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The Conehead of Silence


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Jack Todd is a journalist. It's in his best interest to apply pressure on the GM to speak to the press more. His best interests is all he's thinking about.

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Don't blame the journalists. They are pointing out facts.. PG won't talk to them, or anyone else. This is verifiable stuff.

The only argument you can make is "its good he doesn't talk to anyone". I disagree based on the relative success of his approach vs the rest of the league. That said, you are not crazy to debate it.

Toronto based media comment on how they can get Sather in to talk, Lemaire, etc. but good luck getting ANYONE from the Habs.. they are all sworn to silence by PG.

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Don't blame the journalists. They are pointing out facts.. PG won't talk to them, or anyone else. This is verifiable stuff.

The only argument you can make is "its good he doesn't talk to anyone". I disagree based on the relative success of his approach vs the rest of the league. That said, you are not crazy to debate it.

Toronto based media comment on how they can get Sather in to talk, Lemaire, etc. but good luck getting ANYONE from the Habs.. they are all sworn to silence by PG.

This seems riduculous. How much do we know about most other GMs? How open with the media are management of SJ, St. Louis, etc? I have no idea. Toronto has the most talkative GM in the league. Why is that not a mistake? (based on the relative success of the Leaf's approach vs the rest of the league).

I have no problem with the Habs being closed mouthed. My preference is that they putting winning ahead of keeping the media and fans informed of what goes on behind closed doors.

Regarding Markov's injury, I think things would have been much worse if they had given a new "expected to start" date every 6 weeks.

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Don't blame the journalists. They are pointing out facts.. PG won't talk to them, or anyone else. This is verifiable stuff.

The only argument you can make is "its good he doesn't talk to anyone". I disagree based on the relative success of his approach vs the rest of the league. That said, you are not crazy to debate it.

Toronto based media comment on how they can get Sather in to talk, Lemaire, etc. but good luck getting ANYONE from the Habs.. they are all sworn to silence by PG.

Maybe they're right, maybe they aren't, but their primary interest is themselves, not the team, so their complaining about Gauthier's privacy being bad for the team is just annoying to me, especially coming from someone as contemptible as Jack Todd. Their complaints would be better received if they weren't so blatantly entangled with ulterior motives. The case to fire Gauthier could feature so many better arguments than Todd is capable of making.

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Maybe they're right, maybe they aren't, but their primary interest is themselves, not the team, so their complaining about Gauthier's privacy being bad for the team is just annoying to me, especially coming from someone as contemptible as Jack Todd. Their complaints would be better received if they weren't so blatantly entangled with ulterior motives. The case to fire Gauthier could feature so many better arguments than Todd is capable of making.

Yes, but it is coming from many reporters. Some are not complaining about it, they are suggesting that it is not a good thing. it is coming from reporters outside of Montreal. My point is that it is fact, not speculation or exaggerated.

Reporters aside, I as a FAN do not like this secrecy. I don't think it is good for the team. I think it causes negative speculation due to the vacuum of information.

I don't think it is the only reason to fire PG, its just one of many. :)

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Yes, but it is coming from many reporters. Some are not complaining about it, they are suggesting that it is not a good thing. it is coming from reporters outside of Montreal. My point is that it is fact, not speculation or exaggerated.

Reporters aside, I as a FAN do not like this secrecy. I don't think it is good for the team. I think it causes negative speculation due to the vacuum of information.

I don't think it is the only reason to fire PG, its just one of many. :)

to all of you who think the habs should be more forthcoming, I ask 1 question WHY? i have followed the habs for almost 50 years and they have never been a wide open Burke type organization. Sammy pollock would have rather cut his leg off than talk to the media. There is absolutely no advantage to letting your opponents know what your plans are. Burke is a blowhard who needs to constantly pat himself on the back. As to firing PG I have seen no evidence that he is stupid nor that he has not done a good job. What fricking trade did he make that wasn't logical. With the moves he made last year we made the playoffs and came within a whisker of taking out the Bruins. As to Markov would you really have let him go? The other gms were salivating at the prospect of getting him and believe me he would have been signed by someone in a heartbeat. Maybe we need to fire some doctors who said he was fine. Or maybe it just an unfortunate setback. Don't blame pg for the trades that big bob made but I supported Bob in his tenure. We became a much more respected organisation with him at the helm. We do not know who PG advised as to availability of players and there is no way anybody does, but if this is about cammy well he had a short list of teams he could be traded to, so do you advise teams he has said he is not going to? ridiculous, as to halak there is no way he did not let people know he was available. Hell we all knew he was going, surely nhl gms are not dummer than we are. anyway it has been a tough year and fans are frustrated but next year we are in great shape. Could be #25 coming up and what will you all say then since 1/2 of you will get runover by the bandwagon.
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Well I'm gonna have to stop you right there :P

Wasn't that clown supposed to have quit a couple of years ago???? What the heck is he doing back again?

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Wasn't that clown supposed to have quit a couple of years ago???? What the heck is he doing back again?

Maybe writing more nonsense about the Habs is what he meant by "science fiction" writing.

