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Martin fired, Cunneyworth interim coach for the rest of the year


dlbalr

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The move of Carrier behind the bench is interesting since he has never coached in the NHL. I think he will be Gauthier's eyes and ears...also, he speaks French so that will make a certain segment of the media happy.

On another note, I did some digging and was told "there is more to come". Not on the management/coaching front, but more on the trade end. Habs have been scouting the Blue Jackets pretty hard lately so who knows.

Either way, I think there will be some significant player movement on the horizon.

I think that Carriere was hired to do press conferences in French.  I hope this means that the Habs are fine with having an Anglo head coach, and bilingual assistant long term, but I'll believe it when I see it.  you've already got shit like this in the media.

quote by @LucGelinas Luc Gelinas

Très déçu de Geoff Molson qui laisse Pierre Gauthier nommer un premier entraîneur-chef unilingue anglophone depuis Bob Berry en 1984.

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The move of Carrier behind the bench is interesting since he has never coached in the NHL. I think he will be Gauthier's eyes and ears...also, he speaks French so that will make a certain segment of the media happy.

On another note, I did some digging and was told "there is more to come". Not on the management/coaching front, but more on the trade end. Habs have been scouting the Blue Jackets pretty hard lately so who knows.

Either way, I think there will be some significant player movement on the horizon.

Imagine they trade for the Wiz?

haha in all seriousness I think Rick Nash comes to Montreal.

As I suspect this will be a rather interesting discussion, I've uploaded a new smiley to 'commemorate' the occasion. I'll leave you guys to go find it (not that it's hard to do so).

Which one I really do not know

:angry2:

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I think it's an odd move coming so soon after the Kaberle deal. As that deal addressed the team's primary, glaring weakness in terms of personnel, surely the sensible thing to do was wait a few games to see what effect that key acquisition would have before acting on the coaching end. So although I have no big love of JM, I find the timing unsettling in that it doesn't seem to speak to an organization that is proceeding calmly and coherently according to a rational plan. In short: I suspect owner inteference. That Carriere has been made assistant coach despite having ZERO experience tends to compound the suspicion that this is a poorly thought-out, ownership-driven move. I hope I'm wrong about this, because an owner who pokes his beak in whenever things aren't going great is a recipe for longer-term disaster.

That being said: Carriere certainly has a rich hockey resume, and Cunneyworth is qualified and will probably do a good job. I am very pleased in principle that a unilingual anglo has been appointed on an interim basis. It makes the right statement. And it allows the team to test out media/fan reaction with an eye to determining whether the dumbass idea of the Habs as an affirmative action program for bilingualism can finally be retired.

If this is the trigger that Cammy, Gio, and Gomez needed to start performing like they can, then the move will be proven a good one. My own guess is that the team was primed to start winning more anyway and that Cunneyworth will be the beneficiary.

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I think it's an odd move coming so soon after the Kaberle deal. As that deal addressed the team's primary, glaring weakness in terms of personnel, surely the sensible thing to do was wait a few games to see what effect that key acquisition would have before acting on the coaching end. So although I have no big love of JM, I find the timing unsettling in that it doesn't seem to speak to an organization that is proceeding calmly and coherently according to a rational plan. In short: I suspect owner inteference. That Carriere has been made assistant coach despite having ZERO experience tends to compound the suspicion that this is a poorly thought-out, ownership-driven move. I hope I'm wrong about this, because an owner who pokes his beak in whenever things aren't going great is a recipe for longer-term disaster.

That being said: Carriere certainly has a rich hockey resume, and Cunneyworth is qualified and will probably do a good job. I am very pleased in principle that a unilingual anglo has been appointed on an interim basis. It makes the right statement. And it allows the team to test out media/fan reaction with an eye to determining whether the dumbass idea of the Habs as an affirmative action program for bilingualism can finally be retired.

If this is the trigger that Cammy, Gio, and Gomez needed to start performing like they can, then the move will be proven a good one. My own guess is that the team was primed to start winning more anyway and that Cunneyworth will be the beneficiary.

How were they primed to start winning more??? :rolleyes:

for the most part they have been winning and losing ugly. They have been giving up leads late. Key guys haven't been playing well. This was a long time coming, there just have been too many bonehead moves from Martin this year and last year. I just hope the habs didn't wait too long to make the move, like the devils did last year.

