REV-G

And to add to and expand the thought that maybe we already have our #1 choice. I've read in a few places that Crawford is taking a daily intensive french speaking course. Would he do that if he wasn't getting the job? Again, just thinking outside the box a little, if Bergevin and his team decided after the interviews that Crawford was the best choice, maybe agreeing not to make an announcement for a month or a few weeks gives Crawford the chance to greatly improve his french speaking abilities and be able to communicate in french the day he is introduced. It could be settled and our #1 choice could be in the bag!

Sometimes when things all seem to point to only one or two possible conclusions, it turns out that was not ever going to be the final answer. Let me throw out a hypothetical scenario from left field. Maybe we're getting all worked up over nothing. What if Bergevin has already made his choice and it is not nor has ever been any one of Hartley, Crawford or Therrien?? What if he's waiting to make his annoucement till later because the person isn't free of their current committments? Is it possible that someone like Larry Robinson or Lemaire or both could possibly be the one [or ones] and we could have a great coach or team that we'd all be thrilled with?? Is that possible?? Bergevin and his team seem very calm and relaxed with no visible panic. Maybe it's settled and they've got their #1 choice and just have to wait to announce it. Is this possible??

Question: is it just me or is there really much much more scrutiny, focus and research being done on this site on players being drafted in later rounds this year than ever before? Could the Claude Giroux rising star, and the fact we passed him over [as many others did] be forcing people to look more indepth at the players available after the top ten, or after the first round?? Is it more this year than other years?? Just curious.

You're kidding right?? No speakin the french, no working behind the bench!!

Great news. Hopefully we are seeing a strong foundation being laid for the coming years both in Hamilton and Montreal. Personally, when I look at the young guys who have recently signed or who are about to, and likely a great 1st round pick this year, not to mention the later rounds, and the managment team that Marc Bergevin is putting together, I am more excited about our team that I have been for a long time. The biggest reason is that I believe we have a great top management team which gives me confidence that we will see some of the best player choices and decisions that we have seen in a long long time.

To be honest, when I look at Bob Hartley or Marc Crawford I would be happy with either one. I commented on Hartley because there was a lot of talk yesterday that he was going to be the guy and I was responding to that. But I believe that Crawford is equally qualified and would do a good job. Initially I was in Guy Carbonneau's corner, but truthfully, as much as I like him, he doesn't have the junior, AHL or even the NHL experience and success that both Hartley and Crawford have. The bottome line? I agree with what's been already said that at this point, we have to put our trust in Bergevin and the great team he is surrounding himself with and have confidence that they know things we never will and that they will put the best person in place to coach our team. And personally, I do have that confidence in them. So we'll just have to wait and see. However I am curious why no annoucement has been made yet. Either Hartley has to get out of his contract overseas or they have not made a decision yet and it still may be between 2 or 3 guys.

When I look at Harley's record I think he has the best track record of any of the other candidates that we've talked about and it seems to me that he has had good success with his coaching style at every level. In his first coaching experience with a junior team in Hawkesbury he won a championship. He moved up to coach the Laval Tiatans and won a berth in the Memorial cup. In the AHL he won two divisional titles and then went on to win the Calder Cup Championship in 1997. He won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001. In 2006-7 he coached the Atlanta Thrashers to qualify for their first playoff appearance in team history. Then this past year he evidently led his team in Europe to another championship. He also speaks both languages fluently. That's pretty impressive and consistant over quite a few years. So IMO I believe that if you are an NHL coach and have had longevity of the kind Hartley has, that in itself says something about your ability when you consider how many "coaches in waiting" there are waiting for a chance to take your spot. Clearly Bob Hartley is a very good, qualified and successful coach. Secondly, when you win championships and titles at virtually every level you've coached at, that has to be a testimony to your ability to coach. It's one thing to coach teenagers at the junior level and then quite another to coach millionaires in the NHL and win with them. And I don't think any of the other candidates have quite that successful a resume. So that is why I think Hartley is the best choice to be our next head coach. However with all the talk going on about who our next coach will be I am a little surprised that over the last week or so, with a few names seemlngly on the short list, there seems to have been no mention, or very little, of Marc Crawford. Kind of surprising.