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Yes, but it is coming from many reporters. Some are not complaining about it, they are suggesting that it is not a good thing. it is coming from reporters outside of Montreal. My point is that it is fact, not speculation or exaggerated.

Reporters aside, I as a FAN do not like this secrecy. I don't think it is good for the team. I think it causes negative speculation due to the vacuum of information.

I don't think it is the only reason to fire PG, its just one of many. :)

Since last year, Chiarelli and Neely are on weekly in Boston's local sports radio show ,for 10-20 min. That didn't hurt them last year,did it ?

Maybe writing more nonsense about the Habs is what he meant by "science fiction" writing.

How was that article nonsense?

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There are two issues here.

One is, frankly, customer service. Other organizations maintain strong lines of communication with the fans. In Vancouver - unquestionably one the elite organizations - Mike Gillis regularly engages the local talk shows. He's prickly, but he always put his case. This sort of engagement is normal. Not in Montreal. As fans, we are not unreasonable to demand more; to ask that the GM explain his choices to the fans, offer his interpretation of events, on a semi-ongoing basis. That Montreal is a ravenous market is not an argument against doing that; it's an argument for doing that. Remember, in the absence of communication from the club, issues all too often become framed by axe-grinding media and irrational fans.

The other issue is performance. First of all, a dictatorial ban on normal human interaction is simply pathological - period. It suggests an unptight, constipated, control-freak working environment. Second, Todd asserts here that Gauthier does not maintain open lines of communication with his colleagues. If he is correct, there is no way this is a healthy way to GM a hockey team. Third, the whole philosophy that says Montreal is so 'special' that it cannot do the things every other franchise does is arguably the wrong way to think. Montreal is NOT special. It has been a mediocre hockey team for 19 years running. Face it, andd start emulating best practices elsewhere. Finally, by allowing others to frame the narrative the Habs end up compounding the pressure they are under, which may ultimately harm performance.

The first gripe, about customer service, is not a deal-breaker, but it is certainly a legitimate beef. I complained about that under Gainey and I continue to complain about it under Gauthier, who is even worse. The second gripe is hard to verfiy. But if it IS true it would be grounds for firing.

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In addition, Gill and i believe Cammy both stated that their trades were poorly communicated. they were told they were traded, but PG would not say who to. Gill has been around enough to know this is abnormal. As he put it, why bother telling me at all if it is not league approved yet. Tell me when you know it is done.

These kind of things do hurt the habs. It hurts the ability to attract players. It lowers team moral. (ever worked for one of these types? It is not a great environment).

Think of the Cammy trade. Yes he spoke out, but that has happened with players before. What he really did was break the PG cone of silence. Surprised he wasn't shot.

As CC pointed out, not communicating with the Media heightens media attention. If you want to control the message, you have to be willing to engage and provide info. If you want a war with the media, you will get it and you won't win.

And for the record, no one is asking PG to emulate Burke.

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We always think of Burke due to the magnitude of the Toronto media but how Ken Holland does things is how you run an organization. Always honest, always up front, always consistent. As brobin states you should have control over the message and living near Detroit I've seen how well they do. Nobody really gets thrown under the bus in Detroit. Just look at their roster at how many players were being shrugged off as lost causes that they've completely turned around by playing them in a great system and giving them purpose. They've been doing this since Larry Murphy.

Being more like Detroit with better North American scouts is the way to be. That's why I hope for Nill.

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In addition, Gill and i believe Cammy both stated that their trades were poorly communicated. they were told they were traded, but PG would not say who to. Gill has been around enough to know this is abnormal. As he put it, why bother telling me at all if it is not league approved yet. Tell me when you know it is done.

It was also done with Geoffrion coming back the other way who was informed by Nashville's GM that he was traded but couldn't tell him where yet. (To Poile's credit, he eventually relented after Geoffrion kept badgering him about it...) This isn't a policy unique to the Habs by any stretch.

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It was also done with Geoffrion coming back the other way who was informed by Nashville's GM that he was traded but couldn't tell him where yet. (To Poile's credit, he eventually relented after Geoffrion kept badgering him about it...) This isn't a policy unique to the Habs by any stretch.

I like this Geoffrion kid haha

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I just watched a 2 minute interview with Murray explaining the reason for picking up Bishop from St Louis. It's been a while since I've seen that kind of explanation here.

Yeah he saw Auld get stepped on in practice and realized he needed another goalie

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Maybe he's an introvert. I don't have any significant observations to make other than that I have generally liked the moves Gauthier made as the Markov show worked its way through the season.

I don't see a value in firing him, other than the tribal renewal once the sins of the tribe have been loaded on to this back and ushered through the gates of the city and out into the wilderness to be devoured by wolves or bruins.

This is not to say much however for my knowledge about GM ing as its should be, can be and might be is very limited.

Everybody likes to see the GM .. the higher the better.. the more important you feel. I don't know enough about GM'ing to comment upon his style, or anyone elses.

I won't spend more of your time telling you more things I don't know about. :blush:

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