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VS Habs Lines: 1/3rd of a top line 2/3rds of 2nd line Plug - Eller - Plug Dice roll Gorges, Subban, Gill, Emelin, Swiss Cheese Price Key to Success: Stay off the powerplay.

Benoit Brunet? Is that you?

Like stop signs.

There are other reasons for my distaste of JMs coaching. It is so boring watching these players saddled down by a defense first system. These players are not built for it..they are built for speed, and I just find everything about him boring. I don't watch the habs out of some sick sense of loyalty, I watch them to be entertained AND out of some sick sense of loyalty. TLDR version: JM is boring. Entertain me. Heck get Roy in there...entertaining media scrums at least!

This 0-3 slump is disconcerting, because our early season skid put us in a position where we could not afford too many further slumps. I'll say what I said early in the season, though: it's not about wins and losses, it's about where you are in the standings. Right now, we are two, count 'em two, points out of 8th place. So we remain in a perfectly viable position to make the playoffs and firing Martin would be premature. Obviously, if you think JM is a bumbling boob who is personally responsible for, say, the bad power-play - which, incidentally, is THE major reason we are not comfortably in a playoff spot - then my logic makes no sense. But in my view, which I have maintained all season long, this team just doesn't have the horses to run a consistently strong power play. That's because a PP is controlled from the blueline, and in the absence of Markov and Wiz (and to a much lesser degree Hamrlik), we lack the defencemen to make it happen. Weber is erratic at best. Subban hasn't put it all together yet. Gorges is not an offensive defenceman. The rest are either Gill or at-best-middling rookies. This is not rocket science. Our PP sucked last year when Markov went down and before we got Wiz. Then we acuqired Wiz and it became very good again. The independent variable could not be more obvious. It's called talent. So: the team struggles mainly because the PP struggles. The PP struggles because our blueline has ZERO players who can run a PP. Martin is NOT the main factor in all of this. Of course there are other, secondary problems. Cammalleri's struggles over this season and last year are becoming a grave concern. That Gio is -6 with poor offensive numbers is unsettling. These guys are supposed to be top-6 forwards - in Cammy's case, an elite top-3 forward - and they are out to lunch. One possibility is that they've quit on Martin. But since they are the only two, as far as I can see, who are playing well below potential, there is little evidence of a wider dressing room revolt. I dunno about you, but I don't think we should fire a coach because Cammy and Gio say so. Another possibility is that Gio is simply slumping and that Cammy is playing hurt. A third possibility is that these guys feast offensively on the momentum they get from scoring on the PP. So take the PP out of the equation and their overall offence begins to dry up. Again: most of this stuff is not on JM. Now, if the team falls 5-6 points back of 8th place, then - just as I said earlier in the year - I favour a firing, simply because desperate times call for desperate measures and ya gotta do something. Given that times are not desperate yet, and that there remains surprising little evidence that JM is the problem, AND that there are no obviously superior bilingual replacements, I do not think he should be fired.

I reiterate from another thread: Martin isn't learning from his mistakes, re: PP. And since special teams are critical to success, the argument can be made that he's failing in his job. Sticking with something that isn't working is (literally) insanity. Martin seems to have lost the ability to be creative in any respect, consistently under-plays guys who are either proven scorers (Cole) or had breakout stretches (Eller) only to be quasi-benched so far this season. He seems to have no answer to our offensive torpor, and his style, while strong defensively, leads to a stifling of any creativity in the offensive zone. He sticks for inordinately long periods with players who are severely under-talented (Darche) or who slump excessively (Deshharnais) and yet is willing to shift around all his other players so no one can develop any chemistry. He's known to be a terrible communicator - so bad that players leaving Montreal have offered stories of virtually zero feedback - and it's hard to improve one's game if you don't get that kind of coaching. Martin is a one-trick pony whose system is reasonable enough to always be "in the mix" but whose teams will never take that last step because they can't step out of the box. Finally, a guy like this has a shelf-life; and the Habs, despite a brief blip when Pearn was toasted, have been semi-flat and half-listless most of the season. There's little passion here, and I suggest that our talent level is actually higher than 8th in the East, quite considerably. He was a great choice when he was brought in, and he'll be a great coach somewhere else as well, but I think his ability to take this team any further must surely be nearing its conclusion. We need someone who can take advantage of our offensive skills (which are quite a bit better than we've shown). Cucumber has repeatedly stated he believes the problem to be the PP (and it is a hefty chunk of the problem), and indicates a guy like Markov as the answer. Be that as it may, it should be blatantly obvious to anyone... well... conscious that Plex is not the answer, and is in fact playing out of position on the PP. He needs to be down low and a guy like Subban - or even Diaz or Weber or Gorges - needs to try that point spot for more than one game. Martin needs a new experiment that lasts quite a few games. Hell, Markov may not be the answer right now anyhow; his timing will be off, his legs won't be fully there. I *like* JM, for the record. I believe, however, he's run his course in Montreal. Listen to Michael Jackson, PG, it's time to make that change. (You know it! Whooo! Sho-mo!)

I am not sure why Montreal is the only play where the coach has to be french. The biggest sport in the world where the most money is made has Swedish coaches in England, Portuguese coaches in Spain, Italian coaches across Europe. When all is said and done it is winning that counts. Take the absolute best coach available not one that fits a prerequisite. It makes absolutely no sense.

Martin should have been fired long before Carlyle. No excuse for a PP being this bad - Clearly Pearn wasn't the only reason special teams sucked this bad. They fixed the PK, but obviously the defensively minded Martin is clueless on how to fix the PP. FUnny that the ducks win after a no show in the first and they fire their coach after beating up the habs for the next two periods. I guess that means that the way things work in Montreal, Martin will get a 3 year extension after this pathetic game. Again, missing Markov is no friggin excuse for the PP being this bad. If Martin can't fix the PP without Markov, he has no business coaching at this level, so I don't buy into the arguement he deserves to at least have Markov in the lineup before being fired. If PG doesn't take action he needs his friggin ass fired as well. BTW, how does the great rebuild look now???? Koivu would look SOOOOOOO much better in the lineup in the #11 then that friggin turd Gomez does Also make no mistake about it, the gomez trade was clearly a PG approved move - he was after all in charge of scouring NHL level players. This team has suddenly got a very old and expensive core a dinasour of a coach and a GM to slow to react.

Greatest GDT ever!

So forgiven. I miss him too.

haha, Markov NOT playing tonight? what a surprise.. I said it before and I haven't been wrong yet.. He is done. He will never be a meaningful part of our team again..