh from this list is agonizingly painful, I'll admit. Nevertheless, there is a pretty decent emerging core here. If you can get Gomer Pyle off the books, we'll be in a position to supplement this core with an elite player, or with two 'quite good' NHLers. So contrary to the 'tankers' and those who say the fundamentals of this organization are rotten, I think the fundamentals are actually pretty good. Gauthier made the fatal mistake this season of not re-signing Hammer, but other than that his decisions have been mostly solid and good young talent is there. The key will be to add to the emerging nucleus rather than subtract from it, in response to this short-term crisis. What we do over the next few weeks could have ramifications for the future.

Mario does not deserve a chance to come back. along with the unholy trio of Houle and Corey, Mario took the greatest franchise in sports and tarnished its history and future. Don't care what he accomplished as a player or since his last coaching stint in montreal. He is dead to me.

Yeah, that's kinda where I'm coming from too. You really do reach a point where you have to do something to jolt the team and give it renewed reason to believe in itself. It's unfair, but it's reality.