Fire Jacques Martin

[Davehab]

all i know is that if we dont start winning we will miss the playoffs......i think that a fresh set of eyes on the bench, with a new approach will be a welcome change for many of the Vets on the team...maybe we should move one or two of the smaller players but that should happen after a coaching change.

I dont think that the guys have given up but I do think that the system has to change. We have too many good young guys on the team to be this bad....we need a change of perspective.

[bar]

What I really liked last night was the forecheck and the fact we ACTUALLY have one. We were disrupting the sharks break outs and that puts less stress on our d-men.

[C-Love]

At the end of a season, a loss is a loss, noone is going to remember that the Habs fought hard and showed heart, the only thing anyone will remember is the 50 losses and the fact that we missed the playoffs.

This team/coach has been given a quarter of a season to get things back on track and was unable to do it. It doesn't matter if we lose 4-3 or 7-1. It really doesn't. I think it's great to look on the bright side, and note the things we do well but it's not enough. At the end of the day, I couldn't care less if Price was being shelled for 50 shots a game and noone on our team had more than 10 goals at the end of the season, as long as we win.

I live on PEI, so the last two games haven't started here until 11:30pm, do you realize how cranky and pissed off I am at work, after being up to 3:00 watching this team lose? Not to mention my two best buddies at work are Leafs' fans. I'm dying here, Martin needs to go, I don't even care if he's not the problem, at least it's something. I don't think we are going to get a new coach and the team is going to perform any worse that our current .380 win %.

[TurdBurglar]

For everyone siding with JM, saying he shouldn't be fired and his decision making is sound, all I need to point out is his decision to put Moen in the shootout at 5th shooter. At that point we had Subban, Kostitsyn, Eller, Plekanec, even frickin Darche still on the bench. Have you seen the breakaway goals Moen has scored? He pushed them through the goalie. If Martin isn't gone by the end of Monday, I've lost all faith in the management of the Montreal Canadiens.

JM can't put together a working PP, he can't put together sustainable offense, he can't keep working lines together, and he can't read his own player's talents. If this isn't failing as a coach, I don't know what is.

[Helmethead]

My source at the Daily Planet has confirmed that good old Jacques Martin will me toast by Monday. 100% guaranteed.....

Can you please ask your "source" if he knows who the successor will be??

[Colin]

Can you please ask your "source" if he knows who the successor will be??

Lois Lane (the reporter who pointed out the whole Cole/PP thing)

[illWill]

I live on PEI, so the last two games haven't started here until 11:30pm, do you realize how cranky and pissed off I am at work, after being up to 3:00 watching this team lose? Not to mention my two best buddies at work are Leafs' fans. I'm dying here, Martin needs to go, I don't even care if he's not the problem, at least it's something. I don't think we are going to get a new coach and the team is going to perform any worse that our current .380 win %.

Hey, another islander! What part?

Yes it is true. The island is made up of either Habs, Leafs or Bruins fans here. It has been a rough stretch here since the playoffs, we face criticism daily. Every time I wear my Habs hat in public, I seem to run into someone who has a smart ass comment about it. I am definitely seeing alot more Leafs clothing around lately which is unfortunate. There is a house on my block that has a flag pole and on the top of it is a Bruins flag. Something HAS to change, I'm not sure me and C-Love can take it anymore!

[TurdBurglar]

I read here in another thread JM's teams always rank in the top 5 or 10 in the league in minor penalties. This style of coaching is going to ruin Subban's career. He's going to be a good defenseman but lack because of his discipline. Easy to see why minor penalties are so high with a JM coached team. He coaches "lazy" hockey. They hold back, don't forecheck and collapse, then try to block shots and clear the front of the net. Sounds good, but the reality is during this nobody is really moving their feet. Anyone who's played any form or structured hockey has heard the same line from the coach, "keep your feet moving." You stop moving your feet and bad things happen. You get caught flat footed, and need to hook/hold/trip because someone with their feet moving is skating around you. You don't get the quality offensive rebounds because your not moving and picking up speed from a stop means your not getting that loose puck.

Last season was JM's first 40 win season post lockout. You state he has 600 wins, 610 actually, 610-480-119-79 (W\L\T\OTL).

Jacques Martin: 610-480-119-79 pulling points out of 55% of his games, his actual win percent is 47.3%.

Bruce Boudreau: 201-88-0-40 pulling points in 67.2%, winning 61.1% of his games, and was fired.

Randy Carlyle: 273-182-0-61 pulling points in 58.8%, winning 52.9% of his games, and was fired.

Realistically for JM is: 203-174-0-79 post lockout, puling points in 64.7%, winning 46.6% of his games.

I find the 46.6% win percent a little shocking. In 18.1% of his games he can get to OT but can't close the deal. No coach with a sub 50% win percent has won the cup post lockout. Why do you want to stick with this guy? Happy not getting the cup or something?

