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What should Gorton do?


What’s Gorton going to do?  

15 members have voted

  1. 1. What kind of GM are we getting?

    • Roy
      0
    • Darche or Madden JR
      9
    • An ex player with 0 experience
      4
    • An experienced GM
      2
  2. 2. Complete rebuild or a short re-tool?

    • Rebuild
      11
    • Re-tool
      4
  3. 3. What to do with Ducharme?

    • Fire now
      2
    • Keep him to complete the tank and fire at end of season
      5
    • Possibly keep him if the new GM likes him
      8


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The Gorton presser was interesting to me and it holds some insight as to what he is thinking. 
 

First off, a huge congratulations goes out to Molson for having the balls to make the change but even more impressive is that Molson has successfully hired an Anglo to lead the team.  Sure he is hiring a bilingual GM to head the organization but let’s be real here - Gorton is in charge. 
 

Gorton’s comments suggest that the Habs do not have modern analytics currently in place and he will add that. 
 

Other comments suggest to me that vets are on their way out. He didn’t directly say that but his comments suggest that to me. 
 

Ducharme is likely to close out the season. 
 

What I think is going to happen:

 

-full rebuild

-hire an ex player as GM, perhaps Luongo 

-trade as many vets as possible including Gallagher and Price

-fire tank master Ducharme and replace him with an analytic style coach. 
-bring back puck moving Dmen to this organization. 
-hire significantly more specialist coaches to aid in development. 
-close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era. 
 

With two great drafts coming, I hope we hoard picks and with some good drafting perhaps we can compete in 3 years. 
 

What would you do?

 

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'close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era'

 

What does this even mean?  Forget the 24 cups? Bring down all the banners?  Ban Lafleur from the Bell Centre?

 

Might as well cheer for the Krakken then?????

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Here is what I got from the press conference today.

 

1) Gorton is measured, calm, intelligent and will not make any rash decisions

 

2) He realized it was a "perfect storm" of events that has caused the Habs plight this year and that is why he plans to keep Ducharme on until the end of the year. It is not Ducharme's fault

 

3) I sense he thinks a rebuild is the way to go but it is too early for him to come out and say that as he rightfully needs to get to know the team better before he does anything.

 

I think Molson hired the right guy!

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27 minutes ago, titanfan said:

'close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era'

 

What does this even mean?  Forget the 24 cups? Bring down all the banners?  Ban Lafleur from the Bell Centre?

 

Might as well cheer for the Krakken then?????

 

The Habs history is important and that is an understatement.  It's great to have the old veterans around and it's got to be inspiring for the young guys to feel part of that and be able to rub shoulders and get advice from guys that have been through it. It doesn't mean you have to hire them to be the GM unless they are the right candidate. 

 

Analytics are a useful tool but it's more important for a coach to be a good teacher, motivator and communicator than it is  to be a good analytics guy. 

 

 

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How is hiring an ex-player NOT perpetuating the "Old Boys Club"?

 

I would not be stunned at all if the Habs go with a female GM. Gorton commented on "outside of the box" GMs during the call. Even correcting himself from "guys" to "people" a couple of times. "Maybe it's someone that doesn't have a ton of experience as a general manager..." "It could be a player, it could be an agent". The Habs have been firmly in the ex-player fill nearly all roles, so it would be nice if they ventured away from that.

 

I wouldn't say Ducharme is likely to finish to season, I'd say he is. He bluntly answered yes to him finishing the season. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, titanfan said:

'close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era'

 

What does this even mean?  Forget the 24 cups? Bring down all the banners?  Ban Lafleur from the Bell Centre?

 

Might as well cheer for the Krakken then?????


It was a punch at previous comments from Bergevin. I really mean things like analytics and less of the old school way of running a team. 
 

The jersey and history are paramount and remember when GM Gainey took over as coach the first time? He gave a long speech on just what it means to wear that jersey. It was inspiring and I don’t think Bergevin understood the weight of that. 

 

21 minutes ago, huzer said:

How is hiring an ex-player NOT perpetuating the "Old Boys Club"?

 

I would not be stunned at all if the Habs go with a female GM. Gorton commented on "outside of the box" GMs during the call. Even correcting himself from "guys" to "people" a couple of times. "Maybe it's someone that doesn't have a ton of experience as a general manager..." "It could be a player, it could be an agent". The Habs have been firmly in the ex-player fill nearly all roles, so it would be nice if they ventured away from that.

 

I wouldn't say Ducharme is likely to finish to season, I'd say he is. He bluntly answered yes to him finishing the season. 

