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Who will it be part 2? The coaching question.


Commandant

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The non-move of the Phoenix Coyotes takes Quebec City off the table for an NHL team, at least in the short term. This may remove one source of pressure to sign Roy. So, some interesting developments of late.

I interpret this the other way: If Roy was thinking about becoming GM&coach of the Nordiques, then this news might encourage him to go coach the Habs now. He'll surely have the occasion to coach the Nordiques later anyways in his career (although coaching both teams would be considered a travesty).

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I interpret this the other way: If Roy was thinking about becoming GM&coach of the Nordiques, then this news might encourage him to go coach the Habs now. He'll surely have the occasion to coach the Nordiques later anyways in his career (although coaching both teams would be considered a travesty).

That's true. I was thinking about it more from the Habs's point of view. They may or may not want him as coach, but if they don't, they will no doubt be relieved that the Quebec City thing is out of the equation.

Two interesting candidates I failed to mention earlier: Jacques Martin and Jacques Lemaire. Both long shots, for obvious reasons...

I dunno, my gut says it's going to be Crawford, or else somebody that noone sees coming.

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Well, the Canucks wisely extended GM Mike Gillis's contract, so this almost certainly means that Vigneault is off the market. The main page includes a link to a TSN report that Quennville isn't going anywhere either - another wise move by that organization. This takes the two top candidates out of the equation. I'd expect the speculation now to centre on Crawford, Hartley, Denis Savard, and of course our old pal Patrick Roy. Carbo has, I suppose, an outside chance, but given dubious results the first time around, this'd surprise me.

The non-move of the Phoenix Coyotes takes Quebec City off the table for an NHL team, at least in the short term. This may remove one source of pressure to sign Roy. So, some interesting developments of late.

Anybody know if Bergevin has a prior relationship with any significant bilingual coaching candidates out there, other than Crawford? And are there any strong, bilingual AHL coaches that haven't been mentioned?

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.

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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.

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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.

Carbo missed the playoffs one season, had a terrific 2008, and then oversaw a complete and total meltdown in 2009 in which it was glaringly obvious that the team quit on him. With hindsight, we know that the 2009 team had a ton of problem personalities, and it's probably fair to say that that bunch of talented head-cases would likely have imploded sooner or later, under any coach. Then again, even class acts like Koivu didn't seem to have much good to say about Carbo, and when Martin took over his first agenda item was to destroy the 'country club,' bad work ethic and poor fitness levels among the lingering survivors of the Carbo reign. So, while we can justifiably say that Carbo was dealt a crummy hand in terms of the players and characters he was asked to coach, we can also say that his teams did not show conspicuous evidence of being terrifically well-coached. The idea that we lost some coaching gem in Carbo is not supported by an objective look at the evidence.

As for Julien, he was a good coach for us. But he was never Gainey's man, his teams sucked, and he did not appear to be great at developing young players. When Gainey fired him and took over as coach, the first thing he did was put Higgins with Koivu and Komisarek with Markov. This made both of those young guys suddenly blossom. Of course, you can argue that this 'blossoming' was illusory and that Gainey's changes amounted to artificially inflating Higgins and Komi (which we now know to be true). But at the time, it seemed a net gain; all we knew was that the young talent was languishing under Julien.

Over the past 15 years, I'd say our good coaches were Vigneault, Julien, and Martin; I'll include Gainey in the 'good' group as well, although the sample size is small The rest - Tremblay, Therrien, Carbo, and Cunneyworth - were all forgettable, although Carbo was the most successful of the latter group. But unless you insist on the Barry Trotz/Lindy Ruff model of 'permanent coach,' I don't think we should be beating our chests over the loss of any of these guys. Except for Cunneyworth, they all had a fair kick at the can, and all were fired for defensible reasons. Remember, they're hired to be fired, and if our next guy lasts more than 3-4 years, I'll be amazed.

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We'll know more about Quenneville tonight. He and Bowman will be doing a conference call at 7 PM EST, presumably to discuss the shocking dismissal of assistant Mike Haviland. It's believed he and Quenneville didn't see eye to eye so I'm guessing the call will affirm his status as Chicago's coach. Haviland has a pretty solid coaching resume too (doesn't speak French though I don't think).

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We'll know more about Quenneville tonight. He and Bowman will be doing a conference call at 7 PM EST, presumably to discuss the shocking dismissal of assistant Mike Haviland. It's believed he and Quenneville didn't see eye to eye so I'm guessing the call will affirm his status as Chicago's coach. Haviland has a pretty solid coaching resume too (doesn't speak French though I don't think).

And we now know for sure it won't be Quenneville, it was confirmed that he is staying on in Chicago.

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And we now know for sure it won't be Quenneville, it was confirmed that he is staying on in Chicago.

Okay so that gets rid of the two horse race idea. Lets see if Vancouver keeps Vinny or no. If he is kept then it will really be a crapshoot of guesses for coach!

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We don't need a coach for another 2 months. I like that (& hope) Bergevin works on this over a long term with the best decision they can make. Thank goodness we addressed the GM situation 6 weeks before the draft.