[DON]

Not keen on firing anyone, even though i was never a fan of Martin, team will be fine and are still OK in standings even playing only so-so, so get PP going and the old russian back and even Martin can steer this team to playoffs. Need 13 and 21 to start filling the net and Subban to keep it simple, with no showbaoting, diving or lazy penalties, last night was a start for both he and 13.

[jmaac1]

I completely agree that JM should be fired, the man is simply not a winner, he is too much of a boring coach and doesnt seem to know when to make the neccesary ajustments when the team is slumping. Everybody is saying that their are few coaches out there who can lead this team to prominence. Guys forget Patrick Roy and Randy carlyle, their is one coach in my mind who can actually break through this fuking jinx of a stanley cup drought and that is Bob Hartley!!! The man is a winner plain and simple. He won the calder cup and had stanley cup, he took a team in the atlanta thrashers from the basement and actually made them rellevant in his time their, with 2 winning seasons, including a playoff appearance and the southeast division title. He is a proven winner and Gauthier better wake up soon enough and grab him before someone else does. I truly believe he is the one who can bring back the stanley cup to montreal where it belongs.

[dlbalr]

I completely agree that JM should be fired, the man is simply not a winner, he is too much of a boring coach and doesnt seem to know when to make the neccesary ajustments when the team is slumping. Everybody is saying that their are few coaches out there who can lead this team to prominence. Guys forget Patrick Roy and Randy carlyle, their is one coach in my mind who can actually break through this fuking jinx of a stanley cup drought and that is Bob Hartley!!! The man is a winner plain and simple. He won the calder cup and had stanley cup, he took a team in the atlanta thrashers from the basement and actually made them rellevant in his time their, with 2 winning seasons, including a playoff appearance and the southeast division title. He is a proven winner and Gauthier better wake up soon enough and grab him before someone else does. I truly believe he is the one who can bring back the stanley cup to montreal where it belongs.

There's a reason he's coaching in Switzerland as no NHL team has wanted him in years. He's the last (only?) coach that I remember whose team openly admitted to dogging it until he got fired. If he's changed his ways, then all bets are off but if not, what's to stop the same from happening like it has before?

[RobRock]

Marc Crawford will get a look

[BTH]

Do people really think Crawford is a better coach though? The Habs have so few choices to pick from and most of them have already coached here and done worse than Martin has.

Whether or not the Habs could use a coach is irrelevant unless they can find a better coach. I'd take Martin over Crawford any day. The reason to make that change would be if Gauthier wants to use a coaching change as a slump-ender, a short term payoff. Don't see it happening unless the Habs hit the bottom 5.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Crawford did a solid job in Dallas despite missing the playoffs, and was fired, I believe, more because the new GM wanted his own man than for reasons of performance. He also seems to have altered his coaching style with the times. He would presumably bring a more uptempo philosophy to the team and would, I suspect, perform credibly. There is a question mark about his ability to either handle the pressure or help his players handle the pressure, given the appalling Bertuzzi incident. But that was a while ago.

Will he be better than JM? I see no evidence of that myself. JM isn't perfect, but the only coaches who fit that description are Jacques Lemaire, Dan Byslma, and Scotty Bowman. And none of those guys are available. JM belongs in the same category as maybe a dozen other guys who are proven, quality NHL coaches; and unless a truly elite substitute enters the market, a coaching change'd be a lateral move at best. Especially as there is zero evidence of the team tuning him out or quitting on him.

As for his not being a 'winner,' well, it's hard to win a Cup these days, and Cup-winning coaches don't necessarily turn out to be all that great once they move on; e.g., Crawford, Hartley. JM did have problems getting his young and Euro-heavy Ottawa squad to man up in the playoffs, but he has also extracted every ounce of this team two playoffs running. So I'm not really buying the 'not a winner' argument either. You could have said the same thing about Demers, Burns, or Julien.

[Dalhabs]

We messed up by letting Muller and Boucher leave. Now we might just as well stick with Martin.

[Bobblehead]

Can you please ask your "source" if he knows who the successor will be??

From one head to another i have no news on that front. The only sure bit is that JM is gone by monday.... Im outta town this weekend but if i get any news ill be sure to pass it on!

Go Habs Go

[IN THE HEARTS OF MEN]

like seriously guys, both boucher and muller are not the saviour of this team right now! did anyone stop to think that muller and boucher were given a chance to get real nhl experience with another team instead of their rookie years being in the hot bed of Montreal. unlike vignault, julien & to a lesser extent therrien all who coached their rookie years here only to thrive somewhere else! maybe the reverse can happen this time out when either of the those 2 can learn on the fly somewhere else and come to us a little more polished... we wanted the heads of all these former rookie coaches including carboneau who since cant land a job anywhere now. BG goes out and gets the most game experienced coach on the market (JM) and we still all complain. i don't like JM don't get me wrong, i feel he lacks that twinkle in his eye that separate the greats from the pretenders... but boucher and muller would get run out of town just like the others the moment the road gets rough.... we'll all be waiting with our pitch forks screaming what the hell was goat's thinking in hiring another kid on the bench!

