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An Opportunity to Vent!


REV-G

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I've never seen a season end so quickly in all my 60 years of following the Canadiens. So while we wait for Geoff Molson to announce what he's going to do I'd like to suggest a few changes that I guess are pretty obvious to most of us at this point. 

 

1. We need a complete and total rebuild beginning with the management. Announce it like the Rangers did a few years ago. Let everyone know. 

a. A new President of hockey operations who has a strong hockey background. Molson would be the owner but not deciding on hockey matters. 

b. A new GM who does not have to speak french.

c. A new head coach. To me either DD's system doesn't work, the players have given up on him or both. He seems like a nice guy, but the team has quit, or  

                                     they don't know what to do, and they aren't playing any system, That's what it looks like.  

                                     The language issue is debatable but I think it's time to get the best coach available. Bite the bullet if he doesn't speak french but ask him

                                      to commit to learn to speak french. If he's the right guy, give him a 5 year deal. Joel Quenneville? 

                                     Personally, I'd like to see Luke Richardson stay, but I know that's up to the new head coach. 

d. A new head of scouting. I think Treavor Timmins is like MB. It's time for a change, a new voice, a new approach. 

 

2. The players.

a. A complete rebuild means we need to trade most of the veterans to get draft picks or good young players. Who stays and who goes will be up to the new GM

    but the veteran core needs to be traded so they can end their careers with a good team and we can get younger. 

b. Play the young guys now and live with it. Give them experience while we get a very high draft pick maybe for 2-3 years. 

 

Without hope the people perish. That's a very old saying from a very famous book. 

Right now, where we have landed this season, we have no hope, until someone does something. 

The players need hope, the fans need hope and the season ticket holders need hope.

 

I am hoping that Geoff Molson is working hard behind the scenes and will announce sometime in the next month or so that MB has been relieved of his duties and he will announce a new GM. That's my hope because I can't imagine that Molson is just sitting back and letting all this happen without a plan. I can't imagine that. 

That would give the new GM time to prepare for the trade deadline, the draft and free agent frenzy! 

 

Here's hoping!! 

 

 

 

 

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20 minutes ago, REV-G said:

... A complete rebuild means we need to trade most of the veterans to get draft picks or good young players ... 

 

I largely agree ... but the challenge with clearing out the veterans is the contracts ... it will not be as easy as simply retaining salary ... I believe that in any one season teams can only have three contracts as "retained salary transactions) ... *** if *** (for example purposes only) the Habs traded Gallagher, Anderson and Petry, retaining some salary for each, they could not retain salary again until those contracts traded expired (Petry's being the first after the 24/25 season) ... so it will be a balancing act of retaining salary, finding shorter-term bad contracts that teams want to dispose of or finding intermediary teams too be the ones to retain salary ... also, of course, hoping some players play well enough to be tradable sans-retention ... lots of wok for whoever is the GM ... no summer vacations for a couple of years while that is worked out.

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That's right. Some players may end up being easy to move at the deadline, others will be a big challenge or even impossible. And, yes, a maximum three retained-salary contracts.

 

As to management, scouting and coaching, without insider knowledge it's hard to know where exactly the problems lie. And, beyond that, if you are going to fire somebody, you should be sure that you can get somebody better for that position, otherwise you're just digging a deeper hole.

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I think most agree some sort of rebuild has to take place.  It has to be done methodically, strategically not just a panic sell off of players and getting rid of management because the fans are ticked off.  It's kind of like selling your investment portfolio when the markets are down, doing things in a panic rarely work out well.  

 

  It's a terrible situation to throw a new coach into right now and as mentioned in the previous post, some of these contracts are not easy to move.  Trades for some players will be easier once we get closer to the deadline. 

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7 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

As to management, scouting and coaching, without insider knowledge it's hard to know where exactly the problems lie. And, beyond that, if you are going to fire somebody, you should be sure that you can get somebody better for that position, otherwise you're just digging a deeper hole.

 

Agree 100%. 

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37 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

.... And, beyond that, if you are going to fire somebody, you should be sure that you can get somebody better for that position, otherwise you're just digging a deeper hole.

Of course as some/many "options" may not even talk to a team until there is actually an opening, it is difficult to necessarily be sure you can get someone better ... that is that a GM/coach search" is for ... in my opinion, if an owner becomes unhappy with their GM, and doesn't feel that person can "right" the team, it is time to fire them ... the owner then takes responsibility for finding someone better ... the fear of ending up with someone worse is just, again IMO, employment security for the mediocre.

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As I’ve noted before, we’re in a bind.