I believe we`ll be happy with the decision.

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Rookie GM and Rookie Coach scares me.

A rookie GM and a rookie coach totalling 50 years of professional experience in the NHL.

They would be considered "rookie" with their new titles, but they are not "rookies" in the sense of someone finishing up school and getting their 1st professional job.

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A rookie GM and a rookie coach totalling 50 years of professional experience in the NHL.

They would be considered "rookie" with their new titles, but they are not "rookies" in the sense of someone finishing up school and getting their 1st professional job.

Also... Roy has managed and coached and owned a team for years and the gm has been an assistant on top of them both having long playing careers. I think they are experienced.

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Mike Milbury has GM and coaching experience, doesn't mean he would do a good job. I think that the right personality is more important than experience. The way you interact with people and the strong relationships that are built go a long way in a management position.

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If we go with Roy, I'd live with that and cross my fingers. I loved Roy the goalie and will never forget the image of him raising the Cup in front of us in 1993 as we roared from standing room in the old Forum. I have a photo of myself bowing before his statute outside the Bell Centre. :B) However, he is not qualified for the job, outside a mystical belief in his Roy-ness. I know we all want the great champion back in the fold, but I've said it before - he has ZERO experience coaching professionals and any rational analysis suggests this makes him a high-risk choice.

Some people seem to take a 'what the hell' attitude about it. But I guarantee you they will not say 'what the hell' if things go spectacularly wrong - and they might well do. I saw Therrien bungle a magical playoff run against Carolina, I saw Tremblay destroy the franchise by going to war with Roy, I saw Carbo's team implode as it quit on him and immolate the centennial season. Think about it for a minute. What if his ego clashes with Price, or Cole, or Subban, or Patches? Do you really want us to have to ship any of those guys out of town just to appease Rookie Coach Roy? People still fume that JM shipped out Sergei Kostitsyn. The costs of a mistake on this front are potentially massive.

People are gonna flame me for this, but the more I think about it, the more I think that Marc Crawford is the best available candidate from among the obvious choices. He did a good job in Dallas, coaching a bubble team to within a game of the playoffs, and was fired, not for cause, but because he was never Nieuwendyck's man. He's bilingual and has been through all the wars - a Cup, Nagano, the Bertuzzi incident - and has coached great teams, bad teams, and middling teams; I can't recall any case of him facing player revolts or going to war with his guys. He has seen and done it all such that the insanity of Montreal will not phase him. He has a good media personality and tends to coach that up-tempo style that people want. Unlike say, Hartley or Savard, he has not spent years outside the game. I'm not saying he's the saviour, but he is certain to offer us good, high-quality coaching and matches most of the boxes that both fans and the organization have said they want in a coach. Absent Quennville or Vigneault, he'd be my pick.

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The problem with a Rookie Coach and a Rookie GM is that if shit hits the fan, in a city like Montreal, things can spiral out of control and become a circus very quickly.

If you bring in Roy, you better bring in damn good assistants.

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Sad fact is that politics is still the #1 factor for hires and team success comes second, seems a very outdated and backward way of doing business.

Not another sports franchise like it anywhere i dont think?

Gerard Gallant could be best available, but likely just not french enough, which is just too bad.

So bring on Roy and let the gong show start. Would be entertaining for sure, successful might be another matter.

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Sad fact is that politics is still the #1 factor for hires and team success comes second, seems a very outdated and backward way of doing business.

Not another sports franchise like it anywhere i dont think?

Gerard Gallant could be best available, but likely just not french enough, which is just too bad.

So bring on Roy and let the gong show start. Would be entertaining for sure, successful might be another matter
.

Entertaining, no doubt. But see my post above for the possible ramifications of this sort of 'what the hell' attitude. The nuclues of this team is too good to warrant taking this big a risk IMHO.

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The problem with a Rookie Coach and a Rookie GM is that if shit hits the fan, in a city like Montreal, things can spiral out of control and become a circus very quickly.

If you bring in Roy, you better bring in damn good assistants.

If shit hits the fan regardless of who the coach and GM is or how much experience he has, things will become a circus.

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Entertaining, no doubt. But see my post above for the possible ramifications of this sort of 'what the hell' attitude. The nuclues of this team is too good to warrant taking this big a risk IMHO.

I agree, but like i said politics will ultimately determine who is coach and i bet if Roy would say yes to job offer, it is his, for better or (likely) worse.

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Not all NHL coaches go through AHL.

Forget it, Roy will never be an assistant coach, it would deny his personnality and characteristics as a dominant leader. Who would want him anyways as an assistant coach?

I always though Roy would be an unanimous decision. I'm surprised to see such opposition. He is the ideal and perfect candidate for this job.

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The problem with a Rookie Coach and a Rookie GM is that if shit hits the fan, in a city like Montreal, things can spiral out of control and become a circus very quickly.

If you bring in Roy, you better bring in damn good assistants.

You bring in good assistants regardless who is the coach. Same with bringing Dudley in to work with Bergevin.

As I stated before, Montreal will become a circus regardless of who you bring in.

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