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Yeah, you'd think people would have figured out that Montreal one of the worst cities in which to hire rookie coaches. Yet from Tremblay onward, that's pretty much all we hired, and while some performed well, not one - except maybe Vigneault - did anything extraordinary. In two cases, Carbo and Therrien, the results were quasi-disastrous.

The Lightning are 3-6 in their last 9, while Muller has lost his first two games. In either case, Montreal fans would be braying: calling for Boucher's firing because he's 'lost the room' and 'plays a boring system' on the one hand, calling for Gauthier's head on the other ('even a coaching change couldn't save this awful team, blahblahblah).

Hearts, I think your 'twinkle in the eye' remark is fair comment. But people keep comparing JM to their imaginary idea of a perfect coach. The REALITY, again, is that Bowman, Lemaire, and Bylsma are not available, and any other coach would also perform inadequately by the standards of perfection demanded by these fans. It's all nuts in my book.

[hab29RETIRED]

Yeah, you'd think people would have figured out that Montreal one of the worst cities in which to hire rookie coaches. Yet from Tremblay onward, that's pretty much all we hired, and while some performed well, not one - except maybe Vigneault - did anything extraordinary. In two cases, Carbo and Therrien, the results were quasi-disastrous.

The Lightning are 3-6 in their last 9, while Muller has lost his first two games. In either case, Montreal fans would be braying: calling for Boucher's firing because he's 'lost the room' and 'plays a boring system' on the one hand, calling for Gauthier's head on the other ('even a coaching change couldn't save this awful team, blahblahblah).

Hearts, I think your 'twinkle in the eye' remark is fair comment. But people keep comparing JM to their imaginary idea of a perfect coach. The REALITY, again, is that Bowman, Lemaire, and Bylsma are not available, and any other coach would also perform inadequately by the standards of perfection demanded by these fans. It's all nuts in my book.

Carlyle is available and I'd take him over Martin in a hearbeat. Unfortunately he'll probably become the Leaf's next coach.

[Sir_Boagalott]

<p>

At the end of a season, a loss is a loss, noone is going to remember that the Habs fought hard and showed heart, the only thing anyone will remember is the 50 losses and the fact that we missed the playoffs.

This team/coach has been given a quarter of a season to get things back on track and was unable to do it.  It doesn't matter if we lose 4-3 or 7-1.  It really doesn't.  

Seriously?  It definitely matters loosing by 1 goal or by way more than 1 goal.  Loosing by way more than 1 goal shows its the team.  Loosing by 1 goal typically shows that theres a possibility that a better coach may have won some of those games.  Gettig blown out every night, theres no hope, but luckily thats not the Habs current predicament.  I'm no fan of Martin, but I dont fault him entirely because most of the loses have been pretty close and could have gone either way if not for a few bad calls, or Price letting in a couple of fairly weak questionable goals that turned out to really matter.  Take a way 2 bad calls and 2 fairly weak goals allowed by Price and that could equal 4 more wins.  Give the Habs 8 more points and look where they would be in the standings.  The Habs could easily be 2nd in the conf.  I am bummed Martin is the Habs coach, but I'm fairly certain that wont change anytime soon.edit: I'm not even trying to suggest Price is at fault, I primarily mean by weak goals like the 1 time in 1000 dump ins when the puck doesnt go into the corner and takes a wierd direction and goes out front of the net to the other team.  Theres been quite a few silly gift goals given away to the other teams by the hockey Gods this year.

[gern]

Gagnon address the fire Martin question today:

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/chroniqueurs/francois-gagnon/201112/03/01-4474249-feu-a-volonte-sur-jacques-martin.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_lire_aussi_4474359_article_POS3

[TurdBurglar]

I wanna see the lineups for Tuesday's game. It will tell the tail of how good of a coach Martin really is. Gionta has 1A and -10 in his last 7 games. Kostitsyn has 2G 1A and -1 in his last 3. If Kostitsyn is on the 3rd line and Gionta graces the top 2 it shows how bad Martin is of a coach. Giving offensive play time to a player not producing and not to someone who is. Then again Martin has it in for Kostitsyn, the kid can get 50 goals in a season and Martin will ride his ass on the 3rd and 4th lines all year.

[dlbalr]

Of course, if he moves Kostitsyn up, he breaks up the best line from yesterday's win which in theory doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. There are ways to increase ice time without changing a players' 5-on-5 unit, especially with the roster setup the Habs have (11 F, 7 D).

[Fanpuck33]

We messed up by letting Muller and Boucher leave. Now we might just as well stick with Martin.

I'd be willing to bet money that should Montreal come calling, Boucher would leave Tampa in a heartbeat. Blue Jacket insiders said that one of the major sticking points when they tried to hire Boucher was that they wouldn't give him a Montreal out clause in his contract.

[Trizzak]

I'd be willing to bet money that should Montreal come calling, Boucher would leave Tampa in a heartbeat. Blue Jacket insiders said that one of the major sticking points when they tried to hire Boucher was that they wouldn't give him a Montreal out clause in his contract.

Do you really see Tampa giving him the same clause? The ability to switch to another team in your own conference?