 

  • If we fire MB now, we are replacing him mid-season without being able to do a truly thorough talent search.
  • If we keep him and then let him go at season’s end, we have a guy we no longer want as our GM making future-defining moves during a “tank” year.
  • If we fire him and hire a placeholder, then we have the temporary placeholder making major decisions which ramify for our long-term future. 

 

Of the three options, I probably would choose keeping MB and firing him at year’s end. He has shown himself quite good at the trade table. Let him have one final swan song and cross our fingers that he can work more magic of the “Danault/Suzuki” variety. (And yes, we should be trading away veterans - no untouchable vets in this group, that is for sure).

 

But no question: I let Bergevin walk and do a proper GM search before the draft.

 

Timmins:

 

Timmins’ performance was decent-to-good during the Gainey-Goat eras, and has been horrible during the Bergevin era. Is he at fault, or is Bergevin? It may be impossible to disaggregate. Fire him too. He’s had 15 years and, excuses aside, his record is not elite.

 

Coach:

 

Julien’s contract will be paid up by the end of this season. So one of the first things we should also do is fire Ducharme. Nothing personal, but he has floundered. Will he end up as Vigneault/Julien 2.0 - i.e., a rookie francophone coach destroyed by Montreal but who goes on to a long NHL career elsewhere? Or will he become Guy Boucher 2.0 - a guy whose second chances expose him as just not that great? Or maybe he will be Jean Perron/Guy Carbonneau 2.0 - a one-time loser who never coaches again. Whatever. I could care. 

 

We’re not getting a unilingual coach, so please scratch that fantasy from the wish-list. I continue, futilely, to cling to the hope that an Anglo GM remains a possibility. It is hard enough to get elite managerial talent without handcuffing ourselves with additional requirements that have little to do with the job description. 

 

Team president: 

 

Finally, I agree that a team president between the GM and owner is good practice. My personal dream is that it be Koivu, but I know that’s a pipe dream. 

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

As I’ve noted before, we’re in a bind.

 

  • If we fire MB now, we are replacing him mid-season without being able to do a truly thorough talent search.
  • If we keep him and then let him go at season’s end, we have a guy we no longer want as our GM making future-defining moves during a “tank” year.
  • If we fire him and hire a placeholder, then we have the temporary placeholder making major decisions which ramify for our long-term future. 

 

Of the three options, I probably would choose keeping MB and firing him at year’s end. He has shown himself quite good at the trade table. Let him have one final swan song and cross our fingers that he can work more magic of the “Danault/Suzuki” variety. (And yes, we should be trading away veterans - no untouchable vets in this group, that is for sure).

 

But no question: I let Bergevin walk and do a proper GM search before the draft.

 

Timmins:

 

Timmins’ performance was decent-to-good during the Gainey-Goat eras, and has been horrible during the Bergevin era. Is he at fault, or is Bergevin? It may be impossible to disaggregate. Fire him too. He’s had 15 years and, excuses aside, his record is not elite.

 

What you say makes sense individually but if you're hiring a new GM in the spring, that GM isn't replacing Timmins right away.  It's too late to shift gears at that point from a scouting perspective; teams aren't going to let a head scout leave right before a draft and if you're hiring someone not currently employed, they haven't been scouting.  (Look at Shane Churla who was hired away from Montreal, that came after the 2020 draft was held.)  The more common scenario in that point is the head scout runs the draft and gets fired right after (and that has happened).  If you want to fire Timmins before the next draft, you probably need to have a permanent GM installed for that over the next couple of months for that to happen as an interim GM won't have the authority to make that big of a change.  That's the domino effect in a situation like this.

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I'll vent in a few lines, but here is my read:

1. Molson has asked MB to finish the year and move on; unofficially, the tank is on and they will be sellers. THis stuation is untenable for MB but he is being a "good soldier"

2. Ducharme is also soldiering on, he never recovered from loosing his veteran core and was doomed from puck drop. During camp, he was saddled with the ECHL players for most of the camp and the injuries to veterans screwed him even more. But I believe that he has decent potential

3. I like Timmins, always have. It will be more beneficial for him to move on that to the Habs to let him go.

 

Venting:

a. FU*#ING Petry!!!! Play well or get off the roster. The way he is playing is making him impossible to trade while perpetuating loosing

b. DAM YOU KK, great that you are cashing in but you screwed this team really bad

c. GO SEE IF I AM IN HELL SAVARD, AND WAIT FOR ME THERE! Can't keep his spot on the D system, skating araund like if it was the 1980s

d. I am pissed at the players. I could go on and on, but until there is a shake up there, what's the point

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21 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

2. Ducharme is also soldiering on, he never recovered from loosing his veteran core and was doomed from puck drop. During camp, he was saddled with the ECHL players for most of the camp and the injuries to veterans screwed him even more. But I believe that he has decent potential

 

The ECHL guys practiced on a different rink with a different coaching staff.  Most of that Group C squad had no overlap with the regular camp.