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Primed to win more because they actually have an NHL-calibre defence and power-play now.

The main argument for firing JM is that core vets were not playing well. Other than that, I can't see it.

In any case, the Habs certainly did not 'wait too long.' We are two points out of a playoff spot. One small winning streak and we are in the playoffs.

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My thought is that Martin stays on with the team and takes on the assistant GM role. He was GM back in Florida.

If I were Gauthier I would not want a highly qualified francophone with GMing experience sitting next to me. It would make me too easily replaced once the next losing streak comes around. This is especially so, if indeed this coaching move was imposed by ownership - which means we have an interfering and panicky owner.

To me, the best news about this is the rumour of further personnel moves. We need to fix the hole at C and I like any rumour suggesting a proactive management on this front.

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If I were Gauthier I would not want a highly qualified francophone with GMing experience sitting next to me. It would make me too easily replaced once the next losing streak comes around. This is especially so, if indeed this coaching move was imposed by ownership - which means we have an interfering and panicky owner.

To me, the best news about this is the rumour of further personnel moves. We need to fix the hole at C and I like any rumour suggesting a proactive management on this front.

If we had an interfering and panicky owner, he would have been fired when Pearn was. The fact that Molson allowed a unilingual replacement suggests that the ownership might be thinking more about actually winning. To me, this is more about what the high priced vets are not doing. It could be as simple as a conversation between Cammalleri and Gauthier at an airport. It's all about a new approach, and new voice. Standard procedure in pro sports actually.
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If we had an interfering and panicky owner, he would have been fired when Pearn was. The fact that Molson allowed a unilingual replacement suggests that the ownership might be thinking more about actually winning. To me, this is more about what the high priced vets are not doing. It could be as simple as a conversation between Cammalleri and Gauthier at an airport. It's all about a new approach, and new voice. Standard procedure in pro sports actually.

I'm not saying we have such an owner. Just raising it as a possibility given the peculiar timing of this move. The most intriguing speculation is that JM and Gauthier were never on the same page, that they have fundamentally different visions for the team.

You're right that certain of the vets were not delivering and that a new coach might get better results in this respect. You're also right that there is nothing exceptional in firing a coach after a couple of seasons in pro sports.

This is not a move that justifies getting outraged about, nor does it warrant hossanahs. Martin was a good coach, not a great one. The same is likely to be true of his replacement.

The team after JM is thus likely to be stronger in some areas and weaker in others - although the net results will almost certainly be better in the short term due to the infusion of talent in Campoli/Kaberle and the boost that follows big changes. In the medium to longer term, I doubt this will change anything, including the unending frustration and scapegoating of a good chunk of the fan-base.

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The timing is a bit strange as CC pointed out. Appointing the assistant GM who has no coaching experience to be an assistant coach is also bizarre.

Promoting an anglo to coach here is a step in the right direction. Even if he gets replaced next season it may pave the way for another anglo.

TSN has the press conference and it was interesting to hear Cunneyworth talk about some players not willing to go to the dirty areas and compete hard in that way. I really hope that this will be a wakeup call for guys like Cammy.

I also hope Cunneyworth can implement a system with more focus on offense.

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I think the timing is great. The Habs are going away for a while, gives the team a chance to gel with the new coach over an extended period away from distraction.

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The move of Carrier behind the bench is interesting since he has never coached in the NHL. I think he will be Gauthier's eyes and ears...also, he speaks French so that will make a certain segment of the media happy.

On another note, I did some digging and was told "there is more to come". Not on the management/coaching front, but more on the trade end. Habs have been scouting the Blue Jackets pretty hard lately so who knows.

Either way, I think there will be some significant player movement on the horizon.

Off topic; Just have to say Kamal, that you had a great bit yesterday on Hockeybuzz.

I would think Weber is going the way of OByrne and dont have a clue if Columbus is a fit, but he stinks as a forward, is now the 8th d-man and cant go to AHL without someone grabbing him.

I used to shake my head at Martin's coaching and am just relieved he is gone, not that it will fix all, still need Cammalleri, Gionta, Plekanec to pick it up at least some for this team to be successful, unless maybe Cunnyworth will not treat vets with kid gloves and Cammalleri is in pressbox tonight, that i would love to see (or packaged with Weber and off to Columbus?).