Usually when there are this many people reporting that Hartley is the guy, he likely is the guy. My guess is that Tuesday there will be an announcement. I personally think out of all the candidates Bob is the best choice and the best qualified. I really like this choice.

Out of curiosity, where is Don Lever these days? Could he be a serious candidate? Didn't he do quite a good job for us in Hamilton?

I guess, based on the results of the coaching poll which didn't seem to have any one coach way out in front [other than Robinson], that we will ultimately have to trust in the knowledge and skills of our new GM and his team to bring together the right coach, assistant coaches, players and scouts, and to draft the right players and make the changes to the team during the free agency period so whenever the new CBA is agreed upon we will have the team that will make the playoffs and be a contender. I personally feel very confident that we have a very good, maybe excellent, management team that will build a strong contender with some great players coming up, including this years draft picks. I think we have a very bright future with Geoff Molson, Serge Savard, Marc Bergevin and the team of assistants and players they will put in place.

Eklund is reporting that Tampa Bay would only be interested in Luongo if Vancouver would be willing to take back Lecavalier's contract....and that Vancouver has no interest in doing that at all. So my thought/question is: if Tampa Bay really wants to unload Lecavalier's contract, and because of what he has done for their franchise they would never ever consider burying him in the minors, do you think they would ever consider trading him to us for Gomez and something else, and then bury Gomez in the minors, which they could do with no ramifications from their fanbase at all? I guess part of the question is, would we want to take on a contract that large? But I don't know what Lecavalier's cap hit would be in the latter part of the deal? What do you think?

I have a feeling Bob Hartley is going to be our guy.

BUT....what if Robinson is now open, even wanting to be the head coach and has in mind some guys who would make a really strong staff around him?? I would do that in an instant!

I wonder why we haven't considered Larry Robinson as a candidate to be our Head Coach? I know in the past he has said that the pressure was too much for him. But sometimes it takes a few years as an assistant coach to be able grow into the head postion. He's learned the ropes, how to cope with the media and handle the pressure. Maybe he's ready to be the head guy again. And yes, he does speak french very well. I just read in the Toronto Star that one of their reporters talked with Robinson's agent and just as we've heard, his agent said that Larry would be very interested in returning. Maybe he's open to being the head coach this time. He is also very well connected and could bring in any number of high quality coaches. Maybe even Lemaire?? Roy?? I admit those guys probably aren't intereseted in coming in as assistants, but the names Robinson and Lemaire certainly go well together!

I agree wholeheartedly! Mike Boone has a good article in the Gazette today about the Canadiens #3 pick and he says HE LOVES Alex Galchenyuk and hopes our new GM picks him. Boone suggests that we google Alex Galchenyuk's name and read what many are saying about him. Plus he's a center and as you already pointed out a fitness nut and is working very hard in order to get better. He would be my choice for us hands down. The only question would be how well he has recovered from his knee injury. I think he is what we need and if he is available, my money is on us drafting him.

I thought when Carbonneau was let go he had our team in first place???? I thought he was a good coach? Wasn't he nominated for coach of the year the previous year? He didn't suddenly lose his abilities. As much as I like and respect Bob Gainey it has taken me this long to admit that as our GM he made some very bad choices and decisions. He fired both Carbonneau and Claude Julien, and look at how well Julien has done wherever he went. Gainey traded for Scott Gomez with that contract! He gave up Ryan McDonough and then turned things over to Pierre Gauthier. My point? Because there were so many bad judgement calls and decisions that seriously affected us, I wonder if Guy Canbonneau should ever have been fired. In an email 6 months ago Pat HIckey of the Gazette, who obviously has spent a lot of time with and around the team and it's coaches, wrote that he thought Carbonneau would make a very good choice as our next coach. If neither Quenville or VIgneault are available my next choices would be Lemaire, Hartley or Carbonneau. I would put Roy next and personally I wouldn't consider Crawford.

I still wonder about VIgneault. Today at noon one of the sports talk shows in Toronto interviewed one of Vancouver's sports announcers or writers, I can't remember his name, but he said that the anti-Vigneault feeling among the fans was fairly strong. When talk of Vigneault's name being linked to the coaching position in Montreal came up he said that many fans felt that would be a great fit and a good opportunity for Alain. So he seemed to fell that Vigneault's position was still very much up in the air.