 

 


A female GM would be amazing and I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if he has someone in mind?

 

I will say that it sure sounds like we are getting a left field pick for GM which strengthens the idea that an Anglo is running the team - I can’t believe it!

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2 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:


A female GM would be amazing and I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if he has someone in mind?

 

I will say that it sure sounds like we are getting a left field pick for GM which strengthens the idea that an Anglo is running the team - I can’t believe it!

 

Emilie Castonguay is a player agent in Montreal...

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If it were to be a female, I hope I've got the name correct, but didn't Kim St. Pierre just get voted into the hockey hall of fame or she won some award? Does anyone know if she has been involved in hockey upper management. 

 

I think the Leafs have a female on staff who is highly valued and getting experience and is held in fairly high regard.  

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1 hour ago, Habsfan89 said:

I think a rebuild all depends on Price. if he doesn't want to be traded or leave Montreal then you can't rebuild. You got to try and win him a cup. If he's willing to go elsewhere to win a cup, then you do a full 5 year rebuild. 

So Price is the GM?

😉

 

Looking at 3 of the last 4 regular seasons, Price is perfectly capable of "contributing to" a rebuild ... the key any such discussions is the fact that we don't KNOW which version the Habs will get ... PRICE ... Price ... or ... price

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4 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

So Price is the GM?

😉

 

Looking at 3 of the last 4 regular seasons, Price is perfectly capable of "contributing to" a rebuild ... the key any such discussions is the fact that we don't KNOW which version the Habs will get ... PRICE ... Price ... or ... price

No his not GM, but if he's on this team on a rebuild he's going to give us more of a chance to win which you don't want on a rebuild. Without him we have a better chance at a 1st overall pick. With him well we're a bubble team picking 15-20. 

 

If he doesn't want out try and bring in guys to complement what we have a try for a cup. 

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55 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

A female GM would be amazing and I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if he has someone in mind?

 

I will say that it sure sounds like we are getting a left field pick for GM which strengthens the idea that an Anglo is running the team - I can’t believe it!

 

What would be amazing is hiring the right candidate, male or female. 

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42 minutes ago, Habsfan89 said:

No his not GM, but if he's on this team on a rebuild he's going to give us more of a chance to win which you don't want on a rebuild. Without him we have a better chance at a 1st overall pick. With him well we're a bubble team picking 15-20. 

 

If he doesn't want out try and bring in guys to complement what we have a try for a cup. 

 

I think the Habs will be rebuilding whether Price is on the team or not. Certainly removing his contract will give Gorton a lot more flexibility but getting rid of his contract is likely not possible without taking back a big contract or retaining salary.   Trying for a cup with Price in the next couple years is just not realistic, too many holes to fill and that is going to take time which is why a rebuild is the way to go. 

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58 minutes ago, REV-G said:

If it were to be a female, I hope I've got the name correct, but didn't Kim St. Pierre just get voted into the hockey hall of fame or she won some award? Does anyone know if she has been involved in hockey upper management. 

 

I think the Leafs have a female on staff who is highly valued and getting experience and is held in fairly high regard.  

 

I vote for that, if only they can find a qualified person.

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13 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

What would be amazing is hiring the right candidate, male or female. 


I think we finally did with Gorton. 
 

He did commit to try and learn French but I’m not confident that he will. How the right leaning French media and fans react to that will be interesting. 
 

I hope he hires someone that he can genuinely train to be a good GM. 

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1 minute ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Is this a puppet GM to placate the French media or is this an intern?

 

I think you answered your own question with your previous post when you said "I think we finally did it with Gorton". 

Gorton is not looking for a puppet, he is looking for someone that will grow to become a very competent GM with his guidance. 

 

Gorton will not be judged by how well he learns French,  he will be judged in the win/loss column understanding that there may be some pain before that happens. 

 

 

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It'll be tough to do a full rebuild with all the big long term contracts

3 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:


The Gorton presser was interesting to me and it holds some insight as to what he is thinking. 
 

First off, a huge congratulations goes out to Molson for having the balls to make the change but even more impressive is that Molson has successfully hired an Anglo to lead the team.  Sure he is hiring a bilingual GM to head the organization but let’s be real here - Gorton is in charge. 
 

Gorton’s comments suggest that the Habs do not have modern analytics currently in place and he will add that. 
 

Other comments suggest to me that vets are on their way out. He didn’t directly say that but his comments suggest that to me. 
 

Ducharme is likely to close out the season. 
 