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24 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I'll vent in a few lines, but here is my read:

1. Molson has asked MB to finish the year and move on; unofficially, the tank is on and they will be sellers. THis stuation is untenable for MB but he is being a "good soldier"

2. Ducharme is also soldiering on, he never recovered from loosing his veteran core and was doomed from puck drop. During camp, he was saddled with the ECHL players for most of the camp and the injuries to veterans screwed him even more. But I believe that he has decent potential

3. I like Timmins, always have. It will be more beneficial for him to move on that to the Habs to let him go.

 

Venting:

a. FU*#ING Petry!!!! Play well or get off the roster. The way he is playing is making him impossible to trade while perpetuating loosing

b. DAM YOU KK, great that you are cashing in but you screwed this team really bad

c. GO SEE IF I AM IN HELL SAVARD, AND WAIT FOR ME THERE! Can't keep his spot on the D system, skating araund like if it was the 1980s

d. I am pissed at the players. I could go on and on, but until there is a shake up there, what's the point

 

I tend to agree about Ducharme. I have been impressed with his calm and professionalism.  He is not singling out players and has soldiered on.  It was almost the perfect storm of events (Habs over achieved last year and are suffering from a hangover after a great run, lost some great veterans through injuries and players leaving, goaltending not nearly good enough).  

 

Did he go from being a great coach last year to a terrible one this year?  I don't think so. I think you need to let him carry on for a while longer and re-evaluate. 

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I have never seen a season where their have been so many blow outs and the team has just been out played as much as this year.  Is the fact that Bergevin and DD haven't been fired because they're French and from Montreal? Does Molson ever care about this team?

 

I don't think we can do a full rebuild since we have so many players on long term contracts. Only way would be us eating a lot of the long term contracts. But Bergevin ego won't let him do a rebuild or even trade top guys on this team. 

 

What needs to be done is a full clean house of management coaching staff and scouting staff. Then once everyone is gone and the new people are in place you can start a 5 year rebuild plan. I don't mind the losing seasons as long as the out come will give us elite players to compete for a cup. Tired of this bubble team shit with no plan that's been going on for 9 years.

 

That's my venting and reason for not posting as much since most of it would be negativeand not good i thought it would be better not to post than post. 

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3 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

As I’ve noted before, we’re in a bind.

 

  • If we fire MB now, we are replacing him mid-season without being able to do a truly thorough talent search.
  • If we keep him and then let him go at season’s end, we have a guy we no longer want as our GM making future-defining moves during a “tank” year.
  • If we fire him and hire a placeholder, then we have the temporary placeholder making major decisions which ramify for our long-term future. 

 

Of the three options, I probably would choose keeping MB and firing him at year’s end. He has shown himself quite good at the trade table. Let him have one final swan song and cross our fingers that he can work more magic of the “Danault/Suzuki” variety. (And yes, we should be trading away veterans - no untouchable vets in this group, that is for sure).

 

But no question: I let Bergevin walk and do a proper GM search before the draft.

Of the three scenarios, I agree. I have no doubt that he would do the best he can for the CH, up to the day he leaves. And his trading record is solid, in spite of that one big miss.

 

But the other possibility is that Molson is still trying to keep Bergevin. I have no idea whether that is the case, but it is possible,

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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

 

The ECHL guys practiced on a different rink with a different coaching staff.  Most of that Group C squad had no overlap with the regular camp.

Like gthe great @GHT120 would say:

 

This is *** my OpInOn ***  (IF AND ONLY IF) I am right other wise _I_ maybe wrong, and I stand by it. :ph34r:

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1 minute ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Like gthe great @GHT120 would say:

 

This is *** my OpInOn ***  (IF AND ONLY IF) I am right other wise _I_ maybe wrong, and I stand by it. :ph34r:

 

Appreciate the recognition of my

image.png

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1 hour ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

I tend to agree about Ducharme. I have been impressed with his calm and professionalism.  He is not singling out players and has soldiered on.  It was almost the perfect storm of events (Habs over achieved last year and are suffering from a hangover after a great run, lost some great veterans through injuries and players leaving, goaltending not nearly good enough).  

 

Did he go from being a great coach last year to a terrible one this year?  I don't think so. I think you need to let him carry on for a while longer and re-evaluate. 

 

I said ducharme was a bad coach last year.  He succeeded in spite of mistakes he made like sitting caufield and kk at the start of the playoffs.

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25 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Did you seriously suggest Quenneville for coach? 

 

Seriously?

 

My vent is with this suggestion.  #### him

 

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