This morning a Gazette sports writter suggested that Jacques Lemaire be lured back as our coach because he is one of a few elite coaches still around in hockey today. Interesting name that I haven't heard anyone suggest yet. But there are some obvious questions: 1. Is Jacques Lemaire too old school? He certainly wasn't for the New Jersey Devils last year. 2. Would he even consider coaching Montreal? While the media heat in Montreal would be greater than anything he had in NJ, there still would have been a lot of attention to the team while he was coaching there. So maybe at this point in his life this wouldn't be as big a deal as it once was. 3. Would it ever work to have Lemaire as the head coach for say, two years, and have Patrick Roy and Larry Robinson as his assisants with the understanding that Roy would be the first one considered for the head coach position at the end of the two years? This could work, if Patrick was willing to be an assistant. But would it put us in a very difficult spot at the end of two years if Patrick proved to not be the right fit for the job? What do you think??

Since we're talking about who is potentially going to be the next coach of the Montreal Canadiens let me say that my feeling, based on what our new GM said about him being only a piece of the puzzle and that he would surround himself with strong hockey people and then make his decisions, is that we may be two months away from knowing who our next coach is going to be. In putting together all that Bergevin said in his first news conference, I think he will first assembly his inner team, we're hearing names like Rick Dudley and Martin Lapointe, and with them, not alone, go over all aspects of the team. I think they will discuss and decide what kind of team they currently have, what and who they want to add to it, and subtract from it, to make up the kind of players and team they want. The worst kind of situation is what's happened in Toronto where Burke has assembled one kind of team and then brought in a new coach whose style and philosophy is very different from that of many players currently on the team. Now it seems Burke has to again make some major changes to his players to fit the coach. So I don't think Marc Bergevin will make any decisions regarding a head coach until he assembles his own "team" of assistants and department heads and then together they will decide what kind of coach they want and who is available. So my guess is that we may be a month, maybe even 2 or 3 months, away from knowing who our next head coach is going to be.

My choices would be: Alain Vigneault [if available] Claude Julien [if available] Bob Hartley Joel Quenville [if available-does he speak french?? If he doesn't-scratch him]

I have a feeling that since this is his first position as GM Bergevin is not going to go with a coach who has no NHL experience unless all those people he is going to bring in to surround him really push and encourage him to go with Patrick and personally I don't see that happening. But who knows. We don't know a lot about him yet and from a few pieces I've read I think Serge Savard feels Patrick is ready to make the jump.

This may be the classic case of whether a glass is half full or hal empty. You can see Vigneault as last year doing a terrific job of coaching a really good team and getting them ahead of the 28 other teams and then not being able to win the championship series, so the glass is half full. But if you see him getting that far and then not being able to win it all, then your glass may be half empty. Personally looking at his over all record over the years and having the highest winning percentage of any other Vancouver coach, and with their first place finishes and going to the cup finals last year, I see Vigneault's glass as half full. I'd take him over any other available coach.

I don't understand the logic over why we would buy him out and keep a large hit on our cap for a number of years instead of freeing up that money by sending him to Hamilton. Why pay someone to not play for us while at the same time hinder our ability to sign other players by not having that money available. Why not send him to Hamilton and, while we'd be overpaying him, let him play for us down there. Question: What is the advantage for us to buying him out versus sending him to Hamilton???

I heard this morning that according to Sportnet's Louis Jean, the Montreal Canadiens will buyout Scott Gomez's contract. There has obviously been lots of discussion over what we would do with Gomez. The viable options seemed to be to either buy him out or send him to the AHL. Any other info on this??

I also heard Pierre McGuire this morning on the radio, he said he had just hung up from talking with Geoff Molson 20 minutes earlier. He was very complimentary about the way Montreal handled the process. He spoke highly of the people involved in the interview process. He said he thought Montreal had a number of the key needed pieces already in place and with the right tweaking it could be turned around, he thought, fairly quickly. Interestingly the one area he pointed out as needing immediate fixing was our pro-scouting department. He said that was a very important area that needed to be changed and fixed. When you look back over the past few years and see trades for Gomez, Kaberle and Bourke, to name just a few, it isn't hard to understand that may be the first place to start making changes? So thererfore, who is head of our pro-scouting?