Or even if Plekanec's line was dropped to 3rd or 4th line minutes, will not happen, but Desharnais's line is alot more dangerous and Eller with Leblanc and Kostitsyn looked too good for Martin to try again.

I would guess Leblanc will get more than 4 minutes tonight and Eller will finally get some PP time.

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Well some have gotten their wish. Will it make a difference? Time to wait and see. Randy Cunneyworth interim coach til the end of the season.

No, not some, a LOT have gotten their wish. Interesting how many of us thought this should have been a while ago while a minority didn't want it all. In the end, it's not surprising that management finally gets on the same page as the fans, have to wonder who has the better perspective.

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Jacques Martin was behaving a lot like Julien was in Montreal. Anyone recall Higgins on the 4th line? Leblanc scores his 1st NHL goal & it`s bench time. No offense to Darche personally but why did he get more crucial minutes than his 4th line status should allow? On the powerplay? On to another player - Kostitsyn. Yeah, maybe he`s moody but Jacques Martin doesn`t seem to have the ability to use other types of mental reinforcement when dealing with these types of players. There were no waving carrots, only sticks! I tried to be supportive & patient that things would change but increasingly over time I was getting more fed up with his in line changes & changing up strategy & tactics during the course of the game as it unfolded.

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Some say that it was rough to axe him right before the holidays, but if you look at it another way, he just got a million dollar X-mas bonus :youpi:

Either way, I wish him well. I thought things were improving nicely since the Kaberle move, and with Campoli's return - no reason things weren't going to start picking up in the near future. Like some others mentioned, it would have been interesting to see if Markov would have been able to make this team better during his tenure as coach.

And for the Luc Gelinas comments - too ######ing bad. You're sad you don't get a coach who you can ask 2-3 questions in your native language? I thought you partisan media types would be interested in what's brought to the team - so much for priorities eh?

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No, not some, a LOT have gotten their wish. Interesting how many of us thought this should have been a while ago while a minority didn't want it all. In the end, it's not surprising that management finally gets on the same page as the fans, have to wonder who has the better perspective.

I am indifferent about the firing. The defensive style was getting a bit boring, but I would buckle up for some crazy odd man rush hockey. Martin was the best thing that could have happened to Price. The defensive insolation was enough for him to get his game back. I just hope to see something of a system. Carbo style hockey was exciting but when it gets ugly, it gets very ugly. I am in agreement with CC here somewhat. Gauthier left a glaring whole in the roster and tried to make a push on defense with 4 rookie, 1 sophmore, 1 vet, and Gill. What did he expect was going to happen? I think that with the more experienced defense, they were improving and would have won with Martin too. The fact that the vets were playing so poorly is unsettling and is reason enough to let him go.

A very promising move is the naming of a head coach who does not speak french. This allows a lot more options when a head coach is selected. Having a Francophone assistant will help with this.

I also did not like a lot of individual decisions that Martin made. A lot were strange. I still stand behind the fact that Martin never had a full roster ever, and was given an average team and Price. Overall he helped the team produce above average results. Markov and Price are the only players on the team close to elite. He was missing Markov for most of his tenure. Martin was one of the better coaches this team has had in the last 15 years. Hopefully they find someone of quality to replace him.

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Check out the press conference to introduce Cunneyworth. Kinda odd, much praise heaped on Martin by Gauthier, then he fumbles, and without saying a word, Cunneyworth starts to talk. Wonderful, now I'm thinking like Cucumber. Maybe this move came from the top. And Cammalleri looks delighted by it all. That better translate into something from him on the ice.

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"Meh" about the Martin firing, but I don't like the assistant GM with no coaching experience becoming a coach and basically spying on the players.

It really looks like Gauthier sent in an informant and while that may spook a few guys to buy in initially, ultimately it will lead to a paranoid and unpleasant dressing room and that's a shaky foundation to build on.

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Bring some emotion and get the bad seeds off the dressing room.

What is bad in the dressing room, we see it on the ice.

2 players clearly went after JM, and they had both way too much rope and what they did with

it is hang the coach. Another coach will take place and then some puss will sit on their contract.

Causing 5-10 less goals and mostgames setttles with 1 goal difference this means 5-10 game loss.

I really wish these stupid guaranteed contracst in the NHL will stop. NFL way is the way to go.

I didn't like JM style, but i hate the players not performing and having 0 consequence.

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