What I think is going to happen:

 

-full rebuild

-hire an ex player as GM, perhaps Luongo 

-trade as many vets as possible including Gallagher and Price

-fire tank master Ducharme and replace him with an analytic style coach. 
-bring back puck moving Dmen to this organization. 
-hire significantly more specialist coaches to aid in development. 
-close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era. 
 

With two great drafts coming, I hope we hoard picks and with some good drafting perhaps we can compete in 3 years. 
 

What would you do?

 

 

This is pretty much what I'm hoping for.  It'll be tough to move off of our big contracts - how much salary will we have to retain to move Price or Gallagher? Anderson has crazy term, and Drouin, Toffoli and Hoffman aren't looking very alluring right now. If we're able to get valuable assets back rather than just salary relief is key to accelerating our way back to contention, otherwise it'll be more like 5-6 years rather than 3 before we're contending again.

 

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9 minutes ago, Neech said:

It'll be tough to do a full rebuild with all the big long term contracts

 

This is pretty much what I'm hoping for.  It'll be tough to move off of our big contracts - how much salary will we have to retain to move Price or Gallagher? Anderson has crazy term, and Drouin, Toffoli and Hoffman aren't looking very alluring right now. If we're able to get valuable assets back rather than just salary relief is key to accelerating our way back to contention, otherwise it'll be more like 5-6 years rather than 3 before we're contending again.

 


All true and I guess we need to consider the expected length of a rebuild. 
 

I think we can trade all of them. Not sure about return 
 

If they plan for a 5 year turnaround then keeping a Price for example might be useful to mentor others. Assuming we trade a bunch away for picks then cap won’t be a problem. 
 

Part of me wonders if the plan is to remove all old core (Price, Weber, Gallagher, etc) and let the Suzuki era officially begin. 

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4 hours ago, titanfan said:

'close the old boys club foxhole forever and bring les Canadiens into the modern era'

 

What does this even mean?  Forget the 24 cups? Bring down all the banners?  Ban Lafleur from the Bell Centre?

 

Might as well cheer for the Krakken then?????

Stop hiring your the buddies you grew up with, or played with like Bergevin did, and than not fire the incompetent idiots like Lefebve.

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1 hour ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

What would be amazing is hiring the right candidate, male or female. 

Yeah. We are handcuffing ourselves already with it having to be someone French. Let’s shorten the list further by looking fir a French female🙄

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15 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:


All true and I guess we need to consider the expected length of a rebuild. 
 

I think we can trade all of them. Not sure about return 
 

If they plan for a 5 year turnaround then keeping a Price for example might be useful to mentor others. Assuming we trade a bunch away for picks then cap won’t be a problem. 
 

Part of me wonders if the plan is to remove all old core (Price, Weber, Gallagher, etc) and let the Suzuki era officially begin. 

That’s what I’d like to see. Weber is already gone. Gallagher is done, or badly in need of a change of scenery, and Price could also use a fresh start. Ditto with Petry.

 

May as well pull the pin from the grenade.

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35 minutes ago, hab29RETIRED said:

That’s what I’d like to see. Weber is already gone. Gallagher is done, or badly in need of a change of scenery, and Price could also use a fresh start. Ditto with Petry.

 

May as well pull the pin from the grenade.

 

New leaders will emerge from the rubble. Suzuki, Guhle is definitely a leader, Harris is a leader (he better sign).  I am good with keeping Anderson as I really like his skill set.  Big bruising wingers who can really skate aren't easy to find.  At least this year we know (it's painfully obvious)  that Habs will be sellers which is a good thing in my opinion, especially with a couple deep drafts coming up. 

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26 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

New leaders will emerge from the rubble. Suzuki, Guhle is definitely a leader, Harris is a leader (he better sign).  I am good with keeping Anderson as I really like his skill set.  Big bruising wingers who can really skate aren't easy to find.  At least this year we know (it's painfully obvious)  that Habs will be sellers which is a good thing in my opinion, especially with a couple deep drafts coming up. 

Hopefully we win the lottery this year, but It’s too bad we will probably lose next years pick because of the idiotic Dvorak trade. 1st and and a 2nd for a 3rd line centre🙄

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1 hour ago, hab29RETIRED said:

That’s what I’d like to see. Weber is already gone. Gallagher is done, or badly in need of a change of scenery, and Price could also use a fresh start. Ditto with Petry.

 

May as well pull the pin from the grenade.


This is my ideal situation as well. Stockpiling picks and prospects and let the young guys play. 
 

 

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